By RACHEL DAVIS

Easter Egg Hunt

Click Photo to Purchase Photo Reprints!

rdavis@gctelegram.com

X marked the spot for 6-year-old Van Winter of Garden City.

"We start here," he said as he marked an X in the dirt with his shoe.

Within seconds, he was joined by his stepbrother, Ayden Sengmany, 4, cousin, Kahmde Pak, 7, and younger sister, Tien Winter, 6.

The kids piled on top of each other on the coveted X.

"There's not enough room," Van said. "Get off me."

The Winter family, along with nearly 150 other people, took to Deane Wiley Park Friday for the Garden City Recreation Commission's annual Easter egg hunt.

As the children lined the grass of the baseball field where the infield blends with the outfield, impatience prevailed.

"What's taking so long?" Tien asked her mom.

"You can wait a few minutes longer," mom Rebecca Winter said. "It will start soon."

Before the horn blew, signaling the hunters to begin, Ayden already was making plans. He lowered his shoulder to get Tien's attention and then pointed his finger to his favorite egg.

"That one's mine," he said.

"OK," Tien said. "I want the pink one."

Joan Scherman, recreation specialist for GCRC, sounded the horn and the children were off.

Ayden tried to run as fast as the others, but his legs didn't react as quickly and he nearly got run over.

The group corralled the eggs in front of them, reaching down and juggling a few of the plastic eggs before safely securing them in their baskets.

Children tripped and dove, ran past the eggs in the grass or just didn't see them as each scrambled to get more than the next. Parents yelled words of encouragement from the infield while others clapped or talked among themselves.

Less than 15 minutes had passed since the horn blew and all but two of the 2,000 eggs scattered across the field had been claimed.

"The kids did pretty good," Rebecca Winter said. "They did better than me when I was a kid."

Despite Ayden's slow start, he was victorious. He had 13 eggs in his basket.

"Look what I got," he said. "Smarties."

Even though Ayden ripped into his packaged candy right away, Tien held back.

"She's the conservative one," Rebecca Winter said. "She doesn't like to eat her candy right away."

Rebecca Winter said this was the first year the children had taken part in the Easter egg hunt, and they wanted to make it a tradition.

After the children had counted the eggs in their baskets, tallied their scores and rummaged through the candy, it was time to go.

Several of the families had left as quickly as they had arrived, except for a few stragglers who wanted to spend some time with the Easter Bunny.

"Happy Easter, Easter Bunny," one boy said as he ran and hugged the bunny.

Children waited for their chance to stand next to the Easter Bunny, even whispering their acknowledgement to their parents.

"Momma come look," a little girl said.

With her hand up, shielding her mouth, the little girl whispered: "It's the Easter Bunny."

Donna Gerstner, assistant superintendent of the GCRC who also knows the Easter Bunny, said the children had a lot of fun.

However, Gerstner, speaking on behalf of her furry counterpart, did have one piece of advice for future Easter egg hunters.

"When you take a picture with the Easter Bunny, you don't say cheese," she said. "You say carrots."

¬ 

¬ 

¬ 

¬ 

¬ 

¬ 

¬