Unless you've been in outer space or maybe detained in Guantanamo Bay, you've probably been to at least one Easter egg hunt by now. Collectively, as a family, we've been to two so far, although we probably could have spent all day at various versions today if we'd wanted to. Although they're great fun for the children, they do something that we've been trying to avoid lately, namely accumulate more candy and/or stuff that can get caught in the vacuum cleaner, not to mention those plastic eggs.

Then there are the well meaning but misguided grandparents that give each child an additional easter basket to the one the Easter Bunny fills. With 3 sets of gp's (1 intact pair and one divorced=3 sets) giving out goodies, it gets quickly overwhelming. Personally, I think it's revenge of some sort, although I haven't figured out exactly for what yet. Maybe those vinyl barstools I punctured with a ball point pen back when I was in first grade?

We did have a full day of springtime mirth, however. This afternoon we attended the awesome Alice in Wonderland Spring Faire at Falkirk in San Rafael. We'd heard about this in years past, but were never able to go until now. If you missed it, then you better make plans on attending next time. Apparently they used to have an Easter egg hunt on the mansion grounds, but decided that there were enough to go around and came up with this. And what a great decision it was! Highlights included the Stark Ravens Historical Players in character as Alice, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Caterpillar, and the Dormouse performing scenes and songs from Alice in Wonderland; the amazing Enzo Garcia playing great kid- and parent-friendly tunes on guitar, banjo, accordion, and musical saw; free cookies and lemonade; games like sack races, croquet, and the Lobster Quadrille; and crafts! We all had a huge amount of fun, and of course it was a splendid spring day. We'll definitely make this a tradition from now on.