Easter Egg Roll 2010
Sunday found our family preparing for the 22 annual Easter Egg Roll. Since 1988, my extended family has been participating in this tradition. The concept is simple; the last egg left without a crack is the winner. Rules have been put in place over the years; no decorative egg cover things, no stickers, and you must not lift the board to release your egg until you hear the word "go." The start is "1-2-3 go" but releasing your egg early, even on the three, can give you an unfair advantage so you must wait until go.
This year, we tried the shock treatment on our eggs. After boiling them, we put them directly into the dye hoping that the dramatic transition from hot to cold would help to strengthen their shells (we were also running a little short on time Sunday afternoon to wait for cooling eggs, but that is besides the point).
Did the shock treatment work? Here's a brief recap of the tournament.
As we have gotten older the number of people who participate in the Easter egg roll can fluctuate greatly. This year was smaller then average with Kyle's graduation and Dave and April's move taking all of Doug's and Dawn's family from the running. You would think a smaller number might help Mike. The poor guy has never made it past the first round. In recognition of his dismal showing since he joined the family, he named his egg "Loser." Unfortunately, the egg lived up to it's name and was cracked in it's first competition. Although technically, since Mike had a bye first round, he did make it to the second round which is farther then ever before, but the fact remains that his egg has yet to crack any other egg.
Here is Little Man with his crazy game face on. His egg name kept changing and so when he stepped up to the track for his first go I wasn't sure what he would say. When asked what his eggs name was he confidently something along the lines of "the best egg roll championship egg ever." Little Man soared through his first couple of rounds and was getting pretty excited about the prospect of winning the whole thing. He ended up being knocked out in the final four by Aunt Paula. I was worried that he might start crying (this is the first year he's really understood what's going on) but I was proud of him. When he saw his egg was cracked, he just nodded his head repeatedly with a really serious look on his face. He then came over and sat in my lap. I could tell he was upset, but I was proud of him for not losing it.
Kiwi was back as defending champ. Here she is with the trophy that has proudly resided in our house this past year and her egg from this year, Scribbles the second. For a while it appeared that she might again claim victory, but she was also knocked out in the final four by her Uncle Michael. She didn't care that her egg was cracked and really just thinks it's fun to participate in cheer although she did get a little sad when she handed the trophy over to Uncle Mike (who ended up the champion). I don't think this is because she understood what was going on, however, but because she is two and sharing/giving people something she has in her possession and likes is not exactly one of her strong points.
This is supposed to be me looking sad about my egg. Pastel Power, as I named it, was knocked out in the first round. I have yet to return to the top since my 1996 championship. Maybe I should bring back the spiral perm and scary "in your face" middle school basketball sweatshirt I was sporting back in my egg rolling glory days...or maybe not.
Here's my dad getting ready to roll against Little Man. He was knocked out by him, but you want to know a secret? I think he wanted Little Man to win.
A picture of the youngest competitor, Baby D, with grandma and grandpa.
It was a fun evening and just nice to spend time with family. I love watching my children experience and enjoy some of the same traditions that I did as a child.
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