Actually, we spent not much of Easter in the Barn. We woke here, to be sure, and discovered that the Easter Bunny had decided to continue the long-held Behr family tradition of filling baskets with supersized bags of Doritos.
Log ago, before she had any clear concept of how Easter was supposed to work, Robbi’s mom Seiko (who immigrated from Japan in her mid-20s, if you don’t know) learned from a friend of hers that you’re supposed to “fill baskets with treats” and present them to your children on Easter morning. Seiko went to the grocery store, looked around, and grabbed the best treats she could find. Hence, the Dorito tradition was born.
The kids were pleased with their haul. But Doritos were not the only Easter treat. Grandpa John showed up with a box of pastries from Evergrain.
After stuffing ourselves with sun buns, muffins, and the like, we headed over to Bob’s yard for an egg hunt. For some reason, the Easter Bunny had decided to hide our loot there. Perhaps it had something to do with our lack of a yard.
The kids fanned out and set to work.
Many delightful discoveries followed.
As did various Easter-motivated photography.
After we had liberated all colorful plastic objects from Bob’s yard, we continued our tour of Queen Street, heading a few blocks further to my mom’s house, where we proceeded to plant the sprouts we’ve been growing in the window box for the past few weeks. And by “we,” I mean Robbi and the kids. My thumbs are not green. I do not understand the horticultural impulse.
Robbi, on the other hand, is all about it.
Later, we packed some sandwiches and headed to the “rainbow” playground of Centerville. The kids love it for its multi-colored slides and wooden train.
The day was sunny (if somewhat crisp), so we took out the football and tried to teach August a thing or two.
But he seemed to already know how it worked.
Grip the ball while running wildly toward your opponent, doing everything possible to keep him from taking it away from you.
I didn’t say he was any good at it.
Easter culminated with a salmon feast followed by popsicles on the back deck. Alden and Kato used the occasion to conspire about something or other.
Easter is in the books for another year. The children have just gone to bed, so now we will go through their baskets and throw away all but a few small pieces of candy. When they inquire, we will feign ignorance, smile sweetly, and remind them that Halloween is just six months away.
