Hunting Easter Eggs

Saturday afternoon we took Joseph to a nearby park where a church was hosting a free community Easter celebration, complete with an egg hunt, rides, balloons, etc. The event started at 2pm, but we didn't know what time the egg hunt was going to happen, so I wanted to get to the park a bit early. I'm pretty sure I was the most excited about the afternoon, as Joseph didn't have a clue what was going on, and Joe doesn't have the history of crazy mass easter egg hunts with tons of other kids like I do.

As we were walking up to the park, we heard the organizers announce that the hunt was going to begin in 10 minutes, and to find the age appropriate section for the kiddos. We tried to wait patiently behind the yellow rope in the 1-2 year old age area, but it was a little difficult with all those eggs right in front of us!

While we waited, Joseph kept trying to walk over to start picking up eggs. I'm not going to lie and say I hadn't spent some time letting him "practice" his technique at home in the days before Easter, so I wasn't terribly surprised to see him trying to take off. Of course, he was the only little guy there trying desperately to get at the eggs before the start of the hunt!

Finally we gave in a few times, since he was clever enough to stay behind the ropes.... just walking forward enough to drag them with him while he'd go and get an egg.

When the Easter Bunny arrived to start the hunt, Joseph was ready and off to a great start (with the 3 pre-race eggs he'd already picked). There were a bunch of eggs and a good number of little kids, but each family seemed to take one section so the kids could pick up plenty of eggs. Joseph hunted eggs like a champ, making sure each one ended up in his basket.

 Like a true Parsonage, once he'd completely filled his basket and realized none of his extended family was there, he recruited an innocent grandma onlooker to hold his eggs for him. :) She was quite happy to help the little guy out.

And once the eggs were all gone, Joseph turned to picking dandelions and the little puff weeds.

The only family picture we took all weekend...please excuse the crazy hair and fingers in the mouth!

After the hunt we tried to catch up with the Easter Bunny to take a picture, but missed him. Most of the other games were geared at the older kids, so we headed to a different section of the park with playground equipment to play. Joseph surprised Joe with his incredible sliding skills... I swear Joe looked a little sad when he realized Joseph didn't need his dad's help to climb to the top of the slide and was able to go down all by himself!