White House Easter Egg Roll

Earlier this year, when I found out via email that I won tickets to attend the White House Easter Egg Roll, I shrieked with excitement.  It felt like I had won the lottery.  (Well in actuality, I did, since the tickets were distributed through an online lottery system.)  I figured that this would be our one and only chance to experience a tradition that dates back to 1878.  How lucky for us.  Booyeah!

Easter Monday.  After arriving at the White House Ellipse and seeing the snakes and snakes of people arriving for check-in, I thought...What?  All of these people got tickets?  We might have won the lottery, but we were one of many.  (In fact, the First Family hosted 30,000 people that day.)

Luckily, it was a sunny, bright day with no rain in the forecast.  Unluckily, it was super hot and our systems, just coming out of winter/early spring, are not used to summer-like temperatures and skin-burning rays.  Skyler and Chase were dripping before we even got into the event, and the day was pretty much dominated by the scorching weather and the mind-boggling crowds.  Here are some photo highlights:

Yay, we made it through the first two lines, one for admission
and the other through security...in about 30 minutes.  Not bad at all.

We couldn't bring in any drinks, sunscreen, etc,
but drinks and snacks were provided
once we got through security.
Thank goodness! 

Still waiting to get into the event.

Still waiting for our group to be called so that we
can make our way to the White House.
At this point, the kids were getting pretty heated and
I was worried about the sun being so strong. 

Finally, after almost 2 hours of inching our way
with crowds of people on all sides, we made it to the
entrance! Once in, I took the kids to the first aid
station and slathered on some sunscreen.

Hurray!  We finally made it in!
Chase, pretty miserably hot, asked,
When can we go home?
Can we go home now?

Dyeing Easter eggs.
I really wanted the kids to do the Easter Egg Roll
when we first got in, but the line for that was incredibly long
(we probably would have spent much of our visit in line),
and the kids were so tired of standing in lines.
So I took the kids to do what they wanted to do instead...

Decorating Easter egg magnets.

We made sure to take breaks in the shade.  So incredibly hot! 

Decorating crowns. 

 

 

One day, I'd love to have a garden like this!

After about an hour there (we got in almost an hour
after our time slot began), we had to get back in line
to get out of the place!  Yikes!

The kids were more than cranky and ready to go by this time!

More crowds to get out.

After finally getting out, we were all famished.
Hot dogs from the street truck never tasted so good!

Souvenir White House Easter Eggs
with stamped signatures of the President and First Lady.

So that was our White House Easter Egg Roll experience.  We schlepped our cookies into the city to fight massive crowds and oppressive heat to do crafts (the kind I do in my own house every day of the week) and missed the actual traditional eponymous activity.  Still, I'm not complaining (even though I know it sounds like I am).  I'm one for grabbing all experiences, and I still feel lucky that we had the opportunity to go.  Let's just call it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.