Two Egg Hunts and a Pancake Breakfast

The weather was nice today so we decided to head outside and check out the Easter Egg hunts in town.

We decided to go to First Assembly of God Church on Merle Hay Road, where they were hosting an Easter Egg hunt for kids, and along with the egg hunt, they had a pancake breakfast.  It was pretty impressive.  Chris Cakes, the family doing the pancake catering, were obviously professional pancake people who do this quite often, as their set up was amazing.  Plus, the flap-jacks flying through the air to get to your plate made it really entertaining!  Some were dropped, but it was fun to try and catch them as they shot through the air!  Check them out to see the photos on their website.  It is a very extensive pancake operation!

After the pancakes, everyone went outside to go to their "zones" for the big egg hunt.  There were eggs all over the place!  The kids were so excited to get started!

Elliot surprised me by his reaction when they started the count down for the hunt.  Normally he is all up for anything his big brothers are doing, and with Ethan helping him along, I thought he would do fine, but as soon as they shouted "GO!" he froze, threw his bucket down and started crying.

Ethan, coaching Everett on the best plan of attack.

Redy... set... GO!

Everett was having a great time!

Finally Elliot started to pick things up, but he did continue to cry the whole time.

Poor guy!

I don't know if it was the energy of the crowd that startled him, all the kids running in different directions, screaming, and going crazy or if he was mad that kids were picking up the eggs that he thought were all his... but he was VERY upset (angry upset) and it took sometime for him to calm down.

After the smaller kids did their hunt it was time for the older kids.  Ethan and Derrick were discussing a plan of attack along the fence while I sat with Everett and Elliot.  In no time the announcer shouted "GO!" and all the kids went running in all directions.  It didn't take long and all the eggs were gone.

Do you see Ethan in the center of the photo?  He went right to work!

After the hunt they had a drawing for special gift baskets inside the gym.  It really was a well organized event.

Against my better judgement, we decided to hit the Carousel of Colors Egg Hunt (put on by Des Moines Parks and Recreation at Union Park) on the way home.  It was organized by age groups too, but they started all ages at the same time, so we had to divide and conquer.

When I got to the hunting area for Elliot and Everett's age group I was surprised!  It wasn't just candy and eggs, the whole area was scattered with toys as well.  They told parents to stay against the fence when they let the kids go and left the hunting for the kids to do.  It was chaos but over quickly.

This kid was pretty proud of his egg gathering skills.

Overall, the kids were happy with their loot and we headed home for naps.  It was a beautiful day to be outside!