Happy Easter

I have to admit I had a pretty idilic childhood, and part of that was making the most of holidays.  Nicole and I are trying our best to do the same for Madeline, blending family traditions from when we were young and some new ones well suited to our current lifestyle.
Because my work schedule is crazy now and I may not get another day off in the next few months, I wanted to take this weekend to spend time at home and make the most of the holiday.  Saturday morning saw Nicole at the democratic caucus while I spent time with Madeline.  When Nicole was done, I made a quick run to work to line out my workaholic crew for the next couple days, while Nicole and Madeline headed to the elementary school down the block for an Easter egg hunt.  Typical rainy Sitka weather didn't seem to keep anyone inside, and the kids made quick work of the 8,000 eggs they had set out.  We took advantage of the food stands they had at the school for some hot dogs, and supplemented those with some of the delicious and beautiful treats Nicole had made the past few days.

Across the bridge the Coast Guard families were holding their annual "Rainy Day Bazaar".  We spent time looking at the various booths, quite a bit of time convincing Madeline there would be more than enough treats at home so we didn't need to buy any there, and a couple of run-ins with a six foot bunny that was deemed too scary to meet.
Back across the bridge and down to the harbor, we decided go slightly non-traditional (at least for folks outside Alaska) for Easter dinner, and bought a seven pound king crab.  Once home, we realized  with the sale of our boat and much of our boating gear, we didn't have cooking facilities anywhere near adequate for king crab.  Luckily just about everyone else in Sitka has the gear we needed, and with a couple quick phone calls we were set up with a pot and cooker.
Back home, we started in on decorating eggs and various other craft projects.  Lots of fun, interspersed with candy consumption from the earlier egg hunt, rounded out the afternoon.  When it was time for dinner, I made quick work of cooking up the crab, and we sat down to a pretty decadent dinner.  It was obvious that a seven pound crab would provide several meals for the two of us, with Madeline remaining steadfast in her refusal of fresh seafood, and two nights of king crab didn't seem like too harsh a sacrifice for us.

Dinner done and Madeline in bed, we watched a crummy movie, and then spent time hiding four dozen eggs and several baskets around our not-very-big apartment.  We had hard boiled and colored a dozen eggs, and had three dozen more plastic eggs that we filled with candy and hid.
Madeline gave me one of the best Easter gifts I could hope for, and slept in until almost 8am on Sunday so I could catch up on sleep.  I think I underestimated Madeline's abilities and made the egg hunt easier than it needed to be, so she made quick work of finding eggs, baskets, and a new bunny pillow.  I think it took more time to open all the plastic eggs and dump the candy than it took to find the eggs.  A nice pancake breakfast at home and some Easter cartoons rounded out the morning.
With another community egg hunt in the early afternoon, we were pleasantly surprised when the rain stopped just long enough for us to fill another bucket with eggs and candy.  This egg hunt was in one of the community parks, so the eggs were scattered in the woods and a little more challenging to find.  For the rest of the day, we should have just enough time to Skype and Facetime with family before we dive into the remaining pile of crab for dinner.  Oh, there is also all that candy we will have to do something about.