The girls have been to several family Easter egg hunts but this year was their first community event. After a mishap last year that caused us to miss out on the hunt, I made sure that we would arrive at the right location in plenty of time.
At our first Easter egg hunt (ever) after moving home to Monroe, I was excited to bring the girls and see what they would do. I don’t remember all of the details, but I’m sure I put the girls in cute little outfits with matching bows in their hair.
We arrived at the high school and found people standing outside waiting to begin. I couldn’t find where the little ones were and then assumed they must go with the smallest school age kids. The time came and went for the beginning of the egg hunt and nothing happened. We continued to stand outside, in the chilly weather, waiting to begin.
After about 10 minutes, little ones began emerging from inside of the school with baskets full of eggs and candy. We headed inside only to find that preschoolers and under had their own egg hunt in the gym. I was a little upset that we had missed out, but the girls were none the wiser.
This year, I was way ahead of the game. I triple checked the time and place of the Easter egg hunt and arrived 10 minutes early just in case. The little ones were once again in the gym, separated between preschoolers and 3 and under. I was pretty proud that the girls sat and waited until they got the go ahead to start collecting eggs and candy.
I really had no idea what the girls would do. After a little prodding that it was OK to start, the girls took off. My oldest went to the edge and worked her way in. There was a combination of eggs and candy for the kids to pick up but my girls mostly got candy. My youngest took off and ended up toward the middle before deciding to grab anything. It was fascinating just watching them move around, weaving in between all of the other kids, collecting the candy of their choice.
After all of the candy had made it into baskets, they came back to show their loot. We had to open the eggs right away to find out what was inside, then moved on to partaking in their favorite candy — suckers. Overall, we ended up with a lot of licorice with a few suckers and Smarties thrown in and a couple of chocolates, the girls least favorite.
To round off our Easter activities that day, we went to the mall and rode the Easter train. This year the girls got to sit in front and “drive,” which was very exciting. My youngest had a smile beaming from her face, and my oldest was all business as she was driving. Thankfully, this year the girls were satisfied with one ride, and we were able to exit without a scene (by way of going up the escalator, down the elevator and back up the escalator to get to our car!)
Contact Jamee A. Pierson
at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534
or jpierson@newtondailynews.com