easter 2015.

i love easter. it's easily my second favorite holiday. it's not quite Christmas & ranks slightly higher than cinco de mayo (yes, we celebrate mexico's independence. and kung hei fat choi, st. nick's day, kamehameha day, boy's day, girl's day, along with all the traditional holidays. coop is a festivity fanatic.) 

the best part of easter is cousins. with egg dying, egg hunts, & unlimited amounts of candy it's the perfect holiday for kids & definitely the more the merrier. for the past 12 years my easter has revolved around my nieces & nephews & then my own sons. before that easter was all about spending time with my cousins (yes, my auntie rosie is pretty rad & throws adult egg hunts with legit money rewards.) so although i miss my family every day of the year & more so during the holidays, no day pulls at my heart strings more than easter. that's why i'm extremely eternally grateful for our maui ohana. cooper has quality memories of his cousins but as far as mylo & tj are concerned these guys are just as much family as the distant relatives they only know through pictures & stories. in fact, while face timing family on easter i told mylo to come talk to his cousins. he took one look at the iPad screen & said, "dat not my tousins, mosiah & august my tousins." 

we began our easter celebrations with an egg hunt at kanaha. it was a full day of fun. there were classic kid games like tug-a-war, bunny hop races, & egg tosses while we waited for the whole crew to show up. then the moms took the kids on a beach walk to search for shells while the dads, ahem, the easter bunny hid the eggs. 

 after filling their baskets the kids died their shells, ate their candy lunch & spent the rest of the day in the ocean. it was perfect. that night we went upcountry to dye eggs with some friends & the boys spent the entire night running around their huge lot. it reminded me so much of my easter eves playing at my grandparents' with my cousins. 

we got home & had a little chat about the Savior, his resurrection, & the true meaning of easter. before bed we made sure to plant our jelly beans. sure enough the boys woke up to freshly sprouted lollipops & hidden dyed eggs around our backyard, & baskets full of goodies. i'm big on traditions. i love connecting the past with the future & i get excited over our routines. most of our traditions stem from my childhood but our easter brunch comes compliments of todd's nana. we have homemade bubble bread, bacon, eggs, & fruit salad. 

it only took them 20 minutes to recover all 100 eggs that bunny hid (minus the three some lady snagged while the kids were making their way down to the beach). they are quicker than i thought. mylo is easily excited but the beach egg hunt brought his excitement to a whole new level. it was so fun watching the boys happy faces & their joy with each discovered egg. we spent the rest of the day devouring massive amounts of candy & enjoying a little quality family time. i miss my nieces & nephews more than words can say but i am so grateful for my boys & the love we have from our hanai ohana. but mostly, i am grateful for a savior that gave the greatest sacrifice to prepare a way for me to live with my biological & hanai families forever.