All in all, an Eggsellent Day..

We spent Saturday morning with 200 children under 6, participating in an Easter egg hunt. The kids were wearing their Easter best, holding their baskets tightly as they lined up at the edge of the field waiting to make a dash for the eggs, and a dash for the clueless teenager in the Easter bunny costume who kept holding the head forward and down to see out, only making it seem like the Easter bunny was either depressed or getting over a Friday night bender. (Can we vote here? Number 2! Number 2!)

They divided the children into two groups, birth to 3 and 3-6. The toddler set seemed more intent on picking the grass than the eggs and their parents seemed more obsessed with grabbing the eggs and making their unsuspecting offspring queen or king of the plastic egg gala than making sure their kids were actually having a good time.

My parents were in town and joined us for the hunt as we wisely stayed to the outside of the large group where there were a couple of eggs lying here and there directly ahead of us. When the head of the staff called out to begin, I watched a mass of adults holding crying children move out and shout as they dove for the high traffic areas and could only think, I'm going to blog about this. (I know your ears are supposed to burn when someone talks about you, but do your fingers twitch when someone blogs about you? Hmm.)

Sprite kept a careful eye on the posse and kept her hand on her basket as she picked her way through the grass and spotted an egg. My mom (kinda funny, thinking about it now), who's all about 5'1, played bodyguard, making sure no elbows from the fellow egg hunters came into our personal space as she praised Sprite for picking up her little treasures. My dad and I stayed back, taking pictures,and basking in the cuteness of Sprite, who had not needed any directions and somehow instinctively knew the eggs were supposed to be placed into the basket. (I mean it, we never taught her this. I thought I was going to have to pick up some eggs for her and teach her what to do, but the little chicken showed us she knew better.)

Oh, where was John? Still parking the van. (We got there 5 minutes before they started.) He made it to us in time to see the younger kids wipe the area clean (and even left some grass standing in their wake) and we all watched the herd of older kids make like ninjas and beat each other up for the prized tootsie rolls waiting in the eggs.

So, Sprite got to participate in her first Easter egg hunt. We got pictures of her participating in her first Easter egg hunt. And you got to read about Sprite participating in her first Easter egg hunt. There. Now you can say your day wasn't a TOTAL waste.

Comments

[Betsy]

Thanks for leaving your beautiful comment on my latest BabyCenter post. Very well put.

[Sprite's Keeper]

Wow, the fact that the comment came from my favorite Babycenter author is enough for me! My day is made!
Thanks, Betsy!