Hip Hop and We Don't Stop

Easter hasn't been a very big deal for my family for years now.  I vaguely remember my parents dressing me up in frilly Easter dresses and then standing me up next to some pastel colored flower and taking a picture.  Then we'd have an egg hunt which was the highlight of my day since my parents would fork up some cash in each of the eggs--well there was the unfortunate year when I literally had an IOU in an egg or two.

Anyways, I never got Easter baskets or had an Easter egg hunt in a VERY long time.  So this year, Pup and I decided to do the holiday up right.  Albeit our planning was a bit last minute but everything went off without a hitch.  First, we went to Costco and bought 5 dozen eggs equaling 60 eggs.  Then I purchased some egg dyeing and decorating kits including a Marvel comics and Star Wars set for the boys.  BSaa and his sister insisted on getting plastic eggs and filling them with candy so with their 36 we had almost 96 eggs (real and plastic) hidden in the yard.  

So the day before Easter was spent coloring and decorating real eggs and filling fake eggs with sugary goodness.  Lee, Pup's Jewish roommate, had never dyed eggs for Easter (for obvious reasons) so we were able to show him the awesomeness of the tradition.  Things, however, took a turn for the risque when tricksters started writing not-so-Easter sentiments on the eggs.  Kids these days!

"Egg"-perimenting with egg dye and canola oil for a marble effect

The finished product: the incredible edible egg!

An Easter cupcake from Porto's

Pup had told me that his favorite part of Easter was hiding the eggs which I, of course, thought was weird.  It worked out well because my favorite part of Easter was finding the eggs and winning the competition.  Well Pup got his wish and got to hide all of the eggs all by himself.  I patiently waited with Babycakes the Otter who was going to help me on my egg mission.   Once we got the go ahead, we raced to the backyard and hunted to victory!  

My hunting partner, Mr. Babycakes Cubbins

Megan and I searching for eggs in the trees--sounds impossible but it happened

The game changer: I clinched the win with the discovery of 3 eggs in the garage closet!

Babycakes protecting our prized eggs from all the vultures

The victors and their 20 eggs!

After our egg success, Babycakes, the rest of the gang and I spent the rest of the day playing Wii Resort, making deviled eggs and, in my case, drinking almost a whole bottle of wine.  It ended up being a lovely Easter on a lovely day in Los Angeles.

Oh, and we still have about 30 hard-boiled eggs left to eat in the fridge.  

Jellyfish, Manta Rays and Otters! Oh My!

When we last left our Atlanta Adventurers (Pup, Ninja Kitty, Coco and MeMe), they had just eaten a fantastic meal at The Porter and set off for the Georgia Aquarium. A few fun facts about the Georgia Aquarium before we continue with our story: It's the world's largest aquarium; its tanks hold more than 8.1 million gallons of marine and fresh water; and it is the home to more than 100,000 animals of 500 different species. UNBELIEVABLE! Now let me give you the top ten reasons why Ninja Kitty loves the Georgia Aquarium:

10. It's pretty.

9. You can touch things...like baby sharks, sting rays and anemonaenenane.

8. They have some pretty cool merchandise like stuffed toy jellyfish made with scrunchies.

7. Their merchandise also includes an extensive line of otter toys of various sizes and cuteness.

6. It's MASSIVE! Therefore leading to a great amount of exercise for the day.

5. The jellyfish tank will put you in a relaxing trance.

4. Questionable-looking cartoon characters walk around looking questionable.

3. They have otters (Small Asian Clawed Otters to be exact).

2. They have one of the most exhilarating rides in the world...the people mover in the tank tunnel clocking at a whopping 1 mph.

1. Did I mention the otters do tricks?

So there you have it! And now back to our tale...

As you know, we were off to the Georgia Aquarium to see all of its glory. I was excited, Coco was excited, Pup was excited and MeMe wanted to go to The World of Coke. But I had been building this up to Pup so the experience had to knock his socks off. I was determined to make sure he saw, smelled and touched everything he could! And this is what happened.

The fish that greeted us at the entrance

Coco is sooo excited for the touch pool

Lord knows MeMe was excited to touch some creatures!

Coco "testing the waters," if you will

Mames demonstrating the two finger touch ("Solo dos!")

Coco touched a shark...she was happy

Pup being birthed from the vagina slide

Pup playing with other kids...that fat one was a bully

The aquarium even had a river cooter! Imagine that!

MeMe looking bored...the river cooter didn't interest her

Creepy piranhas that sat still in the water

We turned around a corner and look what we found!

Little bebe otters performing for their food

Doesn't it look like they're part of a bebe otter a capella group? No? Just me?

I then began to feel sad for leaving Bartholomew Cubbins at the house

But we found new friends to play with to take Bartholomew Cubbins' place (but only for a few fleeting moments)

Pup wouldn't let me get monster truck sized Bartholomew Cubbins because he was "too big"

Same old, same old--MeMe gets attacked by a toy manta ray...you can't take her anywhere

It seems like MeMe may have found a new friend

Coco refused to take a picture with the very nice breakdancing shark

By the anemonaeneanne touch pool. I was told they were very squishy.

The biggest crabs I've seen in my life!

Some fun little sea dragons swimming around

Upon seeing this tank, I was reminded of the song "Baby Beluga"

We finally made it to the water tunnel...it felt like we were on the most insane rollercoaster ever

In this picture, you can see the wind from the tunnel blowing into Pup's face

Pup's amazed by the monster manta rays hovering above

I believe the woman in the front is scared for her life...yes, the people mover was just that ridiculous

And as if things couldn't get any better, we were introduced to the jellyfish

Bunches of jellyfish all bunched together

Coco taking one of 1000 jellyfish pictures

The prettiest jellyfish there ever was

Pup teaching Coco about the makeup of a jellyfish

The largest tank in the WORLD! Please note the humongous whale shark swimming around like he owns the place

I figured out that the Georgia Aquarium is quite clever.  The reason why you ask?  They put the exit in the gift store!  So parents are forced to cart their little bebes through the store and are basically strong armed into buying their kids one of these fine toys...

MeMe and the fish they call "Deepo" which suspiciously sounds a lot like "Nemo"

The otter merchandise extravaganza began with the Harry Otter shirts

Coco and Bartholomew's cousin Frank harmonizing to "You're a Grand Old Flag"

Oh look! MeMe found an otter of her own!

MeMe doing what she does best--freaking out Coco

I wasn't really sure what child would have a name like "Haul Booty"

The Georgia Aquarium was such a memorable place but I think the image I'll cherish most is the one of this woman smelling her fingers after petting some kind of sea creature. Ahhh...memories.