The usual Easter traditions began on Thursday evening when we tackled the annual egg dying with Punky. As you would expect, it was a messy venture. In addition to the eggs, she managed to dye her hands, t-shirt, and a small section of the dining room rug, but all were easily fixed with a bath, a load of laundry, and a few squirts of carpet cleaner. It was worth the effort; she had a blast.
On Friday, Punky and I headed down state once again to spend the holiday with family. She spent the afternoon getting into trouble with her cousins and, when my sister got home from work, we took them to the mall for a photo op with the bunny. I knew Punky would be fine, but I was nervous about my niece. I envisioned a reaction similar to the one she had when we met Goofy at Disney World and, believe me, it wasn't pretty. To our surprise, she ran right to him, jumped up on his lap, and smiled ear to ear for the picture. And when their turn was over, she kept running back to him every chance she had.
Two weeks ago, when my mom demanded arranged a photo shoot of her grandkids, it was like pulling teeth to get the three of them to sit still and smile at the same time, and in the end we failed miserably. My sister and I anticipated a similar experience with the bunny, but the exact opposite was true. Fifteen seconds and one camera click was all it took. Go figure. They all sat, smiled, and looked at the damn camera. Even the photographer was impressed; one shot is rare when there are three kids involved.
Saturday was a nice, relaxing day. After lunch at my parents' house, we tagged along for the ride to Cabela's. I had never been there before and it's definitely an interesting store to see. Of course, it took us longer to get there than we were actually in the store because my dad never takes the direct route anywhere and the country roads he chose this trip were plagued by closures for bridge repairs, but it was a nice day for a ride in my mom's new car. Punky managed to con her godfather into buying her a fishing pole and an expensive night light. I swear, all she needs to do is look at him and he caves. He spoils her rotten.
We spent the evening at my sister's house and my mom joined us for some kickboxing. Yes, I'm dragging them down with me. I had to sneak in a workout at some point over the weekend, so why suffer alone? Aside from my sister's utter lack of balance, they kept up well. Given that my mom is in her sixties, she did great. She took breaks here and there, but honestly we all did. I was impressed, and it was nice to have company in my misery. And then, about an hour afterward, my sister and I each ate two pieces of pizza and some antipasto so the workout was entirely in vain. Oh well.
We started Sunday morning at Punky's godfather's house and he continued to spoil her with a big bag full of Easter treats and surprises. Then we headed to my parents' for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Punky had two more baskets waiting there for her, not to mention all the goodies from inside the eggs. When we arrived home in the evening, Punky quickly discovered that the sneaky Easter Bunny also scattered eggs around our house. Plus, he hid her basket so she needed to hunt for that as well.
Between all of us, she made out like a bandit as usual. She got new clothes, new books, bubbles, movies, coloring books, and other random trinkets. Then there's the candy. One whole shelf in the pantry is lined with sugary treats. Most of it will eventually end up in trash, I'm sure. A few weeks ago, in anticipation of Easter coming, I cleaned out the candy bin and threw stuff away from Valentine's Day, Christmas, Halloween, and even last Easter. We only allow her to have one candy treat a day, and only if she eats all of her dinner. It will take years to consume that much candy at that rate. And I certainly don't need mounds of chocolate sitting around.
Speaking of which, I did have the nerve to thoroughly enjoy Easter dinner on top of my pizza splurge the previous night. I loved every bite of potato salad, paska bread, horseradish, and ham. And I even indulged in a 410 calorie piece of cheesecake for desert. I held my breath when I stepped on the scale this morning.
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