Lunch with the Easter Bunny

We have to thank our good friend Brandy for turning us on to this event.

I have to admit, I was apprehensive at first...lunch with the Easter Bunny? And not JUST because kids are notoriously scared of giant furry characters (even though the parents are CERTAIN they will love them)...but the overall idea of it. THOUGH, the thing that drew me to it, was

1) limited to 125 people INCLUDING adults and kids both
2) for $5, lunch, crafts, photo, hunt all included and
3) the coordinator told us we'd be out of there inside an hour, an hour and a half TOPS.

PERFECT!

(not to mention...a BEAUTIFUL weather weekend, with lots of outside time on our agenda).

Grandma Jackie was joining us for lunch, so she headed over to save a spot in line. We got there around 11:20ish, in time to get there not rushing, but not having to wait a ton either. When they started to let us in, we could see the gym was set up really pretty. All the tables had pink table cloths on them, and there were craft stations set up, as well as the food line and a seat for the Easter bunny. We headed to the far end, close to the EB :)

Because we got in there right away, we hit the food line and got our chicken right away. Considering Amara doesn't eat much (ever) we quickly moved on to the crafts. One was a door-hanger, that was a little over her head, so we skipped it. The next was a bunny head out of a paper plate (cute) which is now on her bedroom door, so she sees it when we go in to get her each day.

As we were moving to the final craft, the big man made his entrance and boy did we get a smile. I'm not sure if it was the way he came in and made a round, or if she was surprised, or what it was, but it was awesome. She actually followed him around the room a little, and when he got to his chair, she rushed right over. She hopped up on his lap for a few seconds, but mostly wanted to observe, and keep an eye on him and all the other kids, so we headed back to our seats.

The last and HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL craft was decorating cookies.

Not that Amara is afraid of a mess, certainly NOT--but I didn't expect it to go down like it did. We've iced cookies at home before, and not had this kind of involvement :) When we got back to the table, the Y had given her a Popsicle stick as an icing tool--a GREAT idea (that I will surely use). She handled it with ease and went straight to icing her cookie--well, alternating between icing and eating--again, not anticipated. (notice the ever-so-slight smirk or enjoyment in the one pic).

**Eric likes the 'action shot' of the sprinkles in mid-air**

The funny part was, covered in icing and jimmies as she was, she didn't know how to pick up the cookie--it was like she didn't want to get it on her! ...but when she did, she dove right it! She proceeded to take everyone's cookies (kind of planned that) and decorate them too!

After the eating, decorating, and crafting, they called for the 1-2 year olds to like up to go outside. We headed to the door (rain boots on and basket in hand), got our coats and hats and out in to the sunshine. They told us we could get 12 eggs each, so off she went! At first, she wasn't sure what to do--and I don't know if she knew the eggs had candy in them (I'd imagine that would have created more immediacy) but she caught on.

Next it was time to dump them out and see what she got! Before I could even look at what she had, she had stuck a foil-wrapped egg in her mouth whole! Lucky for me, I guess the taste of the foil was a turn-off and she spit it out--the starburst went over a little better though. We turned our eggs back in and packed up our goodies. We headed home with leftover chicken tenders, iced cookies, candy, and some great memories.

After her nap, the first thing Amara reached for was her bucket...can't get anything past that one--oh, and Ily helped herself to the chicken tenders in my bag too.