A Hunting We Will Go

Yesterday we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. Our family has grown so much that we now have it divided into two groups! The first one is for the four grandkids who are 5 and under. We hide many of their eggs in plain sight, and then we give constant clues to the kids - their attention span isn't terribly sustainable!! But they did find the two bright eggs that were placed smack in the middle of the grass! That's something - I think last year they all missed those for the first several minutes.

The second hunt is for the older kids - this year we had three boys ages 8-12. Those eggs go up higher and wind up in more precarious places. But, as far as we could tell, all eggs were found and are now safe!

When I was a kid in Tucson, my grandparents had a house with a cool front porch. We had a few Easter Egg Hunts in that front yard - but back then they used real eggs. Hard cooked and dyed, to be sure. But real eggs - none of those wimpy plastic things for us!! The idea is nice, but there are pitfalls. Such as the time my 4-year old sister got really excited when she spotted an egg, ran to get it, slipped, fell, and smashed the whole thing against the concrete, her hand, and her dress. Not pretty. Of course, she cried so that made it even more entertaining for me!! And, for some reason, the more we laughed (and, we definitely did laugh!!!), the more she cried. Go figure!!

The eggs usually didn't get eaten after being on the ground and in the trees. So it was a bit wasteful.

The other down side of using real eggs is the one egg that stays well hidden - and no one finds it. At least not at Easter. Usuallly a few months later when either your nose, or a trail of bugs, leads you to the hiding place. Oh, yes, that happened the same year as the afore-mentioned egg smash. I think that was the last year we had a hunt........