The Easter Egg Hunt

Because of stops to fill up with gas (the price rapidly increasing as we headed East) and then a restroom break, our drive to my parents' home Friday night seemed ETERNAL. We arrived around ten pm. My other siblings and their children were already there. The kids were so excited to see their cousins and it was awhile before we could get them settled down and in bed.

The adults stayed up until the wee morning hours talking, laughing and playing games. I never laugh as hard as I do when I'm with my family. This time, thankfully, I maintained control over my bladder and no one choked on candy and soda from laughing too hard. It was, by that measure, a fairly uneventful night.

Even though the kids had gone to bed so late they were all up bright and early by seven and ready to play. I woke up with the kids and jumped in the shower so that I could enjoy some hot water. It's always a race and this time I actually won.

We started our Easter egg hunt pretty early. Grandpa didn't even have a chance to change out of his jammies.

Attempting to be fair, there were all kinds of rules and stipulations to this year's egg hunt. Grandma provided six eggs per kid and each egg had something special in it. So each kid was allowed to find six eggs--one of each color marked with an X. They could also find three to five more eggs not marked with an X. These rules also managed to prolong the hunt.

The little kids (by "little" we mean anyone under three years old) went first. Molly was my only child in this category. It took Molly a few minutes to figure out that she was supposed to gather eggs. I think if she had known that there was candy inside the eggs before the hunt, she would have been more determined in her pursuit of the colored plastic eggs.

Before we let the big kids start their egg hunt, my parents wanted all the grandchildren to sit with them for a picture. It's always an amusing adventure to get 19 kids (2 grandkids were missed this weekend) to sit still for a picture. So far, we have had very little success. Some of the children have pretty strong aversions to posing for pictures.

I love how fast they run when they are finally excused.

But then they quickly gather again when Uncle W brings a rabbit to visit.

PETA need not worry.

We don't buy our children bunnies and chicks for Easter just to have them die a few days later from over handling and then neglect.

My brother has rabbits for their proper purpose -- to eat. 

I didn't include a picture of the rabbit. No one wants to see their food when it's still alive.

The dads were a little more diabolical when hiding the eggs for the "big" kids. Do you just love that Lilly qualifies as a "big" kid? Don't worry. She held her own. She just couldn't reach some of the eggs.

  More than a few of the eggs were hidden beyond the reach of most of the children. Mean fathers.

 The kids had to check to make sure they only had the correctly marked eggs. Much of my time during the egg hunt was "rehiding" the extra eggs my children put in their baskets.

 Once everyone found their eggs, then they could dig in and begin devouring their treats.

 Molly was very delighted to find jelly beans inside the eggs.

She sat in this spot for an hour eating as much of the sweetness as she possibly could.

The white jelly beans tasted suspiciously like Off Bug Repellent. Ewww.

Some of the eggs marked with an X included notes.

Like "Ask Grandma for a quarter" and "Ask Grandpa for a dime".

My brother quickly ran inside to create some new notes like:

"Ask Grandma for $100.00"

Unfortunately, that sneaky plan proved unsuccessful.

The weather uncharacteristically cooperated by being only mildly cool and slightly overcast.

The kids were happy and ultimately sticky.

Parents were satisfied that each child got his share.

Easter Egg Hunt success!