Easter and a 70th birthday

Our hardwood floors got their last two coats of finish on Saturday.

They look lighter here than in real life.

While the finish dried, we took a quick trip to Idaho to celebrate Ted’s mom’s 70th. In lieu of a big party we’ll all go kayaking in Alaska this summer, but we couldn’t let the day go by without bringing our wishes in person.

Streamers, a huge piñata, and Papa adorn the living room.

Kathy admiring the birthday album Ted and Sam put together for her.

Sam and Neala with Lulu the Lap Dog; GBones with Sam’s ukelele

me with Ted the Lap Dog

Ted in a rare moment in front of the camera. (By the way, his shirt says: “If you must smoke, please smoke salmon.”)

Before bed we colored a few eggs.

Hank focuses on his design while GBones wonders when someone—anyone—will come rescue him.

The festivities continued this morning with a birthday breakfast…

Kathy blowing 70 away

…and an egg hunt, which the boys enjoyed as much as they always have. It just entails more running, wrestling and competition than it used to.

GBones checks out his Easter basket on the tractor seat. 

Bedhead Hank finds his basket, too.

Lulu wonders if there’s an egg or two for her.

Papa made things more interesting this year by burying a few eggs with coins in them and then giving the boys a metal detector. Also known as Egg Hunting: The X-Games.

Hal loved it, but because of his obsession with Man vs. Wild, we’re thinking that next year we’ll see if Papa can hide eggs in an animal carcass or we can make sure all the eggs are raw. And from vultures. Who are nearby. Perhaps something like this. Now that would be an Easter egg hunt.

With the anticlimax of our man vs. front yard egg hunt behind us, it was off to celebrate Easter with Kathy’s other family, her wonderful congregation at First Presbyterian.

When we got home, and before the boys tore out of their Easter clothes, we got Papa to pose for a family portrait by including the tractor. Luckily John Deere green worked with this year’s color scheme.

Ted then rallied the boys for their annual Easter portraits with their baskets. I hope they’ll put up with this tradition for at least a couple more years.

2007. How they’ve changed. Now we’d have to pay them to get them to hug.

Grayson couldn’t wait until after lunch to tear into his chocolate Easter bunny. As he bit into the ear he looked up with surprise and said, “It’s solid?? Man, Mom, you’ve stepped it up this year!” His joy was short- lived, however, as he soon realized that only the ears were solid. But at least my stock rose briefly. (Note to self: Do not risk son’s despair next Easter. Search world to find solid bunny.)

After lunch we briefly interrupted our otherwise pastoral Easter by smashing the daylights out of the birthday piñata. It was strangely therapeutic, as were the malted milk eggs that came pouring out of it.

We ended the day in perfect weather—with just a hint of the recent snow still visible—with a walk up the mountain to sprinkle poppy seeds near the final resting spot of our beloved Grandmommy Mary, “GG,” and to breathe in the vast and soothing view of the Palouse.

Now we’re gliding home quietly in the dark, so glad we came, and knowing that our feline girls will greet us at the door as if they’ve been abandoned and starved for weeks. It’s good to be needed.

Sending Happy Easter wishes from the road.