Easter Egg Roll at the White House

The National Easter Egg Roll used to take place at the U.S. Capitol Building, but was moved to the White house in 1878 when Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife, Lucy, first opened the South Lawn to local children the Monday after Easter.  (You can read the history of the event here.)

Each successive president has continued this tradition.

Open to children 12 and younger, 30,000 people from all 50 states participated in this year's White House Easter Egg Roll... including the Cropp family.  This was, by far, the coolest thing we did in 2011!

We were slowly preparing for Rich's annual business trip to Arlington, VA (and a side trip to Busch Gardens) - a trip that the kids and I have come along on the last two years.  As I was looking for new things the kids and I could do while Rich was tied up with meetings, I stumbled upon the National Park's web site and information about this year's Easter Egg Roll - as fate would have it, they'd just opened up their lottery application and IF we were to get tickets, we would only need to spend one extra night in the area.  It seemed like an easy decision, so I applied. 

A few weeks later, we learned that we got them.  And on April 25, 2011, after a LONG, LONG wait in a LONG, LONG queue across the street from the White House on a HOT, HOT morning, we were finally able to cross the street and enter the White House grounds... we'd spend the next two hours participating in a number of activities designed to encourage kids to be physically fit. 

The Welcome Sign at the South Lawn gate

Our first stop at the White House - singing and dancing with Gordon, Maria, and their Sesame Street friends. 

Next up, a long line for the traditional egg roll.  While we waited in line, the First Family came out onto the balcony to welcome everyone to the White House and we had a terrific view of that.  I'm not a fan of Obama's presidency, but it is the first time I've ever heard a sitting president speak and I couldn't help but be in awe of the moment.

The Egg Roll itself takes place directly in front of the White House.  We passed within 15 or 20 feet of it on our final approach to the starting line and could even see Sasha and Malia's swing set from our place in line. 

About a dozen or so kids line up at a time on one of several 'fields' and are given a real egg and a wooden spoon for the Egg Roll.  The distance between the start and finish line is probably no more than 30 feet, which, considering the size of the crowd, is good.  

Matt and Cathy waiting to roll the eggs!

Matt rolled his egg pretty easily... in fact, he launched it up in the air several times (rather than simply rolling the egg).   The result: a totally cracked egg by the time he crossed the finish line. 

Cathy had a more difficult time getting the egg to roll but she was able to do it without any assistance.  And she was clearly quite proud and excited to get to the finish!













There were a number of other activities supporting the "Get Up and Move" theme for the day including an obstacle course:

Walking across the balance beam

A future track star going over the hurdles

Waiting to tackle another challenge on the obstacle course...

The background is terrific!

The kids enjoyed a magic show...

Kelly Ripa getting ready to read to the kids.

... and then we sat down for story time.  There were several readers during the time we were at the White House (we could hear President Obama reading one of Cathy's favorite stories, Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom, while we waited to roll the eggs) and I chose Kelly Ripa's session - mainly because her husband Mark Consuelos was scheduled to read with her.  Instead, we got their oldest daughter, Lola.  But, the story she selected, I Wanna Iguana, was a really cute story and the kids enjoyed it.

 There were plenty of activities we missed out on - there's just too much to do in a two hour window.  There were tennis and basketball lessons on the White House courts, cooking demonstrations, Zumba and lots more.

As we left, we got a lovely souvenir of the day - a wooden egg.  Government swag, paid for by our tax dollars.  Needless to say, we sent it off to school with the kids for show and tell.

After a quick lunch not far from the White House, we hopped on the Metro and made our way back home.  I'll certainly apply for tickets again for 2012 (though I am hoping to go to Pittsburgh over Easter weekend for the Phillies and Pirates), and if you've got small kids, you should consider it too.  It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am so glad we were able to experience it. 

Tickets for the 2012 event (to be held on April 9, 2012) will become available through a lottery in February (click here for more details).

Hope to see you there!