Easter Egg Hunt!

Today was just packed!  Holy moly, where to begin.  🙂  We started the day with breakfast and playing with our new Duplos a little.  The kids had figured out that they have matching pink and blue bears, and were playing with those a lot this morning.  But we had to get going fairly soon–because today we took the kids to a gigantic Easter Egg Hunt in downtown Raleigh.  It was on Halifax Mall, the great green area that is between a lot of the government complex buildings (including the “pink palace” Department of Public Instruction/State Board of Education building where I used to work.)  We put the kids in springtime clothes, packed up Easter baskets and bears, and, with new memory card in the camera, proceeded to have crazy egg hunt fun.  The place was so packed, it was really a zoo.  They had different areas for kids of different ages, and hunts started every 30 minutes.

We let Brian go first, and he tore through the place picking up eggs.  He lost his balloon (which had been tied to his wrist) partway through, and that seemed to throw him–and us, because we were using that to help keep track of him in the crowd of kids.  We lost sight of him for just a second, and then the crowd dispersed.. And Brian was nowhere to be found.  I’m sure you can imagine the panic that set in.  We were only a few feet away from the marked-off square, with Brandon on one side, and me on the other.   I still don’t know how we both lost sight of him, but about the time I started screaming and panicking in earnest, we heard his name called out on the loudspeaker.  The whole episode was over in probably two minutes, but, I was pretty shaken up.  Brian seemed a little shaken by it too, but not too bad.  We told him he did the right thing, by going straight to a volunteer for help when he couldn’t see us.

We walked around the mall to calm our nerves, looked at the flowers and blooming pear trees, let Brian play on the inflatables some, and then, decided to let Kendall try a hunt too.  I stayed right with her the whole time (parents are allowed in the area for the under-twos, but not for the kids Brian’s age..!)  She seemed to get the idea and picked up a few eggs, stopping to grin and clap each time she got one.  Afterward, the festivities were wrapping up, so we made our way back to the van.  Brian pretended to be an Easter egg and rolled down the big grassy hill.  A kind person took a picture of all four of us, though Kendall wasn’t particularly interested in posing.  We had a really great time, other than a those few scary minutes.  On the way home, we stopped by our favorite cupcake shop, and picked up some Easter-themed cupcakes.

Back at home, we met up with Rosemary who watched the kids for awhile and Brandon and I escaped for some lunch and errand-running.  We were glad to try a new Japanese noodle place called Torii we’d been meaning to get to!  It was great, very authentic and featuring dishes you can’t usually find around here.  When we got home again, Nana and Brian surprised with their secret project–they’d made a miniature egg tree!  She had also given Brian with some chocolate-covered peeps, which he was kind enough to share with me.  Kendall was up from her nap and there was still plenty of daylight, so we took the kids out to the greenway for a walk/stroll/bike ride.  We had a great time enjoying the nice weather and beautiful scenery.  But, it wasn’t entirely without mishaps, as Brian had a little bike accident.  Going down a hill, he got ahead of us, and we’re not sure what happened, but he didn’t brake and he didn’t turn, and plowed right into a stone wall.  He scraped up one hand, but other than that, he was okay.  We were, once again, completely horrified, watching it happen and being unable to prevent his fall.  But, after a little rest and some juice, everyone was feeling better, and we made our way back home.  After the kids were in bed, Brandon and I made sure the Easter Bunny was doing it up right for the kids and their Easter baskets, checked on Brian’s hatching egg (looks like it’s a duckling!), and then took a cupcake break.  Whew!  Long day.  🙂