We have a third-grader in the house, so you know we're drowning in Easter egg puns.
"Mom. That hunt was eggs-cellent."
"Don't hunt by the electrical box, because you'll only find fried eggs."
... and so on.
We interrupt our most recent travelogue to bring you the Consulate Easter egg hunt! First a little background. We are a smallish post, but we have a lot of young families and a lot of kids, most under the age of 12. This is mostly a good thing, because the kids always have someone to play with and because Consulate activities are generally family friendly. If they aren't, no one will come.
It also means that things can get really crazy really quickly. I kind of feel sorry for the officers who aren't "kid people." (There are a few.)
One thing that adds to the craziness is that 95 percent of the kids are boys. That's an exaggeration. But it doesn't feel like an exaggeration. When it was my turn to host a spring break play date on Thursday we had 19 kids here, and only 3 of them were girls.
I love boys, of course, but some of you might be familiar with the rather obnoxious stage boys go through in the elementary school years. We have a whole gaggle of boys in this stage and they just love to "egg" each other on. Ha! I made a pun.
So, the Easter egg hunt was crazy but a lot of fun. We met for brunch at the consul general's residence, and then had the hunt, games and crafts. I was in charge of the craft table and didn't have John to help with the kids (thanks to a ship visit that's great for the U.S. and Indian navies and for outreach and all that but lousy for an Easter weekend/end of rant), but I still managed to snap a few photos. Here's Evie waiting for the hunt to begin.
We grouped the kids by age and had the youngest start first. This year I had one kid in each group, which was kind of fun. Here we are trying to get the 2-and-under group lined up. So cute!
And here they are searching for eggs while the older kids freak out on the sidelines. "There won't be any left!" Woe is us and all that.
Both of my boys have frequent Ferdinand moments. What are plastic eggs when there are so many flowers to smell?
Despite the older boys' fears, there were plenty of eggs for everyone. Here are Evie and Johnny with their loot.
When my friend Kirstin and I were stuffing the eggs in her nice, air-conditioned dining room last week, it didn't occur to us that it might not be a good idea to use jelly beans. India's monster ants, heat and humidity made some of the jelly beans inedible. Luckily, most of the eggs were stuffed with wrapped candy and stickers, and those survived the hour or two they were hidden. Plenty of sugar for all.
After the hunt there was more "brunching," a water balloon toss, sack races and crafts. A good time was had by all, but by about 11 a.m. it was 95 degrees (feels like 103, according to weather.com) and everyone was melting. Maybe we should start at 5 a.m. next year.
Now we're at home recovering and eating lots of candy. Yay, Easter!
"Mom. That hunt was eggs-cellent."
"Don't hunt by the electrical box, because you'll only find fried eggs."
... and so on.
We interrupt our most recent travelogue to bring you the Consulate Easter egg hunt! First a little background. We are a smallish post, but we have a lot of young families and a lot of kids, most under the age of 12. This is mostly a good thing, because the kids always have someone to play with and because Consulate activities are generally family friendly. If they aren't, no one will come.
It also means that things can get really crazy really quickly. I kind of feel sorry for the officers who aren't "kid people." (There are a few.)
One thing that adds to the craziness is that 95 percent of the kids are boys. That's an exaggeration. But it doesn't feel like an exaggeration. When it was my turn to host a spring break play date on Thursday we had 19 kids here, and only 3 of them were girls.
I love boys, of course, but some of you might be familiar with the rather obnoxious stage boys go through in the elementary school years. We have a whole gaggle of boys in this stage and they just love to "egg" each other on. Ha! I made a pun.
So, the Easter egg hunt was crazy but a lot of fun. We met for brunch at the consul general's residence, and then had the hunt, games and crafts. I was in charge of the craft table and didn't have John to help with the kids (thanks to a ship visit that's great for the U.S. and Indian navies and for outreach and all that but lousy for an Easter weekend/end of rant), but I still managed to snap a few photos. Here's Evie waiting for the hunt to begin.
We grouped the kids by age and had the youngest start first. This year I had one kid in each group, which was kind of fun. Here we are trying to get the 2-and-under group lined up. So cute!
And here they are searching for eggs while the older kids freak out on the sidelines. "There won't be any left!" Woe is us and all that.
Both of my boys have frequent Ferdinand moments. What are plastic eggs when there are so many flowers to smell?
Despite the older boys' fears, there were plenty of eggs for everyone. Here are Evie and Johnny with their loot.
When my friend Kirstin and I were stuffing the eggs in her nice, air-conditioned dining room last week, it didn't occur to us that it might not be a good idea to use jelly beans. India's monster ants, heat and humidity made some of the jelly beans inedible. Luckily, most of the eggs were stuffed with wrapped candy and stickers, and those survived the hour or two they were hidden. Plenty of sugar for all.
After the hunt there was more "brunching," a water balloon toss, sack races and crafts. A good time was had by all, but by about 11 a.m. it was 95 degrees (feels like 103, according to weather.com) and everyone was melting. Maybe we should start at 5 a.m. next year.
Now we're at home recovering and eating lots of candy. Yay, Easter!
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