Easter Weekend

Every holiday I've encountered since leaving the hotel industry is still remarkable to me - I get to actually participate in "normal" family activities! We attended our first major egg hunt in the Leetsdale Henle Park and had a relaxing dinner Sunday night.
I had been using the Easter Bunny as somewhat of a threat the week leading up to the holiday. As in, "If you don't stop hitting Jackson, the Easter Bunny is going to find out and decide you don't need any eggs!" Or, "Did you know that Santa Claus can call the Easter Bunny and tell him whether you are being good?"

It worked so well that on Friday night as Ayla was trying to fall asleep, she got upset that the EB was "taking so long to get here." I'm going to take full advantage of these years that the holidays are exciting to them.The Henle Park Egg Hunt was very well organized. This year they wanted to get all of the kids registered ahead of time and separated them into two age groups. The older, more deft children (6 to 10) had their own area while the little kids (1 to 5) could take their time and not risk injury for taking a few minutes to inspect the eggs. Apparently last year the organizers encountered some trouble when a random woman came to the park and took close to 50 eggs for herself, claiming that it was a public place and they couldn't stop her. If a grown woman really wants that many cheap lollipops to herself - I guess she deserves the wrath of the Leetsdale community. No such creepsters attended the event this year.

We hid eggs around the first floor and in Ayla's room as well. We wanted her to wake up and know right away that the EB had made his visit. Sure enough, I was woken up with Ayla holding several eggs and whispering excitedly that the "Easter Bunny brought me eggs!" She found the rest of the hidden eggs around the house within minutes and had to hold her off so Jackson could find a few. Obviously, Ayla has not inherited my innate non-ability to find hidden objects. I spent many an Easter in my youth frustrated and pouting because (1) I couldn' t find my basket to save my life and (2) I was a loser at egg hunts and always needed my parents' help.


I filled their baskets with some classic goodies like a bubble wand, Silly Putty and Candyland. They also got some cookware upgrades to their play kitchen. We also indulged with a little bit of candy - and two days later, we are down to the last Peep.

I'll consent to the overwhelming opinion that these types of holidays are so much more fun with children involved. Sure, there were a few sugar meltdowns. But it brings me a lot of joy to get excited about Easter again - and see that my children are better egg-hunters than I ever was!