Silverwood Park Easter Egg Hunt

One thing we've really enjoyed and will sorely miss here in the Twin Cities is the Three Rivers Park District. They have both great park facilities and great programming.

The week before Easter, April 16, we had a lot of fun taking the kids to the Silverwood Park Easter Egg Hunt in St. Anthony.

This being the winter that wouldn't quit, we woke that morning to a light dusting of snow. In mid-April! The snow didn't stick, but it did stay near freezing for the day. You can see how bundled up everyone is for the egg hunt.

Cora and Hazel were both in the four-and-younger egg hunt, and we arrived just in time to make our way down to the field to line up for the starting gun. Or starting "Go!" rather.

 The eggs were wooden and were scattered throughout the circular open field. Each kid was to collect three eggs and trade them in for a prize back at the rec center.

Cora got out of the gates quickly, but was a bit confused on her directive, as she ran right past all the eggs. 

Yes, Hazel should have her mittens over her hands, but she wasn't complaining.

Cora did collect three eggs for Hazel, though, followed by three for herself. What a good sister. 

And Hazel loves anything where there are a lot of people to look at and she gets to run around in an open space.


It was cold enough that after everyone had their three eggs they scooted right back inside the rec center. We traded our eggs for a frisbee and another toy I've forgotten.

Then there was this puppet show that Cora was enthralled by.

And there were a number of craft stations: Make a bunny-ear headband, make a bunny out of a pine cone, glue ears and eyes and a cotton ball onto folded paper to make a bunny card. No pictures of that because it took an entire parent's attention to corral Hazel, and an entire parent's attention to help Cora with crafts, leaving no hands leftover for the camera. Hazel isn't into crafts nor being patient while Cora does crafts, so we did one craft there and collected the materials for the others, so we could do them later at home. 

You could also have your picture taken with the Easter bunny. We didn't do that, but we could see the setup through the window. Cora took one look at the guy in the bunny suit and said, "Who's in dere?" Geoff quipped, "Santa Claus."

Never quip to a three-year-old!

*Gasp!* "I want to talk to Santa! Let's go see Santa! Will he talk to us?" "No, no, Daddy's just kidding! It's not Santa! It's just a guy! I promise!" Two words from Geoff to plant the idea in Cora's head, and ten thousand words to get it back out again.

We headed over to the outdoor patio, where they had a fire pit for roasting marshmallows. Cora's first, I think.

Had to wait her turn first.

How do you like it, Cora? "It's kind of really sticky."

They also had a station set up for blowing giant bubbles with a bucket of suds and two sticks with a big yarn triangle tied between them. Most people got their yarn tangled, but having done it before, I kind of rocked at that, and may use it as my fallback career.

Later that night when the girls were sitting on my lap, I smelled Cora's hair and told her, "Your hair smells like a campfire! That's one of my favorite smells in the world!" Cora leaned across and sniffed Hazel's hair and said, "Hayzo smells yike a cactus."