Easter Bunny Monkeyshines

monkey-central and picked them up. We had a nice walk up Ridge Blvd., looking at theThis past weekend saw yet another wonderful visit from our favorite little people, and it was a holiday weekend to boot! Because of the holiday, Zachy's sensory gym session was cancelled, so Daddy walked down to puppy-doggies and bouncing on the bumpity-bumps as Daddy pushed the monkeys in the side by side double stroller which has very small wheels that get caught on every little nook and cranny of the dilapidated Brooklyn sidewalks (note: after a long and distinguished record of service, Phil & Ted's Excellent Stroller finally bit the dust, hence the side by side).

We had a nutritious lunch which featured a selection of either chicken or broiled pork chops (Daddy the vegetarian is expanding his repertoire of meats) and went on a grand adventure to Kaleidoscope, which is our favorite little neighborhood toy store, in honor of Easter. Zachy picked out a Goofy Faces toy, that involved gears (of course) and flashing lights and lots of (118) moving parts - batteries not included. He had been eyeing this toy up for a few weeks and his patience was finally rewarded. Miranda surprised and pleased Daddy by picking out a small toy dump truck with squishy rubber wheels. She also got a Groovy Girl doll (name pending) to even things out.

After all our adventures, we went home and played with our new things - and some of the old ones. Our art project for the evening was of course dyeing Easter eggs. We did this in the kitchen sink with the monkeys standing on chairs in order to keep the mess down to dyed fingers and other digits. The eggs came out beautifully, even though Miranda wanted to peel them and throw them out as fast as we could dye them - she really likes peeling hard-boiled eggs - but not eating them!?!


A new treat for Daddy this weekend was finally getting the little ones to just play in the courtyard in front of the apartment building. Daddy's house has a lovely split-level courtyard in front of it, with nicely manicured grass and shrubs, that is usually full of children playing. Our little ones normally just go tearing up the stairs and straight to the door, in their eagerness to get started with their toys. This weekend, however, Daddy was able to get them both involved in a first-class game of chase (a.k.a. "I'm gonna get you"). We ran round and round the trees like three maniacs for quite some time, tackling each other on the grass - it's no substitute for the park, but it is nice, clean and convenient. The spring and summer weather should bring on a lot more of these types of activities, and hopefully the opportunity to make some new friends.

When we woke up Sunday morning, we were excited to find that the Easter Bunny had paid a stealthy visit during the night. We found a big basket filled with the eggs we had colored, lots of jelly beans (the only candy that the Daddy-bunny could find that was wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, etc.) and some little surprises. We decided to have jelly beans for breakfast, although Miranda did peel a couple of eggs then throw them out. Miranda has not figured out that you are supposed to chew jelly beans and swallow them, opting instead to suck on them for a while then spit them out - Daddy has been finding partially-sucked jelly beans spot-welded to various surfaces of his apartment ever since.

Miranda created two beautiful posters for Daddy's apartment door (with stickers) and Zach continued his progress at becoming an accomplished abecedarian (look that one up). We went out for a walk to work off all the jelly beans and ended up at our favorite coffee shop. Mommy came by to collect the monkeys at a little after noon and we said "bye-bye Daddy's house," for another week. Stay tuned as always for next week's thrilling episode of Monkeyshines.