Ben apparently wanted to get an early start on Easter 2015 this morning by waking up before it was even light out (normally he sleeps until 8ish). Luckily for me, I'd already been outside hiding the Easter eggs in the backyard.
So Ben began his Easter with an egg hunt in the drizzly-wet morning, and then moved on to playing with his Easter basket (containing insect-shaped eggs, a set of mini plastic tools, bubbles, and CANDY). This was Ben's real first go at true, mass-produced candy and let's just say he enjoyed his chocolate bunny and marshmallow peeps even more than I would have (which is saying something).
After needing a good hosing-off from all the sticky food, Clay took him to the park to work some of the sugar. The excess craziness still hadn't worn off by this afternoon, though, because he spent a really long time talking and laughing to himself in his crib during nap time, but never did fall asleep. Apparently there is a good reason we don't ever give Ben candy.
This past week, Ben and I also had a lot of fun dyeing eggs with our good friend, Tina and her son. I think she and I got more pleasure out of the dyeing process than the kids did, but at least they (mostly) let us dye in peace. I also found a couple of good "hacks" for Easter eggs online: using a baby nose-suctioner for blowing out eggs, and putting a hard-boiled egg inside a whisk to help a toddler dye with less mess. This year I turned the blown eggs I dyed into birds for my Easter tree, which was a lot of fun too.
...AND some wildflower pictures, too
"Let's go catch some!"
I had one of the best vacations of my adult life this past weekend when we joined my sister, my older brother, and his wife at a beach house on Crystal Beach, Texas. While the name "Crystal Beach" is clearly just a marketing ploy (the water is just as silty as every other part of the Texas gulf), the beach was not crowded, and we could walk the two blocks from the house we rented to the beach with ease.
Ben was super duper excited to go to the beach as well, and he even got pretty brave splashing in the surf (until a larger wave knocked him and his uncle sideways). After that, Ben retreated above the waterline and played in puddles. He had so much fun-- and I got to have an awesome amount of fun, too, since there was a rotation of five loving adults to help watch over him. I feel like it's been at least ten years since I really got to play neck-deep in the waves, and it was incredible! 
There were only two downsides to Crystal Beach. First, the fact that Crystal Beach is on the Bolivar Peninsula, and you have to either take the 1 hour+ ferry or drive 1 hour+ from Galveston. And second, the enormous, stick-to-you even-as-as-you-walk-in-the-wind monster mosquitoes: super gross. Luckily, the giant mosquitoes stayed pretty close to the ground, so because the beach house was up on stilts, the porch was mostly safe from the disgusting blood-suckers. 
Last Wednesday Ben had been pretty sick with a virus, but was luckily recovered completely by the time we left for the coast on Friday. It was fantastic to have my sister ride in the backseat with him for the 5-6 hour car trip and keep him entertained the whole way. Without her, I would have been a wreck by the time we arrived! 
