Early Easter Surprise

At 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 22, someone will be arriving at our house to deliver a very special surprise to our kids.  The process of planning this surprise has been so much fun for me, and the waiting has been almost too much to bear. 

The kids have been begging for a pet for many years, but they were initially too young to take care of a pet, and I wanted them to be responsible for the pet, not just me.  We have also had our house on/off the market for the past four years, and we had the house listed as  "pet-free", so we could not have a pet during that time. We also did not want an animal tearing up the house, barking during showings, or causing any such detractors for potential buyers.

We have now agreed to stay here for a while but do not consider this home to be our forever home and may decide to move anytime over the next few years.  So building a privacy fence to contain a dog did not seem like a financially prudent option, and I certainly don't want a dog tearing up the house, although dogs have always been a favorite pet of mine.  My husband and children prefer cats, but our son is allergic to cat dander.

I had a pet bunny as a child and remember it being very low maintenance.  If we got a baby bunny now, it should hopefully live up until the time the kids go off to college but not too much longer after that, so a bunny seemed ideal for the kids right now.  Seeing an adorable French angora bunny at the Biltmore Estate last month put the idea in my head again, so we started researching angora bunnies and found a few for sale in various parts of our state.  Those rabbits, when properly groomed, are hilarious balls of fluff with facial features buried beneath the poof.  However, they are high maintenance, shed horribly, and require regular shearing lest the bunny die from swallowing too much of its own fur.

English Angora Buck

So I continued my research and found the Mini Lop and Holland Lop rabbits to be the most ideal bunnies for children.  They are friendly, loving and usually do well being held unlike most rabbits.  They are also hilarious to watch as they play, especially when they catch air or pop wheelies. 

I found videos of a Holland Lop named Bailey on youtube.com demonstrating these aerial stunts.

 

I searched for Mini-Lop and Holland Lop breeders all over our state and found one I really liked in a neighboring town.  She had one Holland Lop bunny left from a January litter who would be weaned and ready no earlier than March 22 which is too late to serve as birthday gift for our daughter but just in time for Easter.  I fell in love with that little critter, and the breeder has been sending me pics of him almost every week.

Since we wanted it to be a surprise, we contracted with the breeder to build us a hutch for the bunny since we could not build one without the kids seeing, and she offered to deliver the hutch, bunny, food, and hay to our house for the surprise.  I have named our new bunny Oreo to reflect his coloring (Double Stuffed Oreo or Oreo Milkshake would be more appropriate, I guess) and since our daughter has named all of her favorite stuffed animals after chocolate sweets (Smores, Brownie, Chocolate, etc.).  The kids can rename him if they wish.

This secret has been hard to keep, and I have told more people that I should have already because I am about to bust.  When the kids keep begging for a bunny, it's even harder to stay silent and wait.

Family Tree:

Mother/DAM (pictured top left)

Breeder Name:  Bubba's "Lily" of Skittles
Pedigree Name: LUV SBS' Lily
Color:  Broken Black
Weight: 5.0 lbs

Father/SIRE (pictured top right)

Breeder Name:  Magee's "Opie" of Flip Flop
Pedigree Name: LUV SBS' Opie
Color:  Opal (Blue Agouti)
Weight:  2.8 lbs

*All pics provided by breeder

Stay tuned for the next update which should include pics and/or video of the kids receiving their surprise.