Happy 2nd Birthday, Hailey!
Aiden’s little sister had an amazing start
to her birthday today; and I know that for sure because we were there for a lot
of the fun. We weren’t invited to the
party or anything, but Mom and Dad opted for taking us to the breakfast buffet
at the Inn today instead of feeding all of us at home; and Hailey and Aiden
were there too with some of their family.
Their parents were busy at the bakery by then, since the day before
Easter is very busy for them; but grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were
all willing to help Hailey out with the breakfast buffet fun – and a lot of
kids were in town for another Easter weekend event.
That would be the first annual Easter Egg
Hunt in the park that the BMR lab sponsored.
Before I get to that part of the update, though; let’s back up and cover
the early morning story first.
It was cold this morning – barely above
freezing; so Tai Chi was indoors again today.
As I mentioned with the last report, Michael was working at the Inn this
morning; so we were one short for our workout.
That time was the quiet before the storm of activity that kept us busy
while everyone got up and ready to go out to the Inn and on to the Easter Egg
hunt from there. Mom, Ehlana, and I had
fun playing dress-up and doing hair with Jaimie and Kaitlyn; though two of the
boys were not impressed that we took so long getting ready – especially when we
had a short wait at the Inn before we could be seated for the buffet. Fortunately for Ethan and Jayden, we’re
fairly good friends with the owners of the Inn; and Miranda gave them each a
mini cinnamon bun to keep them happy until we were able to fill plates and sit
down to eat.
I went into the kitchen to say good morning
to all of my favorite people there, and though Michael got teased about our
fairly enthusiastic hug and kisses; he seemed happy enough when he got back to
work and I left to re-join my family in the dining room. The breakfast buffet isn’t the culinary
adventure that the dinners always are, but there are always one or two special
dishes to go along with the staple breakfast foods; and I enjoyed trying them
out along with my usual favorites – and didn’t have a problem with joining most
of our group for a second trip to the buffet tables.
Yes, there are advantages to having a
hyper-metabolism!
Working off the extra food wasn’t a problem
today anyway; since we wandered around town and did a bit of shopping until it
was time to go over to the park for the Easter Egg Hunt. There were lots of Easter sales going on in
the stores, and while I didn’t need any new outfits; one dress and a pair of
shoes refused to let me go home without them – and most of the other women in
our family had the same problem. I’m
including all of the girls because most of them were out shopping this morning
too – even though they didn’t join us for the breakfast buffet. We didn’t all try to shop together, but Aunt
Grace and Aunt Alison did join us; and we bumped into everyone else at least
once while making our way around town.
The shopping did mean making a pit stop at
home to drop off our purchases on the way to the park; and then it was time to
play again. I haven’t mentioned the
Easter Egg Hunt in my journal, but the Moms in our family came up with the idea
of doing a bigger hunt this year that all of the kids in the area could do; and
the town council didn’t have a problem with the plan once they found out that
it was all-expenses paid by BMR. Even
with the cool temperatures this morning, we had a great turnout; and Aunt Grace
and the other volunteers had put together an amazing couple of hours of fun for
everyone. I had a blast too, since I got
to run around with Zack, Leah, Hailey, and some of the other younger cousins
and friends. I ended up with the small
gang of toddlers because the KidZone friends wanted to hunt for eggs together,
and Robyn wanted to hang out with Leah.
I had lots of help with the kids; including having Jaimie and Kaitlyn
hanging out with us while also hunting for eggs too.
There were more than five hundred people at
the park, and about a half and half mix of adults and kids. The volunteers had hidden thousands of eggs,
so each kid was easily able to find at least a dozen eggs; even with the
over-achievers running around and gathering as many as they could find – or until
their baskets were full. Every egg had a
treat of some sort; and then there were also several hundred ‘prize’ eggs that
the kids took to a booth to trade in for the toy or candy that they won by
finding those special eggs. We made sure
that all of the kids in our group found at least one of those eggs; and I’m
fairly sure that the volunteers helped to make that happen for every kid – even
if they basically had to drop one right beside certain kids that weren’t having
much luck in the hunt. I can report for
sure that there were not any unhappy kids by the end of the event; and we definitely
had a fired up gang of kids with us when we went home again by shortly before
noon.
We had a barbeque lunch at Uncle Adam and
Aunt Leanne’s for everyone and a play afternoon in the combined
Carrington-Everett back yards; but the entertainment highlight of the afternoon
for me was the optional trail ride that only a handful of us went on. Rowen, Tim, and Michael all got to go with us
for that, which was awesome; and Jaimie was happy to come with us this year –
even though Kaitlyn didn’t get to do the trail ride despite really wanting to
ride too.
Maybe we’ll see about getting her into some
lessons this summer when they come to visit so she’ll be able to ride with us
later this year.
Michael had the afternoon off because of
helping out in the morning, but he also needed to be back at the Inn again
right after our ride so that he could help out with the dinner buffets. I could have helped out at the Inn today too,
but didn’t; and instead chose to spend the time with my family. Miranda and Jacob had the full staff
available thanks to the two holidays; so I wasn’t really needed anyway. When we got back from the ranch, it was play
time in the back yard; and I played everything at least once, including a game
of Frisbee and a short, toddler-sized soccer match. I was also on kid control until dinnertime;
and then got to have that meal with the grownups while other adults dealt with
getting the younger kids fed and watered.
That was fun, and I got to spend some
quality time with Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Grace. We talked about the construction and work at
the lab a bit; but mostly I got to hear about life in Granite Park for a while
and we discussed plans for the spring and summer. After wrapping up our meal with some ice
cream and apple pie, it was time for some of us to get to work; and I was on
the clean-up crew with half of the parents while the kids kept the rest of the
adults busy and entertained. It was time
to start winding down after that, and we all had quiet evenings at home
scheduled ahead of what is sure to be a long, very busy Easter Sunday.
Ethan, Ehlana, and I went home with Mom and
Dad at seven-thirty, and while Mom and Dad needed to do some work in the
office; I helped Ethan and Ehlana to get ready for bed and then we came up to
the lounge to watch a movie while waiting for Michael to join us once he was
finished at the Inn. He was set free early,
and only missed the first twenty minutes of the show – and cuddle time with
me. The rest of that time with my
brother and sister was fun, and so was getting them tucked in for the night
after that; but the alone time with Michael was the highlight of the night for
me – and hopefully for him too!
Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay together
and play for hours because we need to be at the church very early for the
sunrise service; but we did have as much fun as we could with the time
available. Michael went home at eleven;
Mom and Dad wrapped up their work in the office then; and then I helped them
out with playing the Easter Bunny before we came up to our rooms for the night. That was another little blast of fun; but I
was ready to hop into bed by then and Mandy was already there waiting for me to
join her.
I’ve only done the basic computer checks
tonight, and there wasn’t any family business work that needed to be done
tonight; so I’m actually going to be sleeping before midnight. That’s a good thing; since I need to get up by
four-ish and be at the church for five to get set up for the service. Yes, I could push that back a bit and use a
time phase to help out with getting ready in the morning; but then it would be
easier to do a self-healing when I’m tired.
If I just get to the napping, I won’t need
to do either, though; so that’s all for tonight folks, and, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
