Easter Extravaganza

Strap yourselves in, this update is a long one.

Quinn was pretty excited this morning. He got up thinking he was going to be able to dye Easter Eggs as soon as he got up. He was working with this bowl of water, but didn't want to get his hand wet, so he put on a dishwashing glove. It was a lot funnier in person. He eventually got a little disappointed when he found out we weren't going to be coloring Easter Eggs until after the church event today. But then he perked back up when 1) Nana arrived and 2) he realized today was the Easter Extravaganza community event at our church. It's when they basically pull out all the stops and put on this really cool activity day for the kids. Without a doubt I'm sure they're hoping that some people that come will start coming to regular services, but they don't push that aspect of it at all.

When we got there, the place was already packed. There were just a ton of people that showed up for this. They had Easter Egg hunts scheduled though the morning. We got there later than we wanted and missed the first one (10:15 AM) for kids Quinn and Catherine's age (the 4 and under kids). So we ended up signing up for the second Egg Hunt for that age group. Here's the part I don't understand, we get there, and the first thing the kids want to do is get in the Moonbounce they have. I mean, we have one of these at home. Admittedly it's smaller, but still. Anyway, the kids waited patiently in line, and then were bouncing around in it when not even two minutes after they got in Catherine got smashed by one of the bigger kids. It was very odd, there were like 6 kids in there, all around the same age, then this one kid who was had to be between 8 and 10 was just completely out of place. We have the incident on tape, but even after reviewing the tape, we still can't tell what exactly happened (other kids were blocking the view at critical times). The end result being that Catherine's knee got hit pretty bad, and that she couldn't really stand or put weight on it. Well, she could, but it was hurting her pretty bad and if she put too much weight on it she would just collapse. I was pretty convinced that because she could stand on it even a little that it was probably going to be okay, but for a while, Ginger thought we might end up having to run by the hospital.



From that point on, Catherine didn't do a lot of walking for the rest of the time we were there and insisted on being carried. At first she was pretty adamant that only Ginger could carry her, but eventually later in the day she let me take over on hauling duties. Once Quinn was out of the moonbounce, he was off to see the Emergency vehicles. While Quinn was off at the trucks, Catherine rode a pony. They had four ponies, and they started out letting people ride them around the house twice, but as the line got longer and longer, they eventually cut rides down to one time around the house (this happened about 6 rides prior to Catherine getting to the front of the line). Of the four ponies, there were different sizes. Two for little kids that were maybe four feet tall, and a couple of bigger ones. Catherine insisted on riding what I think was the biggest one. It was huge compared to her. And oddly, they weren't really strapping the kids in or anything (I kept worrying that she was going to fall off).

After that it was about time for the kids Easter Egg hunt. I don't have photos of this (I have some video that may make it onto the web at some point), but let me just say it was chaos. It was just crazy. All these 4 and under kids running around grabbing eggs. Quinn eventually got so many in his basket he literally couldn't fit anymore in it without them falling off. Since Catherine was limping around at this point, Quinn eventually helped her get some eggs for her basket. It didn't look like they were going to fill Catherine's until Catherine removed the tarp from a wheelbarrel and found a motherload of eggs. Afterwards everyone went through their plastic eggs and got their candy out. Ginger had brought along "Catherine approved" candy that she would swap out whenever Catherine got a Reese Cup or some other candy on the non peanut approved list.

Quinn then tried his hand at some of the games they had set up. And then we all went inside the church and rested for a bit (and the kids starting eating their way through their newly acquired candy loot). We needed the break, it was a gorgeous day, but hot. And it was nice and cool inside the church. After we got our batteries recharged, we headed back outside for a bit. By this time, Catherine was letting me carry her. Of course, she gets heavy just lugging her around after a while, so I put her up on my shoulders. I think she likes riding up there better anyway.

Quinn wasn't interested in getting his picture taken with any of the characters they had wandering around. They had quite a few people wandering around in costumes. There was Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jesse, Snow White, and Belle that I can remember. Catherine even got her picture taken here with the Easter Bunny.

To wrap things up, we got some face painting done. Quinn got a bird painted on his cheek, and Catherine got a snowman and a butterfly on her hands. None of the drawings were what I would call professional quality, but they were all better than I could have done. As we were leaving, the kids checked out the police cruiser that was there, and then we were off. The kids seemed to have a ton of fun. Quinn seemed to enjoy it a lot more than Catherine, but Catherine was probably still recovering from hurting her knee.

After getting home and having a bit of lunch (neither kid ate much, I can't imagine why, I wonder if they could have gotten full eating something else) the kids took a nice long nap. I took one too and eventually Ginger took one also. After the kids got up, Catherine was to the point where she could at least walk around, even though she was limping quite a bit. We then set up the kids with some eggs for coloring. Quinn colored the majority of the eggs, while Catherine took her time and colored just two or three eggs. While coloring that last egg though, she must have put it into every color at least 4 times. And I think she dropped the egg and cracked it at least 4 times as well. She was a mess when she was finally done.

While Ginger was making dinner, Quinn went outside and played for a bit. He practiced batting for a while. I eventually got Catherine to come outside too (to check her plants and to water them). I then left the kids in Nana's charge, while I wandered to take a couple pictures and pick up all the toys the kids had gotten out. Not sure exactly what they were playing on or around outside, but when they came in, they were covered with dirt and had to have their second bath of the day.

As for me, I managed to get this picture. I kind of like how it turned out.