Easter Morning

"Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy."

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

The hunt began...

There was no getting dressed first, even though it was 7:00 a.m. and quite cold outside. 

The sun was just coming up. The eggs were hidden everywhere.

 The excitement was palpable.

 

The Bean... the wild man with wild hair.

 We even got an email from the Easter Bunny.

 Amazing technology!

 There was no doubt that Easter had arrived.

Later, after Breakfast, they settled in for some quiet time.

I even got Little Bean to pose for a formal portrait.

And The Bean settled into a Lego induced relaxation mode.

I took the boys outside for a while to give mommy, daddy and Papa a rest.  

We went out back and decorated the concrete with chalk.

 When Noni asked them if they wanted to go for a hike, they took a few seconds to decide...

(Oh, that hair.)

And then...

Off they ran, up the road, leaving Noni to catch up.

"Hey! Wait for me." I called out... and they did.

We went to the Manzanita grove on the next knoll beyond the old orchard.

 Where the fox live in dens around the trunks of trees.

It's were the wild things live. 

This is a magical place. 

 We learned about poison oak and what it looked like.

How a plant can be so small that you will step on it and not notice... or it can grow into the oak trees, become like a huge vine and makes the oak tree unclimbable.

 They learned that it is beautiful, has three leaves and the new leaves are shiny and tinged with red.

By the time we left, the Beans were able to tell me what poison oak looks like and could show it to me.

Yea, Beans!!

We talked about wild things and where they go when we humans arrive. How they are watching us and keep their distance until we leave. 

We collected special rocks and "cool" things. 

As we walked back down to the house, Little Bean spotted some holes in the hillside. He said that this was were the Rattlesnakes sleep until Summertime. 

Another good lesson learned.

They all left after lunch. 

The dogs, Papa and Noni took a long nap. 

We miss you, Beans. 

We love you all.

Come back soon.