When the Easter Bunny visits the Bowes household, he/she likes to have a theme and a purpose beyond just the simple delivery of candy. This year was no different and it was obvious that the Easter Bunny wanted us to be ready for our trip to Yosemite at the beginning of the summer.
When the girls came downstairs this is the display they saw. They had a couple of decked out camping sacks with everything from marshmallow toasting sticks to Yosemite themed activity books. And as you can see in the picture, each girl also got a new pair of Keens, which are great hiking sandals. Don't worry, the traditional Easter candy was not forgotten and the girls had plenty to work with.
One of the bigger hits, however, was the headlamp. Reese was very excited to try it out to see how it worked. Indeed, there were quite a few nights that followed where the headlamps made their way into their room after the lights went out for bedtime.
Preparing for camping also means being practical, and here you can see that Callie is displaying not only a tasty trail mix but also a can of bug spray and a stick of sunscreen. We appreciate an Easter Bunny that puts safety first. This was almost as good as a couple of years ago when the Easter Bunny brought toothbrushes with the candy.
Of course once the Easter Bunny's gifts were carefully examined it was time to get ready for church. First Pres is the only Easter egg hunt that the girls have ever done, so they were excited to run around the church looking for the hidden treasures. They were not the only ones, as you can see here.
The Johnson boys were also at church and dressed in their Easter finest. We had to take this picture, especially because Emerson was looking so good in his tie. Don't get us wrong, Mason was looking pretty sharp too, but it is tough to ignore a baby in a tie. And it was Emerson's first Easter. Seth always looks good, so his tie is not worth mentioning.
After church it had warmed up a bit which meant we could take pictures of the girls in their new dresses. We had really hoped, like many other Kentuckians, that Easter would be even more special because it would be the day before the UK Men's Basketball team culminated an undefeated season with an NCAA championship. Unfortunately Saturday night was a bit tougher than anticipated, and with the loss to Wisconsin the girls' blue dresses now showed our ongoing support for the Cats despite the loss.
Did we mention that what really made Easter special was the fact that Nana Banana and Sport had come to town for a visit? It was so great to have them around and we managed to get a good photo of all of us after church and before the festivities at the Chrismans.
Each Easter we make sure to get a picture with the Abraham girls, and it is stunning to watch the crew as they grow. The first picture was when Reese was when Reese was only six months old, so it is pretty stunning to see them all together now. Everyone is growing up way too fast.
Our post ends with another great picture of Sharon with Callie and Reese. We are so thankful that Sharon has been a part of the girls' lives. She continuously teaches them everything from how to pull of a fancy Easter dinner to how to pull weeds. There is hope for their domestic skills because of her. All in all we had a wonderful afternoon sharing good food and good conversations with Sharon, Chris, Uncle Norman, Nana Banana, and Sport. With this being the second year and a row that Nana Banana and Sport have been with us for Easter, this could be the start of a new tradition. We shall see.
