What is it with weekends?

We always work so hard to see that our weekends involve as little work as possible. We generally go out and do something as a family either Friday evening or Saturday before vegging the rest of the weekend. Today... well. We decided to go to the Easter Egg Hunt over at one of the city buildings. I had my misgivings but the kids really wanted to do some egg hunting despite the eggs I hid last night and they spent most of the morning seeking. Our eggs even had way better candy than stinking City candy. But, oh well. So we trekked on over and arrived to find that various parts of the grounds were dedicated to different age groups. Cool, I thought, that's actually a really good idea.

Until we got to the K-2nd grade area. It seems that the heavily lopsided demographic, favoring kids 6 and younger, extends beyond our mostly-military ward. There were twice as many K-2nd graders as there were any older age group, and twice as many pre-schoolers as K-2nd's. What's more, each of these younger age groups had area dedicated to them in direct proportion to their age but inversely proportional to the number of children in said age group. Each area was roped off and, as soon as a countdown was completed, the whole flaming gaggle took off in a thick swarm, ducking and scooping like mini quarterbacks. Within 30 seconds, all visible eggs were gone. My poor Things 1 and 2 didn't get a single one. Thing 1 didn't even bother to try and stayed right next to me (adults weren't allowed on the grass). Thing 2 made a good effort but couldn't get past the crowd and wasn't aggressive enough to push through them. Let me repeat that: Tag wasn't aggressive enough... yeah, I was stunned too. Only imagine what the competition looked like. He was so sweet though, trying to be polite, his huge eyes shining at the sight of all those eggs he just couldn't quite get to in time. I watched him and saw the exact moment when he realized that all the eggs were gone and he wouldn't be getting any. Our worst misgivings were suddenly realized.

We ended up divided since Princess wanted to get in line for the bouncy houses but Tag wanted to get into the pony line. Princess got her 2 mins in the bouncy castle (the teeming throng didn't allow for much longer than that, and the lines were still staggering) and Tag got his 2 mins on the ponies. Pebbles loved looking at them but backed out of riding on one at the last minute. She loved petting the "doggies" and watching the "doggies" and saying hi to the "doggies". By the time we left she was finally calling them "ponies" but I could tell she thought we were nuts for giving them such a dumb name.

Princess was beside herself with grief over getting a mere 2 mins in the bouncy castle. She mourned all the way to the van that she didn't choose to stick around in line for what she was sure was her last chance to ever ride a pony but there was no way I was getting back into a 2 mile long line just so she could spend 2 mins on a Pony. Heartless mom? Perhaps. But my arms were ready to fall off after holding Pebbles for the first 2 mile long line. It also didn't help Princess' spirits that while in line a couple of kids gave Tag some eggs when they found out he hadn't gotten any. Thankfully he shared with Princess but nothing could heal her profoundly, unrelentingly, very noisily broken heart.

What didn't help even more was the seriously and distressingly creepy Easter Bunny who was making the rounds and scaring more adults than kids. I don't know what it is about Easter Bunnies... they're like clowns. There's something creepily pathetic and disturbed about them.

Oh well. Chipotle makes everything better so that's where we went for lunch. After that we sat in the sun and ate drippy Coldstone cones. Today was the first semi-hot day we've had a long while and the sun tasted almost as good as Cake Batter ice cream with Cookie Dough mix in. It's nice to walk around the outdoor mall with all the flowers in full bloom, no clouds, cool ocean breeze, and no one was there because they were all still standing in line to ride ponies a few miles away.

We did stumble across a Police Officer Bake Sale. It was the most bizarre bake sale I've ever seen though. They were selling all store-bought items. Sadly, Cold Stone was still weighing heavily on the stomach and lightly on the wallet so we let the kids sit on the Police Motorcycle and they each got those cool badge stickers but we didn't contribute to their Good Cause by buying a bakery croissant or Muffin of Unusual Size (Sorry, Adelheide). Princess felt better after sitting on the motorcycle. It wasn't quite as neat as a pony since the motorcycle wasn't actually moving (can you imagine? "ok kiddies, hold on with two hands while we walk you around the parking lot on this motor cycle... don't touch the siren button! or the gas! whoa! catch that kid!") but it was better than nothing.

Anyway, then we headed home where all the kids went down for rest time. Ahhhhh.. Rest time. It's a beautiful thing.

Pics forthcoming. Man is on the big computer tonight. :)

By the way, I'm just going to take a moment to set the entire world straight.

Chipotle.

Chip. ot. le.

Chip. Oat. Lay.

Now say it fast. Chip.Oat.Lay.

'Mkay?

It isn't Chip.Olt.Ay.
It isn't Chip.Olt.Ee.
It isn't Chip.Ott.Uhl.
It isn't That-Burrito-Place-I-Can't-Pronounce (even if I give you full credit for honesty).

Chip.Oat.Lay.

Chipotle.

Thank you.