Eggs and Candy

Loves her bucket!

Saturday was a heroic attempt at Momma taking two kids to a local city-wide Easter Egg Hunt at the community center.  If you'll recall we just moved here so we haven't been to any city events, or even to the center before the Egg Hunt.  We had no clue how things could be expected to go.

The set up was a little odd and didn't seem to have enough coordination/signage for newbies like myself to get to the events at the times that they were scheduled (elevators for strollers being on the wrong side of emergency doors that were disabled to allow access but no signage or propping or volunteers letting us know that it was okay to go through being the biggest issue).  Once we got to the egg hunt on the other side of the doors, we found out that we were too late for the under 5 age group but we were able to stay for the older group's hunt.  I was admittedly a little nervous because the 'big kids' on either side of us were literally being held back by their parents at some points.  To make sure my three year old wasn't trampled by the older kids who were in a feeding frenzy after seeing the candy all over the gym floor, much like a shark on the trail of blood scent, I held her hand and helped her run out to a section of the floor where there was a lot of candy and eggs but that many of the kids had passed over or hadn't gone for.  Strategy is a learned thing....those elementary school kids all leapt right on the piles at their feet and ignored the center of the gym.  So Alyssa got a safe and easy spot in the middle of everything and had a nice slow time of picking up what she wanted and putting it in her bucket.  I was amazed at how simple it was.  Alyssa loved it once she got out there but she was nervous at the start because of the microphone and speakers being used and the large crowd of kids all getting more and more excited.

Part way through the candy/egg set up.

Watching the beginning of the setup (pre-line up)

The sweet and patient three year old at my side waited very nicely until the whistle blew signaling 'go'. (As soon as the bigger kids started lining up at the cones, we did also.)  This group was the older kids and the parents around us kept seeing their kids being upstaged by a toddler.  I saw the shock on a couple parents' faces and must say, I'm damn proud of my girl.  I'll admit I didn't think it was going to work out that way at all but YEAH!  Way to go, Alyssa!!  The year that I have to physically hold my child back is the year that we end the public egg hunts though.  That was hilarious to watch and horrifying to think of having to do.  I was super impressed with the mom who had all three of her kids in her hands at once though.  Talk about juggling!  (She did get them calmed down to the point that they didn't require restraining any longer which was great.  Those eggs being laid out are like laying a slice of cake in front of the no-sugar-for-lent-ers!)

Overall, we had a blast with the mini games, the hunt, and the coloring and stickers after that were very happily participated in.  The Easter Bunny didn't get any hugs or handshakes or even a high five this year but hey, it took a very very long time to get to know Santa too.