Adventures at the White House Easter Egg Roll … aka thank God we live nearby.

A few weeks back, I was one of the lucky few (or 30,00, as it turned out) who scored tickets to the White  House Easter Egg Roll.  Those who tried to get tickets online know what an exercise in frustration it was, so I was thrilled when I refreshed a page that had stalled out earlier and managed to complete the ticket process.

The Easter Egg Roll is a White House tradition – one that I participated in as a child, and as a volunteer in my teenage years, so I was excited to bring the kids and make this memory for them.  Mike reluctantly allowed me to drag him along.  Our tickets were for “Group B” – which had access from 9:45 – 11:45, which meant we were supposed to arrive at 8:45 to get through the security stuff.  I fretted about the best method of transportation (metro? drive?) and what time to leave and how to feed the kids when the website stated no outside food or drink.  I planned out outfits and everything to a tee – making sure I had the diaper bag packed the night before with every necessity.

We took the metro, managing to squeeze our ginormous jog stroller into the commuter-packed train and made our way to DC.  As we got off at Federal Triangle, I started to rummage through my diaper bag and got a sinking feeling when I couldn’t locate our paper tickets which were REQUIRED FOR ENTRY.  Aaaack!!!!!  Suddenly I realized, I didn’t have any memory of seeing the tickets when we left the house in the morning, and felt certain they were still at home.  If we had any hope of entering the South Lawn, I knew I had to go home and get the tickets and hope I could get back in time.  So, I hailed a cab and high-tailed it home, while Mike led the kids to the queuing area on the Ellipse.  I think I left around 8:30; my cabbie was good and we made good time.    I walked in the door, and there were my tickets, right on the floor next to where I had packed the diaper bag.  I grabbed them, and we headed back to the district.  According to Google, we live 7 miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and thanks to a good driver, light traffic, and certainly providence from above, I arrived at the Ellipse around 9am.  I found Mike easily and we joined right in the line and began the process known as “hurry up and wait”.

We had to wind through long serpentining aisles to get to the place where they scanned our tickets, and then a little further to be screened for security.  All of that, I have to say, went quite well.  The line moved quickly and security was a breeze (and they did NOT confiscate my bananas, cereal bars and sippy cups – yay!).  Once past security, we had to wait in an enclosed area of the Ellipse outside the White House lawn before they opened to let us in.  Our start time was supposed to be 9:45, but it was closer to 10:15 before we were actually on the hallowed grounds.

Once in, it was crowded, but still neat to be there.  We got there in time to hear Fergie sing the National anthem (we were technically still outside as that was going on) and then to hear Mr. & Mrs. Obama give their address.  We weren’t sure where to head first, but overhead someone say Obama was going to come down to the basketball court where they were doing bball drills.  The theme for the year was activity/sports so a lot of the stuff was activity-focused.  We wandered into that area and Wendy participated in a dribbling exercise.  It was really geared for kids 6 and up, and although she did fine for having never dribbled before, she was sad that she didn’t do a good job (silly girl!).  We loitered for a bit and did see Joe & Jill Biden make an appearance (I was standing right next to Jill at one point but didn’t strike up a convo or anything), but it really wasn’t Wendy & Sam’ scene, so we moiseyed on before Obama appeared.  After that we participated in some other craft stations:  the kids made jump ropes, fun crowns that were “painted” with paint & shaving cream.  Wendy was excited to get her face painted and so on.  There were other activities but, before we knew it, it was 11:45 and they were ushering everyone out!  We never did get to do the official egg roll and there was more stuff we missed, but our crew was fading fast at that point too.

We allowed ourselves to be hastened out, but made sure to collect our 3(!) souvenir eggs.  I think they came in 4 colors and alas, we got green, but oh well.  We managed to lose one egg before we made it home [Edit: the egg was found buried in the diaper bag!] – probably when we stopped to snag hotdogs from a street vendor (I think Wendy set it down somewhere).  Anyhoo, after much walking and a few meltdowns, we made it back to the metro and headed home.

I don’t think the kids will remember it as the most amazing experience of their young lives, but I am glad to have crossed it off their “bucket list” .  I think it would be fun to go back when they are older (poor Adam didn’t do anything), but I promised Mike I’d only make him endure it once.   Maybe after a few years, when we’re past the stroller stage, we’ll try again.

Here are the pics from our exciting adventure: