Anyone that knows me in real life knows that I love a good tradition. Like many others, most of our traditions seem to be wrapped around holidays.
Today I was scrolling through Facebook and saw pictures that brought me back to a tradition from yesteryear.
The Egg Hunt at the Zoo. It’s today.
Although it was crowded and parking was a beast, I loved this one.
Everywhere you looked there were dressed up kids carrying baskets and parents carrying grande coffees, relieved it wasn’t pouring with rain.
During the younger years, it was great to watch the preschoolers filling their baskets. When the darling little girl wanted all of my son’s eggs, it was an awesome photo opportunity.
In addition to the actual hunt, we rode the merry-go-round, did arts and crafts, and took a picture with the Easter Bunny. Great Memories.
Sometimes traditions end…even if you don’t want them to.
Before long, my son didn’t like the crowds or the early trek into town. The noise and the constant activity in addition to the smells that are always part of a zoo were a lot for him. The final straw was the disappointment when the prizes were candy made with dairy.
It’s been a few years since we last did the egg hunt. Much of it, he doesn’t remember and the idea of it now is not appealing to him at all.
For those of you with little kids, enjoy the chaos and crowds of the egg hunts this weekend. All of it will be short lived. For those of you with older kids like me, enjoy your photos and the memories.
My Twice Baked Potato 
This is a really good reminder for me tonight. I am not a fan of the big egg hunts put on by our various organizations for a few reasons – the excessive amount of candy and the chaos (some of the egg hunts here are notorious for parents staking out an area and shooing away other kids, I’ve even heard of parents taking eggs out of other kids’ baskets!) – but primarily for the “gimme” kind of behavior that it seems to encourage. I’m not the only parent in this household though – so we go to a couple smaller ones that have less candy and more dyed eggs, and that are not publicly advertised and are therefore much more low-key.
This year we did both of those in addition to hiding eggs around the house (truly hiding as opposed to spreading) for the kids, and while they (Munchkin, primarily, Elf is still a bit young) had fun, I am still noticing an onset of “I want more more” that I’m not fond of.
I need to remember that for a kid, Easter and the accompanying traditions are a lot more magical than I’m thinking. I don’t have any trouble remembering that at Christmas/Solstice, so I’m not sure why the difficulty with this one. Anyway – thank you for reminding me that it’s all so fleeting. I hope – despite the lack of egg hunting – that you had a good holiday!
I know the “gimme mores” and the overly-involved parents scouting eggs but trust me! It is gone in a minute and you’ll be sorry when it’s over🐰