College and Chocolate-Covered Watermelon

Good times today with my niece and nephew. Here are a few of the moments . . .

(LEFT) Kristin enjoys one of the chocolate-covered strawberries she made. Joel and Taylor ... she might be able to cater your reception if you're interested. Just don't order the chocolate-covered watermelon pieces. She has not quite perfected those. (And honestly, I hope she doesn't. Those just don't do it for me.)

(RIGHT) Kyle tries to hold on to Heidi (their lab and red heeler mix) as she sets her sites on a flock of baby ducks out in the lake. She eventually jumped in and swam toward them, but Mama Duck put up a fight. Actually, it wasn't a fight so much as it was just an annoying back-and-forth swim accompanied by top-of-the-lungs annoying quacking. I think Heidi could have gotten through, but seriously - I mean annoying! It made me wish I were a hunter - right then and there.

(LEFT) Grandma (my mom) tried a new recipe for Easter dessert at Kyle's request - peanut butter cup cheesecake. Here, Kristin and Grandma start dishing it out for everybody. (That's Kyle below with his first of two servings.) When they were young (and when I was a kid, too), Grandma used to make an Easter bunny using two flat round cakes. A couple of strategic cuts of one of 'em and she had two ears and a bowtie to add to the other. Slap on some white frosting, shredded coconut, jelly beans, Twizzlers, gum drops - and you've got an edible bunny cake! I guess we've all moved on to more "grown up" desserts these days.

They only have about five weeks left of elementary school, and then they're on to junior high next year. I asked them how many years before they go off to college, and Kristin shouted out "Seven!" almost before I could finish the question. I have just seven years to convince them that Baylor is the best choice. If they were to pack up for college today, they would be headed to Austin. I guess that's better than another alternative. Like the chocolate-covered watermelon, it just doesn't do it for me.