Easter Success || Bend, Oregon Photographer

I feel very strongly that everyone has a right to their own opinion, lifestyle & traditions. Every family is different... and there are very few Right and Wrongs when it comes to parenting (which can make it so challenging sometimes). 

So, if your family LOVES public Easter egg hunts, I'm going to go ahead and get this out of the way (in a very sincere tone... ): I hope you had a lovely time, and that your kids enjoyed each and every darling moment! 

Now, for OUR family... we experienced our first public hunt about 5 years ago. We'd always done our own hunts at home, and we tried to make scavenger hunts out of them - at their ages, with photos of locations at Grandma's house where they could find the next egg-clue... and possibly goodies along the way. The boys were old enough for this first public hunt to be super excited... and I was excited to watch them scurry about and have fun while not having to have had to organize a scavenger hunt... 

What I failed to do was properly prepare them for the Public Hunt. 

I failed get them ready when the whistle blew, to RUN and Hoard, and be FAST or they would get nothing. To RACE other children for the prizes... be Ruthless in their endeavors. Because I failed to properly prepare these young children for this activity... my two sweet little boys got nothing in their baskets. 

Not. One. Egg. 

They wandered around with wide (mildly horrified) eyes, watching the sweet treats and eggs get snatched up by kids who were properly experienced in egg-hunt etiquette. Parents were cheering the kids on... yelling & screaming. All while my husband and I, with equally wide eyes, looked at each other and silently vowed: Home hunts. 

Now, I'll say this, I'm sure every hunt is organized differently, and I would hope that they are not all like that - but you'll all have to judge that for yourself... we've stayed out of them ever since.

Fast forward 5 years, and our 2012 Easter was anxiously anticipated by my boys... Yes, still magically and fantastically wondering what the Easter Bunny himself will bring {I LOVE that}. 

In true fashion, this holiday came screaming at me like a freight train - at unbelievably fast pace... with work piling up {thank you, clients!}, and my fantasies of a really fun and challenging scavenger hunt slowly whittling away to whatever I could "get away" with. We'd invited our dear friends to join us, which was HIGHLY anticipated by the Tyke boys, and a mild stroke of genius on my part. Not only do the adults get to share the festivities (yummy food & wine), but we also get to share the job of putting on a  fun afternoon for the kids.

We spent the morning as a family working at the Broken Top Club during their Easter Brunch, offering another round of the darling live bunny photos. I loved that we could do that as a family - and could write an entire post on the experience, but... that's for another day. 

Because of the event in the morning, our afternoon festivities were held off until 3:30. The Buchanan's arrived, food in tow... and we hadn't even begun to coordinate the Hunt, let alone get our dinner organized. (yeah, yeah... I COULD have done tons ahead of time - but remember... "freight train?")

So, Debbie and I went over to their new property... managed in about 10 minutes, to throw together a 6-part scavenger hung/obstacle coarse with their baskets at the end... all the while I'm saying to my {guilty-mama} self, I sure hope these boys will be happy with this! We'd scaled WAY back on candy... and toys and "stuff" - and were hoping the thrill of the hunt would suffice. They were SO blue after we'd come back from our event, and before our friends arrived... thinking the Easter Bunny had passed them by this year {oh, be still my heart}.

We called over to our house, where we quickly told the boys the Easter Bunny had left an egg by the Buchanan's mail box... and the shrill SCREAMS on the other end immediately started to soothe my guilty heart. 

Every feeling of exhaustion from the morning's job, and guilt from what I "could have done" melted away and was replaced with heart-swelling pride in my boys (and their buddies), as we watched them work as a team, with joy and enthusiasm, through the Easter Bunny's tasks. The exclamation point at the end of the hunt was the crazy happy dance put on my my oldest as he discovered their modest "baskets."

In the end - the day was a beautiful compilation of work, play, good food, friendships & family. 

Enjoy these images from our simple little hunt... 

They each took turns reading the clues... this one: everyone must make a basket before you open the next clue!

Wait for me, says Shane!

Yay! Great job, little one!

This clue: Help Shane score a goal....

Garrett's turn to read the clue. 

Gavyn must drive the remote control car into Garrett's room... 

Together, built a tower using all of the cups before you move on!

Ready, set build!

The big kids let Shane knock the giant tower over with the RC car! My only regret of the day: not being in a good position to get the HUGE grin on his face... 

Score! Easter goodies!

Hands down. My favorite image of the day. Just a pack of goofy, silly boys. {love, love, love, love & love}

A close second.

True love... Shane shares a sour-patch gummy with Dave.
{Don't think that didn't make my heart flutter just a bit... he's a keeper!}