Hey y'all -
I know we're halfway through May, and I'm just now getting around to talking about Easter, which means I should be sharing my pictures from Mother's Day right around Thanksgiving.
For Easter, Peg Peg, Grandma Sue and I took Laney to the biggest egg hunt in town at the University of Montana. You may notice that Hagen didn't participate, not because we didn't want him to come, but because the hunt was held in the middle of the day and it would have disturbed Hagen's regular 3-hour nap. Seriously, Hagen is really into sleeping. In fact, sometimes I'll hear him stirring in his crib and I'll go in and ask, "Hey! Are you ready to get up?" And he'll wave me off, saying, "No tinks, 'ont want to." And then lie back down and just hang out in his bed for another hour or so. Some would call that crazy, but I would call it heaven, so I let him do his thing.
Lest you think I'm kidding about Hagen and sleeping: Last weekend was BrewFest here in Missoula. It was fun in the park downtown with food trucks and kid activities and 50+ beers to try. I really wanted to go, but since Thor was out of town, leaving Hagen at home wasn't a possibility. So I took Hagen in the wagon. Surrounded by screaming kids and drinking adults and within 30 yards of a live band, behold: Hagen sleeping through BrewFest:
So like I was saying, Hagen couldn't make it to Easter, and it was just us girls.
We got to the egg hunt about half an hour early, which gave us plenty of time to get the lay of the land. Eggs and candy and various prizes weren't hidden so much as dropped all over the ground in age-specific sections.
We knew that most of the eggs held candy, but had been told that some of them contained tickets for even bigger prizes, like dolls or even a bicycle. Because we'd gotten there so early, Laney and I had plenty of too much time to strategize.
She sat in my lap as we surveyed the field. I noticed that twenty feet in front of us, there was a little red plastic egg on the ground. You don't often see a red Easter egg. I pointed it out to Laney and said, "See that red egg? I see lots of pink eggs and lots of blue eggs, but that's the only red egg I see on the field. If I were you, I'd go grab that one first because it's right in front of us and it might be special."
So Laney lined up for the start of the hunt, eyes intent on that one red egg. I was already sorry I'd said anything.
And then the clock chimed 1pm, signaling the start of the egg hunt, and the kids were off!
As kids were scooping up handfuls of candy and gobs of prizes 'til their buckets runneth over, Laney was intently scanning the ground for that red egg. With a laser-like focus, she stepped over candy and avoided picking up other prizes all in the pursuit of that elusive red egg that she'd lost in this sea of other 4-5 year-olds. We couldn't believe it.
Peg Peg started screaming, "Just pick up SOMETHING! ANYTHING!!!" Another mom next to us turned to Peg Peg with a sympathetic look and said, "It's so hard not to become competitive for them, isn't it?" Peg Peg, ignoring her: "JUST PICK UP SOME CANDY!!!"
The entire hunt lasted less than three minutes and when we finally got Laney back to our little section of grass, we discovered that she'd gotten a balloon, a pair of rabbit glasses, and four pieces of taffy. Her basket basically looked like this:
She ate all four piece of taffy before we left the premises, and then declared herself done with Easter.
She was really a good sport about the whole thing, although I'm sure it took some of the edge off knowing that she was with not one but two grandmothers who would gladly take her to Costco and buy her candy in bulk.
Last night, as I was going through my files, looking for where I'd stashed the photos of Easter, Laney walked past my computer and caught me looking at the images from the hunt. She shook her head and said, "I'm so sorry I never found that red egg."
I swear, at all future hunt-related activities, I will keep my damn mouth shut.
Love,
Mom
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