Spring Egg Hunt

Spring has arrived, and my flowers are blooming. The crocuses are in their last blooms, and the daffodils are going strong. I planted these daffodils six years ago and was surprised by their size when they first popped up. I grabbed a bag of 100 daffodil bulbs at Walmart thinking that they would make an excellent border for the front planter. What I didn't realize was these bulbs were for miniature daffodils, so when they popped up in the spring, I thought something was wrong with my soil. Then I started to see short daffodils at flower and garden shops in pots. Now I like them much better than if I had put in full size daffodils. They have naturalized fairly well. Our hyacinths are just about ready to bloom, too. I planted about 70 new tulip bulbs on the one warm day after Christmas this year. This gives me about 150 or possible tulips in the front planter if the rabbits haven't eaten the stems before they get a chance to bloom.

Yesterday was the annual egg hunt sponsored by the CH parks and recreation department. Only Sam, Emma and Abbigail are still young enough to participate, so they had specific instructions to get extra chocolate eggs and jelly beans for their older siblings. This year, the grounds were wet so the eggs were scattered on the tennis courts. Last year, we had to do this in a mulitpurpose room inside the rec center. It was chilly and windy, so windy that many plastic eggs were blown across the courts and into the fences. It was funny, and the teenage volunteers had quite a time trying to keep the eggs in their designated age-group areas.

I tried to get action shots of the kids picking up eggs, but Sam and Emma were too fast, and Abby was too far away on another set of courts. Once the horn blows, the kids rush out onto the courts and start picking up plastic eggs. The older kids, 7-9 group, are usually done in about 2 minutes, the 4-6 age group takes about 5 minutes, and the 2-3 year olds 7 minutes. Only the young toddlers take their time being quite satisfied with one or two eggs, and only keep going at the urging of their parents. I can't blame them, the chocolate eggs are mostly chocolate flavored wax, and only the big kids have a chance to get prizes. I am grateful for the volunteers and park employees that put this on every year. The kids and parents have a great time. The anticipation is high. And the fire truck is pretty cool.

We have been participating in community egg hunts now for 13 years, and we have amassed a collection of plastic eggs that fills a large black garbage bag. I've got to find out if the park department would appreciate a donation.