Happy Easter

Hello Friends, The birds were singing,  the flowers in bloom and the sun was shining on this bright and blue Saturday morning before Easter.  Welcome to a tradition unlike any other, the Tiffany Park Annual Easter Egg Hunt.

Volunteers spend hours carefully placing hundreds of eggs throughout the Tiffany Park grounds.  After these preparations are made,  children of all ages are unleashed on the soggy grounds in search of this eggs

This was Zach Ellis' first attempt at the games,  and he got off to an unusual start.  Rather than using his speed to his advantage he choose to ham it up for the camera.  If you notice in the background,  other participants had a significant head start.
Zach eventually got to work;  on the left is a picture of him showing both his athletic prowess and keen intellectual ability.   In one smooth motion he is  able to scoop an from the ground and into his basket, all the while keeping his head up and on a swivel looking for his next victim, err, I meant egg.    

Tyler,  as a more inexperience hunter, was invited to participate on a novice course,  but refused the invitation.  Instead choosing to compete on the main stage with his brother. 
This was a high risk, high reward strategy; as he was at a significant disadvantage in size, speed, and his understanding of the game.  After a few moments of observing the competition and receiving some instruction from a coach,  Tyler engaged in the hunt.  




As you see Tyler's size actually became natural advantage.  With his closeness to the ground, he was able to quickly scoop eggs of the ground.

His size also gave him a unique perspective that allowed him to see eggs that were missed by the taller children in their haste.

He did need some assistance in holding the basket,  and an official ruling from a nearby marshall allowed this assistance to be given.  As you can see he was able to find a number of eggs. and was able to compete successfully in the Hunt.







Here is a picture from the Easter morning Hunt at the House.  Jeff and an associate had spent the evening before hiding the eggs.  In this picture you can see one of the more clever placements. 


Despite the closeness of his head,  and the egg being at his eye level, he was never able to find this egg.   I may need to ensure I have opted for full vision insurance coverage for my family. 

In the last post I showed the boys coloring eggs with Kool Aid.  Here is a picture of the result.  Its not quite the vibrant colors of traditional dyes,  but I like the earthily feel of the eggs. very primitive.

Easter Clothes!  While they each got nice clothes,  they did choose to coordinate.  Tyler is playing with Rock-em Sock-em finger puppets from Wendy's.  Such an appropriate activity on Easter Morning.  



Here is Zach in his new blazer.  Looking Good.

This is the first photo in an interesting series of photo's that I will not publish.  You can see Tyler is looking at Zach.  For the pictures,  at mom's (indirect)request, Zach had taken one of the finger puppets. This was an effort to get Tyler to smile for the picture.  This did not happen.  Tyler did not appreciate Zach's efforts and  a fisticuffs quickly ensued.  This resulted in wailings and gnashing of teeth.

 HAPPY EASTER!!

Saturday Afternoon Hike

The great thing about soccer games at 9:15 in the morning is that you still have the rest of your day to engage in important activities.  The bad thing,  is that no matter how the day is going to end up, weather wise, 9:15 on a spring morning in Seattle is always going to be cold.   This Saturday would start like any other.  Except after the Soccer games,  Jeff and I had to coral six boys, under the age of six, through the rite of passage know as picture day.  Not only do they have to wait in line,  sit still, smile,  sit still again,  say cheese, and smile in coordination with the other boys,  they have to do the first part of this holding onto a piece of paper.  I am glad its done,  but had I known how this was going to go,  I wold not have volunteered with Jeff.

So pictures are finally done and we head back to the house for a quick lunch and then its off to Mt. Si for a hike. Think about this:  After herding six, six year old boys from 9:15 until 11:30;  I volunteer to take a 2 year old,  a 5 year old, and a 33 year old woman who is 4 months pregnant on a hike.   Read this description of the hike from the website referenced above:   The climb is 4,167 feet (1,270 meters) and 4 miles from the parking lot to the summit plateau. 

The Trail head is a bit of 40min drive away and both boys fell asleep on the journey.  When we arrived at the parking lot we noticed that each and every car at the trail head had a yellow pass hanging from the rear-view or placed in a conspicuous manner on the dashboard.  I asked Shannon were our yellow thingy was,  and she didn't have an answer.   After familiarizing ourselves with the surroundings we discovered we needed to purchase a Discovery Pass to use the trail head.   Back to North Bend we went.  

