Easter Rundown

Nanna sent a pretty basket and a prettier dress. We held a practice hunt in the living room. Find the eggs, put them in the basket.

Saturday at Boot Camp, we had our first egg hunt. Plastic eggs with goodies inside. Jelly beans, chocolate, stickers, bouncy balls, and small toys. Each egg had to be examined after the finding. Like Christmas, the concept of "more, more, more" has not set in yet. Boo was eventually cajoled into finding more eggs. After that, she charmed Q.J. out of the loot from his eggs. Needless to say, there was no nap that day for Boo. Mama did have one, and Daddy did a long stint with an over-sugared tot.

The plan for Sunday was to do some egg hunting at home before heading to the local park for the hunt there. Last year, for anyone who hasn't seen the DVD, it was pouring rain, howling wind, and freezing cold. But, weather doesn't stop Rainy Staters from fun, so off we went, to arrive 2 minutes before the official start time to find the hunt done and cold, wet parents bundling cold, wet children into waiting cars.

Mama's memory is not so reliable, though. It turns out that the park hunt is on Saturday, not Sunday, at about the time Boo was refusing to nap. So, Mama went into research mode and found an egg hunt at McMennamins Edgefield. Egg hunt, Easter Bunny and Brunch at a historic local site renovated into a brewery. Perfect for us.

So, Sunday, we went out to Edgefield. Three squares were marked off for different age groups scattered with plastic eggs and candy. This was reminiscent of the ill-fated "Eggstravaganza" that Mama and Auntie BSU did as children. For a full account of that event, see Lil' 11's blog. Fortunately, Mama learned her lesson at that event and will be better able to prepare appropriate expectations for Boo & R2.

We found the under-3 square. Parents all around were coaching their munchkins. "Go for the eggs. They've got the best stuff in them," "Go grab as fast as you can," and the like. Two squares down, the 10 year olds were taunting each other. We had the novices. At the call of "go" the other groups swarmed the field (ala Eggstravaganza). Our group had to be coaxed onto the playing field. "Pick it up, put it in your basket." Every piece of candy was celebrated. "Look, Mama, I got it! I got it!". The field was picked clean, although slowly.

Then the Easter Bunny showed up. Mama took Boo to meet him & get a photo. It turns out that the Easter Bunny is a large, scary rodent. Boo wanted nothing to do with him.

So, we went upstairs to brunch. Grapes and melon and waffles with butter, Boo couldn't have ordered a better meal. Mama and Daddy ate well. Boo drank orange juice out of a big girl cup. All was well. The check took awhile in coming Boo got restless. Mama took her out to the hallway and balcony for distraction.

Peeling around the corner, she ran straight into the dreaded bunny. She was paralyzed. She climbed on Mama's lap and repeated over and over "Easter Bunny no kiss Boo." Now, maybe it was "no eat" or "no get", but it sounded like "no kiss". The bunny wasn't offended. He moved on to admiring fans, but not entirely out of sight. Boo wouldn't move. Not even away from the monster. She also wouldn't stop looking at him. Mama finally convinced Boo that we should run away as fast as we could to the balcony which was a bunny-free zone where we were safe.

That night we realized that the Easter Bunny had forgotten to come to our house. Just as well since he wouldn't have been a welcome visitor!