With the weather on Saturday seasonable and sunny, Scott and I decided to surprise Robby by taking him to the Animal Park for the Easter egg hunt. (Incidentally this was our third visit to the park since it opened last Sunday. We've already paid for our season passes.) It didn't take Robby long to figure out where we were going, and he spent the drive devising a plan to retrieve as many eggs as possible. By the time we pulled into the park, the competitive juices of both boys were flowing!
We've attended several Easter egg hunts at the park throughout the years, but I have never seen as many participants as Saturday. The park was a zoo (literally and figuratively) and it was difficult to get around with all of the bumping and shoving. I began to doubt our decision to attend as I could foresee disappointment and crying in the future if Robby didn't find an egg. Hoping that the park owners had prepared enough eggs for the overwhelming crowd, we took our place in line and waited for the whistle.
As soon as the gates opened Robby and Scott took off in a full sprint. The duo had decided to ignore the eggs in the front and concentrate their efforts towards the rear of the park. Their plan worked because Robby's basket was overflowing by the time I reached him.
Within minutes all of the plastic eggs had been claimed. (Kudos to the park for planting enough eggs so that each of the 1500 children in attendance felt successful and left with at least a few in hand.) With all of the fake eggs found, everybody's attention turned towards finding one of the five highly coveted golden eggs. Two had been discovered during the regular hunt, which meant that there were still three unclaimed. Upon hearing the news that there were still three golden eggs hidden, Robby handed me his basket grabbed his Daddy's hand and the pair went off running.
I casually yet meticulously scoured the perimeter of the park, hoping to find the golden egg. After about five minutes it was announced that another egg had been discovered, leaving only one. Thankful that Robby and Scott had found enough plastic eggs to consider the hunt a success, I headed in the direction I saw the pair running.
Almost as soon as I turned around to find the boys, I saw Robby running towards me. High above his head he was proudly clutching the last golden egg. I stopped in my tracks, dumbfounded that they had actually found it. With 1500 competitive hunters, Robby and Scott had managed to uncover the final golden egg!
I doubt I have ever seen Robby (or Scott for that matter) as proud as he was on Saturday, holding the spray painted metallic egg with his arm extended. He was so excited he could only gesture to show the crowd where it was discovered. After accepting the congratulations from his fellow hunters and picking his prize (a 2 foot tall chocolate bunny that I will surely enjoy some night when he is sleeping) Robby reenacted his discovery. Apparently the egg was hidden in a cluster of dried and yellowed grass.
For the remainder of the weekend Robby would sporadically exclaim, "I seriously cannot believe I found the golden egg. I am so lucky that me and my Dad are good egg hunters." I had to chuckle when he gave Scott a huge hug and repeatedly said, "Daddy, I really do love you a lot right now."
Robby has stated that he wants to keep his golden egg forever. I'm fairly certain that the hard boiled spray painted egg will eventually begin to rot and reek. Although the golden egg is destined for the trash (eventually) I know that the memory of this victory will be strong for all of us!
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