View Larger Map

Pass in hand,  we were now, finally, read to hike.    In case you've forgotten the main characters in our story, here is a brief recap:

• Zach, the above mentioned 5 year old,  likes to win.  In hiking this means being in the front of the line, at any cost, as we hike up the Mountain.  
• Tyler, the 2 year old, likes his brother Zach.  This means even though his legs are significantly shorter,  and his muscles significantly less developed,  he thinks he can do everything his brother can.  
• Shannon, the pregnant women, can't carry a 2 year old if he gets tired and still thinks this hike is a good idea. 
• Brian, the Sherpa.  

It starts out great.  Both boys are troopers and we have many chances to take a break as we stop and let people pass.  As we get higher though,  the difference in speed between the boys becomes obvious.  Zach still likes to stop and rest but by the time Tyler gets there,  Zach is ready to go.  Tyler doesn't get a break.

 As Tyler grows tired, any log, or rock in the middle of the trail that is Tyler sized become a bench. As we approach each bench Tyler announces, "I sit down now".   For the hike,  Tyler didn't bring his cars,  but he does decide he needs to carry rocks with him.  While each break is short,  he does want to look around and see if he can find any upgrades to the rocks he has in his hands.

We didn't make it far,  though the elevation climb was a great workout. It was fun for the family and eventually we will get the boys trained enough to make it all the way to the top.











Sunday Evening

We found ourselves kicked out of our house for two hours,  and needing to kill some time.  I thought,  its time to visit West Seattle.  Maybe not the best idea in April.  Even though it feels warm in Renton,  the strong breeze off the water keeps West  Seattle is a little colder.  First we drove by the old apartments.






Then we went by the park.  Tyler is cold.  But Lincoln Park is awesome.  We learned that Tyler doesn't fear other children.  While Zach was off somewhere else,  Tyler started calling on older boy, "Ukulele Boy."  The older boy didn't know what to do.  This has since become a recurring event.

Here we are throwing rocks in the ocean.  Tyler's form is getting better.  Zach is showing him how it is done here.  Zach's form is great as always.

This picture captures the cold, despite the signs of spring.

Easter Preperations

Getting Ready for Easter!

These are big cookies! We did have to explain, more than once, that the cookies could be eaten over time, they didn't need to be eaten all at once.

Egg Coloring with Kool Aid?: 5 Questions

1.  Kool Aid?  At least it smelled good (I forgot how good Kool Aid smells good!
2. Isn't the best part of coloring eggs supposed to be the funny "spoon" they give you for dipping the eggs?
3. Sitting on the counter, am I supposed to allow this?
4. Is Pinterest to blame for this? 
5. Kool Aid?  "OH YEAH!"

Tyler broke the first egg.  This is a shot shortly after it happened.  I don't think he was too broken up about it.

Here is an action shot.  This egg is dying.










They boys are doing an eggcellent job of focusing on the coloring effort.

It didn't last long.  They were over, easily before  the eggs were done.  So how do you like your eggs?    

Conference Saturday

Itinerary for the day:

• MRE Community Project; 9:00 AM
• Brian Ellis - HOA president
• KYSA Soccer Game 9:15 AM
• Zach - Participant
• Brian - Assistant Head Coach
• Jeff - Assistant to the Head Coach
• 1st Session of the 182nd General Conference; 9:00 AM
• Thomas Monson - Prophet; presiding
• Clean the Church; 9:00 AM - rescheduled to 11:00 AM
• Shannon Ellis - Bathrooms (in light of her recent experience she is regarded as the expert here)
• Jeff - Windows
• Zach - Trash Cans
• Brian - Best Boy Vaccum
• Tyler - Assistant to Best Boy Vaccum
• Lunch; TBD
• Wendy - Queen of Dollar menu;  Spicy Chicken; Frosty(s)
• 2nd Session of the 182nd General Conference; 1:00 PM
• Thomas Monson - Prophet; presiding
• MRE - Spring Clean Brian's Yard;  TBD
• Brian Ellis - Principal Lifter of the yard was bin
• Zach Ellis - First Adviser to the Principal Lifter
• Shannon Ellis - Primary Filler of the yard waste bin (she did it once)
• Tyler Ellis - Supervisor to the Primary Filler
• 9 Holes of Golf; 4:07 PM
• Late Afternoon Sunshine; (not scheduled) 
• NOAA - Refusing to issue the correct forecast since 1970.
• Dinner 5:00 ish
• Pappa Murphy
• Clean up - and get ready to do it again

