The Easter Egg Roll

A few weeks ago, Harvey put our name in the lottery for the White House Easter Egg Roll, which was Monday, April 1 (yesterday). We were not chosen. But we had one other chance. If Harvey's boss didn't use his congressional pass, we could ask him for it. No one else in Harvey's office has young children, so there was no competition. Since congress is in recess for two weeks, Harvey's boss is back in Tulsa, so he and his family couldn't use their pass, and they graciously gave it to us. The only problem was that it was good for up to five people, and there are six of us.  So after we found out we got the pass, I made arrangements for babysitting for Judah, and Harvey sent some e-mails to try to locate an extra ticket. A couple days later, Harvey had a visitor from the White House--the official White House liaison to Harvey's office. He handed Harvey an envelope containing a single ticket to the Egg Roll--Judah's ticket. So we were able to go as a family after all.

We spent Easter weekend in Chesapeake, Virginia, with our friends Jerry and Michele Bright and their family. It was the next best thing to being with our families back home. They welcomed us warmly and we had a beautiful time, in spite of the house full of eight rowdy kids. We went to the beach, dyed and hunted eggs, worshiped, and had a delicious Easter meal. Thank you, Jerry, Michele, Jaylen, Janessa, Joseph, and Joleah--we love you guys.

We drove back to DC Sunday evening, and we took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel route, stopping for dinner at a rustic crab house on the water. Fresh seafood, mmmm.

Monday morning, Harvey went to work, and we drove to his office around 11. The Easter Egg Roll had four sessions, and ours was 12:15 to 2:15; I believe it was the third one. We parked in Harvey's garage and took the Metro to the White House. It was still a bit of a walk. As we arrived, we took our place in line, the first of what would be several lines before we entered. In all, we stood in line for around an hour. If we had known, we might have tried to get an earlier start. But it was ok. The kids were patient, and the weather was beautiful.

As we finally entered, it was a bit of a whirlwind! We got our purple wristbands and our official bags, maps, and programs. They were passing out free tea, juice, and water, so we helped ourselves to some. There were several event and activity areas set up on the lawn: sports/fitness, crafts, food/nutrition, a yoga garden, a music stage, a story stage, an egg hunt, and the famous Egg Roll. By the time we got in, we had only about an hour left in our session. We stopped to look at a few of the characters roaming around, including Smurfs, SpongeBob, Martha the Dog, and Sofia the First.

Then we headed to the Egg Roll. We waited in line another ten minutes or so, but we got some good pictures. 

For the roll, there were about ten lanes set up, and the kids lined up and used their spoons to roll their eggs to the finish line. It was all very quick, but we had our moment of Sparks egg glory. 

Gracie claims to have won, but I don't know if she actually followed protocol--she was a little out of control with her egg. 

Judah came in last, but she was very careful, which made me proud.

After the Egg Roll, we headed to the story stage. During our time slot, there were only two celebrities I was familiar with: Danica Patrick and Quvenzhane Wallis, both of whom were reading stories. We missed Danica Patrick's story, although we did see her briefly as she was leaving. But we got to sit in for Quvenzhane Wallis's story, Horton Hatches the Egg. Harvey and I had just watched Beasts of the Southern Wild last week, so I was excited to see her, and I told the kids about her and showed them some pics of her on my phone so they would know who she was. Only children were allowed in the story time area, but they allowed me to go in and sit with Judah. Quvenzhane was adorable, and our kids did well listening to her, even though the story took 20-30 minutes to read.

We also got to take a picture with her afterward. (Tabitha was shy and didn't want to be in it.)

By the time the story was over, our time was almost up. We found a volunteer to take a pic of our family, and then she told us where to head toward the exit to get our souvenir eggs. We filed out and picked up the eggs, as well as packages of Goldfish, fruit snacks, and Peeps, which the kids were excited about. Just as we were leaving, it grew cold and began to sprinkle. We walked back to the Metro, rode back to Harvey's office, and headed back home. Another fun day and memorable experience for our family, for which we are incredibly grateful and blessed.

www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll