The Ellis Family: Hunting for Ham and Easter Eggs

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the Ellis family. We've been getting Matt ready for his two week trip to Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan and getting Connor over ear infections and ready for a trip to the beach. In addition to gathering Virginia and U.S. souvenirs for his trip, Matt also had to prepare several presentations - some lessons for students, but mostly staff development for the teachers at the school where he will be working. We brushed up on some cooperative learning techniques, graphic organizers and other instructional strategies. He had his students put together a great presentation about his school and Hampton Roads. After a 4 hour and 45 minute drive to the airport on the Friday before Easter, Matt was on his way. Communication is spotty, but it sounds like he's having a great experience.

Speaking of the long car ride, Connor talked the entire time we were in the car. It got to be pretty entertaining as he was literally reciting every word in his vocabulary (we've always thought he was advanced for his age!). Matt even called his dad to apologize for years of road trips that involved so much talking on Matt's part that his dad finally instituted a "no talking until Fredericksburg" rule. Retribution can be so unpleasant :)

Connor was equally as talkative on our eight hour trip to Hilton Head. Despite the fact that he fought sleep most of the way, he was quite a good little passenger. We made it to the "ham store" with 30 seconds to spare, and our vacation began! The next day was Easter Sunday. It was great to be with Nonna and the Commodore in the beautiful, warm weather. We tried an Easter egg hunt which was, to say the least, mayhem. There must have been hundreds (OK, maybe not hundreds, but definitely one hundred) of greedy children and their equally as competitive parents lined up at the playground to "hunt" for eggs. I use the term "hunt" loosely as the eggs were just strewn in the sand. The "under 4" crowd got to start a minute or two before the older crowd was allowed in the playground. Fortunately, Connor had no idea what we were doing and ran straight for the stairs to the tree house. If he had known what was going on, I would have been devastated to see him upset that he wasn't able to snatch up an egg fast enough.

I was beginning to be a little disappointed with the greedy children and their parents when a little girl in a purple dress (maybe 4?) came up to Connor holding a pink egg. "Little boy? Here you go," she said as she handed him the egg. My faith in humanity restored, we made our way to the top of the tree house and then home to enjoy the ham that almost cost us several speeding tickets.

There's a dinosaur in my Easter basket!"Rooaaarr!"

Thanks, Easter bunny!

Costume change (the first outfit was borrowed from a friend - NOT to be worn to the playground for an egg hunt) and getting ready for the Easter egg hunt.