Technically this is Carson's 2nd Easter, but last year he could barely hold his head up let alone hunt for an easter Egg, This year was alot more exciting since Carson can walk and he loves Balls, that is his favorite word to say too. "ball" but it sounds more like "bah" And since Easter eggs are somewhat in the shape of a ball I was excited for him to "hunt" for them.
The Easter Egg HUNT:
March 22nd the Saturday before Easter Sunday We decided to attend Mariners Church's big Easter Egg Drop event, Where they were going to be dropping eggs from a helicopter into their big grass field. Families and children were encouraged to attend this free event and participate in easter egg hunts, facepainting, food, etc,. I was so looking forward to this event. The day arrived and as we were pulling into the church parking I saw tons of kids and parents streaming out of thier vehicles with easter baskets in hand. I was so sad that I didnt' bring Carson's easter basket. I told Brian it was at the condo but I didnt bring it because I thought the Easter bunny was supposed to bring it! That wouldnt make sense to use it the day before Easter before the "easter bunny" brought it.. So is the basket from the parents? or the Easter Bunny?
Anyways when we walked down to the grass field from the parking lot, we saw the grass field full of eggs and roped off as literally 1,000 parents and kids surrounded the edge of the grass field- I right away Felt anxious and nervous for how this event was supposed to be excuted.. Normally I dont mind big crowds but when you have a 13month old boy who wants to walk around and you are shoulder to shoulder with other parents and kids the anxiety sinks in that if you were to set your child down, it wouldn't take but an instant for them to get lost in the crowd.
The drop was supposed to take place at 3pm. and it was about 2:45pm when we arrived we met up with Brian's Parents and brother, sister and brother in law and their kids and then found out their was a section for kids 0-2. I was relieved because I could just picture little carson getting trampled by 10yrs going after eggs. So we went to the 0-2 section only to stand behind about 50 0ther parents and thier kids, we couldnt even see the field from where we were standing. Carson was sweating and turning red and getting wrestless
Finally at 3:15pm the Helicopter came and dropped more eggs on the field. Then when the helicopter took off they pretty much just said "go" and all thousand kids and their parent dashed into this field neeless to say I stayed back with Carson because I wasn't about to go into the battlefield for and risk losing him or get stepped on for a plastic egg. So we waited back and luckily a mom came out with her daughter who shared two of her eggs with Carson.
For the next 30 min they called from the stage kids names who were looking for their parents they had lost or parents names who were looking for their kids they had lost.
And that was how Carson's first easter egg hunt went. Kind of a bummer. As a former children's pastor I could think of about twenty ways to execute that event in a way less chaotic way,..
Like have different ages hunt at different times,, 0-2 hunt from 3pm-3:15pm 3-5 hunt from 3:45pm 4:00pm etc.. Or limit the amount of eggs each person could collect so that everyone could get eggs.. have kids rotate to other activities while they waiting for their turn to hunt..
The family made a unanimous decision to go to a much lower key egg hunt next year.
The Easter Basket:
That night i had so much fun playing easter bunny after Carson went to sleep. I remembered the way my mom had written our name in sharpie in cute letters on the big egg in our basket so my brothers and I could tell which basket was who's. So I did the same. Carson woke up that morning like he had known the easter bunny had come . He crawled out of bed with me by himself then walked to the door and pounded on it until i got up and opened the door that led to the living room where the easter basket was awaiting .
He walked right to it and pulled out his eggs and by banging to plastic eggs together he figured out how they open and ate the cookies and gummies that were inside.
He looked through everything in his basket,
Brian and Carson and his cousin Tim went to church at Mariners 11:30 service, where we met carson's grandma and grandpa maurer, then afterwards we went to the Maurers house for a bbq lunch, where Carson's grandma had set up an easter egg hunt in her backyard for Carson and his cousin Kiley (4) Carson was more interested in finding balls in the backyard then eggs..
Other then the Chaotic egg hunt at Mariners Saturday we had a pretty good easter. I think they will get more and more fun as the years go on and I get the hang of things and learn the answers to the key questions like: Does the easter basket come fromt the parents or the easter bunny.?
( This is carson in September when he was 7 months old at the park behind my parents house, the swing was the only thing he was big enough to do at the time, notice the blanket propping him up)
