Egg Hunting at Cromwell Valley Park

We opted to try the egg hunt at Cromwell Valley Park after the disappointment at St. Pius of neither boy getting an egg in their basket.   There's hope that the organizers of that event figured out the flaws of their strategy and placement of eggs to avoid further disappointment in children this year. 

We were off to a rough start in the morning. Everything was good with timing but we forgot the boys' baskets and had to make a pit stop at JoAnn Crafts for some baskets.  We have so many at home but since we were ok on time, we opted to make the decision to buy new ones since we were closer to the craft store than home.  And, you can't not have cute baskets for the pictures.  The boys decided that they wanted to keep the decorative fabric.  It was very girly to me but I'll take that they are embracing their decorative side. 

Upon arriving, we located the Campbells who had found a perfect spot to hunt for eggs.  It was roped off for the 3 and 4 year olds.   The faces of some excited 4 year old surveying the situation and figuring out the best way to gain access to the eggs. 

There was a lot of waiting. The park had other events available including eggs to dye, a goat and some bunnies to pet but Miss Mary had staked out our position and we didn't want to loose it.  There were several eggs in their vision line and we knew that they would at least get one based upon our position. 

Finally, the horn blew and they were off.   Well, mostly Jackson and Connor were off. And, Jackson moved a lot of faster than Connor.  Jackson retrieved 4 or 5 eggs and Connor had the same number.  Mary Elizabeth had a couple of eggs but was not happy with the idea of not getting assistance and going further in to the circle to retrieve the eggs.  We completely understand as there were a lot of kids vying for the eggs.

Connor started to inspect the contents of the eggs and when he wasn't happy with the chocolate inside, he promptly dumped all of his eggs out of his basket. He has lots of ideas on how things are supposed to be and a little hiccup like bad chocolate (in his opinion) were enough of a reason for him to toss all of the eggs.  Connor has a lot of "reasons" for why he does the things that he does but I'm struggling to understand it. Maybe, there are things that we just aren't supposed to get....

We headed over to check in on the goats.  The boys had a field trip at Cromwell Valley Park in the fall and Jackson was adamant that there were animals on the "farm."  The only animals that we saw that day were birds. Th boys and their classmates left corn for the deer in the surrounding area.  So, to say that he was happy to find a goat would be an understatement.  He repeatedly told us that he knew they had animals.  We tried to explain that the goats didn't live there and reminded him of his field trip but it wasn't worth bursting his excitement.

Inside, both boys had the opportunity to pet some bunnies.  Jackson struggled with waiting in line but
savored every minute he had with the bunny. 

After we were finished with the bunnies, we headed out to find more animals.  We tried again to explain but Jackson felt that if he walked a little further away from the buildings, he could find them.  We stopped him again, reminding him about the field trip.  It is such a beautiful setting so we let them run and have fun.

On the way out, I had some cooperative models at the urging of their dad.