Spring! Spring! Spring! ...and our first egg hunt.

If the weather was a person I'd have to call him a serious tease.  Lately we've had these gloriously sunny days...but, there are dark looming rainclouds in the sky and occasionally the sun will disappear behind one and the wind picks up and....

Then the sun comes back out.

But not before I've packed it all up and we're ready to head home after the first raindrop hits the pavement...

So out comes all the stuff - which is a whole other topic in and of itself...how did I become a woman who carries around so much STUFF?

Regardless...it all comes back out and then the sun disappears again...and we start the process all over again...

We've been spending a lot of time outside to enjoy the weather in the parks around base...the one in the photos below, however. was in some serious need of a garbage pickup...

 

Today we took a bike ride to Little Mike Lake for our first Easter Egg hunt.  The girls (i.e. Maddie)  were SOOOOO excited.  We decorated our little easter egg bags and hopped on our bikes to ride to the park.

We got there just in time to line up before they blew the whistle and off ran the kids.  Bella was shocked...she just stood and stared at the mass of children and adults barrelling into the park.  We lost track of Maddie immediately...I searched and searched to try and get a photo, but no luck...

So, Bella and I found ONE egg...tucked on the crook of the park bench.

She carried it around for awhile...and I think she was quite proud of that cool little purple egg ...and you'll notice it matches her little sweatsuit.

And then she dropped it without me noticing so the nice guy who was running the show gave her a handful of chocolate eggs and she was even HAPPIER with that because, well, purple eggs don't taste as good.

20 minutes late when we finally tracked Maddie down I made them pose for a few shots.  Maddie chose her pink and blue hair ribbons and we gave her droopy "bunny ears" hair.  Such simple pleasures at age 7!

Bella, on the other hand, was most uncooperative and refused to look at the camera...You'll notice her wandering eye in all these shots.  I tried everything from singing her favorites (Wheels on the bus and How much is that doggie" to doing a version of the boogie woogie to try and catch her eye.  Apparently I'm just not that interesting to look at...

It really was a glorious day...well, other than Madmad being grounded from her bike for the rest of the day. 

Because OF COURSE you can't have a glorious day without a touch of drama...you see, on the way home, Madmad committed two big infractions that caused this grounding from her bike...  First, she crossed the street while riding her bike and without a parent.  Not only did she once ride her bike into a stopped car when we were once crossing a crosswalk (so now she has to walk her bike across because she's still an unbalanced rider), but she barrelled across this street without even looking for cars. 

Then when I scolded her she threw her helmet on the ground.  Seriously?  And if you know me you know that my Seriously? face let Madmad know immediately that she was in some big trouble.    I was prepared to open a can of mama whoopass, but instead she lost privileges for her bike AND helmet...which means no scooter or rollerskates either.  And that meant she had to run her bike the rest of the way home.  Muwhahahahahaha....

Before you think I'm an ogre - it was only about two blocks and she's only grounded for the day...