Conference weekend is often assumed in the church to be a holiday weekend.  Assignments aren't given,  extra meetings aren't held and most importantly normal church services are cancelled.  Instead,  we fill our weekend watching the choir sing and the church leaders speak to us in High Definition at home while we sit on our couch.  More importantly to Seattleites,  the early April meeting often gives us an excuse to stay indoors during a cool and wet spring day.  Alas,  no such luck for the Ellis Family.  Oh it was definetly a cool  and wet spring day.  The type of day that made Starbucks possible.  The type of day where sane people pull the blanket up over their heads and stay in bed, or watch moves (read conference) on the couch.  

When they passed around a sign up sheet to volunteer to clean the church at 9:00 AM on Saturday Morning,  Shannon signed up the Ellis family.  She did this despite knowing we had a soccer game at 9:15 AM, the General Conference was at 9:00 AM, and that I had a community project that was supposed to occur at 9:00 AM;   Of course we could fit it in.  

I awoke that morning to the soothing steady drumming of a hard rain. For a moment my brain relaxed and enjoyed the peacefulness.  I turned and looked at the clock,  it was 6:30 AM.  The forecast had been for showers to start in the afternoon with temps hoovering around 50.   I thought,  at least it won't be cold.

We enjoyed some waffles and then I went out to check the temp.  It was cold. Shannon's car later told us it was only in the high 30's.  The community project was cancelled. It had rained hard all night,  actually all week and it was just too soggy and cold to clean up the park.  I agreed to stand out in the park for awhile just in case someone showed up...  I would send them home.   The assistant to the head coach went early for the warm-ups.  After standing in the rain at home,  I went to stand in the rain at soccer.  It was cold.  Zach's hands were cold (kid needs to wear gloves).  He took my gloves and looked like a goalie.  My hands were now cold.  They still don't have all the feeling back in them.   Zach was a little slow today...  I mean he was fast,  it just took him a few minutes to get things going.  Zach scored a couple of goals himself,  and had another great assist on a throw in.


After Soccer we went to the church to begin cleaning.  Due to soccer we had missed the morning session of conference.  Hopefully we can make it up in overtime, or some other time.

Cleaning:  We suckered the Jeff in to helping us. That was good.  He washed the windows. I hate that job.

Zach kind of helped everyone out a little bit.  Here is his finding trash cans.

Tyler wanted to help me vacuum.  I thought it would be fun.  So I hauled an extra vacuum to the chapel.  I set him up in an open area and showed him how it worked.  He went to work immediately.  He looked like he was doing well.  So I stopped him and turned the vacuum on.  He  did not like that.  So I turned it off and let him go about his work, although much less efficient.  It wasn't long before he was finished.  Luckily some friends showed up and he spend the next 2 hours running around the church.

We stopped at Wendy's, because it was on the way home.  The dollar menu is awesome and we enjoyed a lot of food.  Tyler likes the Frosty.  Zach likes the fries. He was sneaking Tyler's fries while Tyler was pre-occupied with the Frosty.  Tyler wants to drink it,  not eat it with a spoon.  But it doesn't work that way.  Eventually he gave up.  Zach wasn't ready and got caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar,  or in the case the fries.

When we got home Zach helped me hoist the yard waste bin into the the yard waste dumpster.  When I had the bin above my head,  but couldn't quite get it into the dumpster, Zach informed me it was too heavy.  When I opened the bin and started giving him sticks to throw in one at a time he informed me it would take all day.  So we compromised,  we took enough out of the bin so to lighten it enough for me to throw it in.  When we got back to the house he told me we should take another load.  So I went to the downed trees.  He didn't follow me and I didn't see him again for a couple of hours.

We then played 9 holes of golf on the kinnect.

The sun came out,  about the time the forecasters had told us to expect hard rains.  It was nice to let some sun hit our faces,  though it was still cold.  For a few moments it felt like spring.  Hear are the boys resting for a moment on the driveway,  looking at the clouds.


Had some Pizza for dinner that frustrated Tyler.  Cheese is hard.  We watched an episode of Curious George on the Netflix.  I am sure we will be watching it again in less then 12 hours.  Its not even 8:30 and all is quiet.  I am sure that everyone including mom is asleep.  It was a busy and long day,  but a good one.