Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone! Last Sunday we went to an Easter egg hunt hosted by the church that our friend Kelly goes to. The hunt is at a local park, and we've gone for the last two years - it is a very popular event, so it gets pretty crowded fast. It looked like there was chance it would rain, so we thought the crowds might be lighter than last year, but it didn't look like the weather kept anyone away.

Last year, Elle was too young for any of the egg hunts, but we checked out other parts of the celebration (free food, face painting, bounce houses, etc.). This year, we were contending with the fact that the Easter egg hunt for Elle's age group was right during her nap time, and she was quite cranky throughout the day. Since the egg hunt was the main event we cared about, we didn't spend time waiting in line for the face painting or much of the food.

We started by checking out the bounce house ... last year, Elle was unsure of it and didn't seem to enjoy herself at all. This year, we couldn't get her out. Tim, Kelly and I tried to reason with Elle and tell her she had to get out and give other kids a turn, told her she was going to miss the Easter egg hunt, etc. She ignored us. We had to enlist the help of another kid to guide Elle toward the opening and then snatch her.

We hurried over to our egg hunt area, where Elle quickly got the idea of grabbing eggs and putting them in her basket. The eggs were empty, but we were instructed to return the eggs after the hunt in exchange for a prize bag. When I told Elle that we needed to go get her prizes, she said "What are we waiting for?!" with breathless awe and amazement.

Despite Elle's crankiness, some ominous-looking clouds and the crowds, it was a lot of fun. I'm glad we got to do it as a family, and I think Elle had a blast.

The Easter Bunny was there, too. Last year, Elle was not a fan. (And really, she's never really been keen on characters in big costumes, so it's not shocking.) We tried to get Elle to go see him before we left, but as we stood about 25 feet away from him, she seemed super freaked out and did not want to get any closer. She didn't have a problem with him being there ... just as long as he stayed far away from her:

Elle pretends she doesn't know us.

Tim decided she's never going in to another one of these again after she refused to come out.

What, your Easter Bunny doesn't arrive via pirate ship?

Showing off her loot.

Death grip on the popcorn Kelly's mom gave us.