An Eggless Easter

This past weekend was Easter weekend—which ordinarily doesn't do much for me; but, I made an exception and got excited about it since this would be my first one with Athennia and the girls.

I let Athennia take charge with the menu: honey-glazed ham with pineapple and cinnamon; mashed potatoes; corn; and sweet potato casserole—or "YAMS!", as the voice prompt at the self-checkout at Giant likes to shout loud enough for people in east Guam to hear...

Please weigh your... YAMS!
Please move your... YAMS! ...to the bagging area.

(Honestly, lady. They're sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes. And, calm down: It's not like anyone in east Guam cares that we're buying them either way. An indoor voice will do just fine.)

Anyway, Athennia and I had a lot of fun meal-prepping and cooking together. We do that all the time, of course; but, this was the first time we fancied it up for a formal(-ish) family dinner.

Since my parents, my sister and her family, and Athennia's kids were all slated to join us, I suggested that Athennia invite her mother as well... and I hear that Lou had a wonderful time, though I admittedly didn't get much of a chance to visit with her: I finally had an opportunity to bond with Riley (Athennia's youngest), and I took it!

Though Taylor and her girlfriend had insisted right up until the night before that they'd be coming, they bailed the morning of (rather predictably, unfortunately—we're not sure exactly what their deal is, though we certainly have our theories). I assumed Riley would probably duck out then as well, but she surprised us and came stag—which is awesome, because I'm sure that wasn't easy.

After dinner, she wanted to go outside; so, I asked if I could join her. We hung out and chatted a bit; then she asked if she could play my guitars.

Sure.

(I hadn't touched them much myself for the better part of a decade, and Riley's a bit of a neat-freak; so, I got some free guitar cleanings out of the deal, in addition to the coolness points for having guitars—dusty or otherwise. Double win!)

She wanted to work on the bassline to "Feel Good Inc." by Gorillaz... She had the first half down but couldn't figure out how to get her fingers in position for the second half; so, I showed her how to use the second string (instead of trying to play the entire riff on the top string, with an awkward slide from the third fret up to the eighth).

Once she'd guitared herself out for the day, she contented herself playing with Penny. The entire afternoon and evening was a welcome terminus to the kids adamently avoiding me throughout February and March.

Athennia stayed at the table with her mom and mine for the most part, and reported to me later that our mothers got along like old friends... They were born the same year and both grew up pretty locally; so, I suppose they're both card-carrying members of the "good old days" club :)

But, I think everyone had fun, and it was a great day all around.

Happy Easter!