Easter!

We had a two-day Easter celebration this year - lots of fun, lots of candy, three hunts for plastic candy-stuffed eggs, lots of egg dying, and a traditional roast leg of lamb with potatoes and carrots. And I made carrot cake, of course!

On Saturday morning, we walked down to check out the Forest Heights Easter egg hunt, at Mill Pond. They've run the hunt some years but not others - my memory is of hundreds of eggs in a field, and a scrum of children racing to grab them as quickly as possible. This year, only the youngest kids got to toddle around an open field; everyone over 4 had to run around the pond, searching in the bushes and trails for the somewhat hidden Easter eggs. It was still all over in 10 minutes, but it was fun and worth the walk. Lots of the kids' friends were there as well and it was good to see everyone after spring break.

While I went for a run in Forest Park, I put the kids to work stuffing Easter eggs for the neighborhood hunt... genius parenting!

In the afternoon, we were invited to a neighborhood potluck and Easter egg hunt. The whole shebang came together through a monumental group text on Thursday afternoon, at the impetus of the master organizer Courtney (Jasper's brother's mother). It was impromptu and easy and super fun -- these are our friends who live across the street (sort of - the cul de sac on the other side of the school), so we all walked over/out and gathered in Mieke's driveway at 3:30 for festivities. There were about 7 families all together, and a scrum of children running, riding scooters, playing basketball, and having a water fight. The adults hid Easter eggs for a hunt in the school's backyard garden, which was very successful, and then we had potato sack races on the field. First there were kid teams, then each kid for him/herself, then the grownups, and then intra-family races. It was hysterical. Courtney had boiled an absurd number of eggs --  10 dozen? -- and we all set about dying them with various patterns. And then we had a crazy egg toss, throwing actual hard-boiled eggs at each other on the street. Sebastian and I came in third. So fun! Such a mess!

Sunday was a quieter day, but just as enjoyable. I made blueberry-banana pancakes with extra berries for breakfast. The kids each got a basket full of chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs and jelly beans, and then we hid eggs all over the house and they raced to find them. Steve made the hunt harder this year and it actually took the kids a long time to find all the eggs hidden in various nooks, crannies, books, baskets, pockets, drawers, pots...

Then we took a family hike on the Wildwood - it was time to burn off a little of our excess sugar and energy and let Jasper romp the woods.

 Trilliums!! Must be spring in Oregon!

In the afternoon, the kids read books and played with some friends while we did house chores and cooked a feast. I roasted a leg of lamb with potatoes, carrots and brussels sprouts, made a radicchio-apple salad and pickled radishes, and then baked a carrot cake for dessert.

sunset play in the dunes

We had a picnic/snack lunch most days, and then an early dinner, which meant that we could spend the sunset hour back out exploring - this was south of Reedsport at the Umpqua Lighthouse park. We discovered that if the dune hill was steep enough, you could slide down it -- like sledding - on your bottom. It was pretty fun to climb up and slide down and we all did it over and over.

It was such a gorgeous evening, with the sun going down over the Pacific, and the sky cleared up, and thus these long shadows over the sand.

Taylor Dune trail; trail buggy ride; Honeyman park exploration

On Wednesday the kids once again enjoyed bacon, waffles, and television in our hotel room before starting the day's adventure.

Our first stop was a short hike at Taylor Dunes - the hike went through forest, open dunes, grassy dunes, and some marshy habitat - really cool. We saw 34 of these tiny critters (salamander?) in the forest near Carter Lake.

We had expected to hike until the trail dead-ended at the ocean, but were thwarted by deep pools of water lying across and surrounding the trail in a low-lying spot. We couldn't see a way to get through or around the marshy water to the ocean, which was probably less than a half a mile ahead. So we turned around and took a loop back, and it was fine.

Next up: a dune buggy adventure ride! Sebastian was leery; Liesl was excited. It turned out to be really fun, not scary or motion-sickness-inducing, and a great way to get out into the dunes and see everywhere. I can see the appeal of ATVs in this terrain. Our guide was great and very informative about the vegetation, the animals, the sand and wind patterns, the history of the area. We went across the open plains, through the forest and swamp water, and along the open beach. We went down a couple of really steep hills - I would guess a 70 degree angle - which made us all screech a little in fun terror. It was great.

After the trail ride, we headed to Honeyman State Park for a picnic lunch and some on-foot exploration of the dunes. We ran up, we slid down, we tromped around, we got tired and sunburned. It was a grand adventure.

We came back down to Cleawox Lake, where we tried (unsuccessfully) to get Jasper to swim by throwing a ball into the shallow lake. It was fun to see him try, but he was clearly nervous - kept trying to paddle at the water with his paws to bring the ball closer, but with his back paws solidly on land.