First, Bond Park. We did the egg hunt last year, and thought it was rather ridiculous, but nevertheless, felt compelled to go again this year. It's not really a hunt--just more of a scramble as a gazillion kids, coaxed by their hovering parents, run onto a baseball field scattered with eggs and candy, grabbing as much as they can. All the goodies are usually gathered within three minutes.Zac started coaching Alice on strategy the day before. He told her to run to the end of the field were there weren't any other children, and start gathering eggs there. Before bed that night, I asked Alice if she knew what we were going to do the next morning. She said, "Gather Easter Eggs! They're going to say 'go' and then I run and run." The next morning, as we were finishing breakfast, I suggested Alice practice by using her blue produce basket to gather all the plastic fruits and vegetables that were scattered around the living room floor. Zac decided to make it a more specific task, and he put all the fruits and vegetables at one end, and dropped a strawberry in the middle of the floor. Then he took Alice behind the floor towel, said that was the line, like what she'd have to wait behind at the start of the easter egg hunt. Then he said, "Go!" Alice ran right to the strawberry. Zac intervened and said, "No, no! That's your first mistake! You're supposed to go to the other area where more of the items are. Now, let's start over." At this point, Alice burst into tears. The poor girl couldn't handle the intense training regime. In the debriefing/consoling session that followed, she revealed that she was sad because she wanted to pick up that strawberry. I decided to switch the emphasis of the training towards making sure she knew she shouldn't grab eggs from the other kids and that she should just have fun.
Once at the egg hunt, when the Easter Bunny said go, she had a moment of panic and didn't do anything. After a minutes of being clingy, she got the hang of it and gathered the candy and eggs off the field. I remember last year being surprised at how many of the kids immediately put the candy in their mouths after the gathering was done, but this year, Alice was one of those kids.
Alice and the crowd gathering candy and eggs.
Examining the candy
She decided she needed two lollipops at once.
Sere showing Alice how to make bunny ears
Alice went down the bouncy slide for the first time ever. She was so proud of herself afterwards, beaming and jumping up and down and saying, "I did it!" But she didn't want to do it again. Instead, she wanted to go on the bouncy castle, but there was a long line, so I said we'd come back later. When we came back later, the line was shorter, but when it was finally her turn, she chickened out.
They had a fire truck for kids to climb in. Alice went for the purple medical gloves right away.
Next, we went home for a quick lunch, then out to the art museum. They had several stations where kids could do some art, which Alice loved. I think because they do art projects at daycare, she feels right at home sitting at a table working on stuff.
For the outdoor mural, Zac was shocked to find they were using house paint (he expected some child-safe, washable paint). Alice did pretty good though, only getting a bit on her shirt and hands. The painting was supposed to be a life-size paint by number, but Alice (like many other kids) had her own artistic interpretation. She could not have been happier.
One of the exhibits was on storybook illustrations
Simon also enjoyed looking at the art
Outside the museum, we saw Anna, one of Alice's friends from daycare, and they played in the fountain together.
They enjoyed making footprints on the concrete with their wet feet.
All in all, it was a fun-filled beautiful day.
