Children hop into spring with Eggsperience

By Samantha B. Koss (Fort Carson)April 5, 2012

Children hop into spring with Eggsperience
1 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children hop into spring with Eggsperience
2 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children hop into spring with Eggsperience
3 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children hop into spring with Eggsperience
4 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children hop into spring with Eggsperience
5 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Children scrambled across the field Saturday to collect multicolored eggs with hopes of receiving candy at Eggsperience, the annual springtime event. But when the children exchanged their eggs for a bag of candy, one young boy insisted on keeping his empty Easter eggs.

"I think my son likes the eggs more than the candy," said Chrissy Cammarasana, mother of Jerard Jr., 3. His sister, Arianna, 5, gladly accepted her treats for gathering one egg of each color on her list.

The Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation incorporated educational learning with its traditional Easter egg hunt at the Special Events Center. Children ages 3-5 picked eggs from a list of five colors, while children 6-7 picked eggs from a list of alphabet letters. Older children matched pictures on a list to pictures pasted on the eggs.

"This keeps the games fun and not so competitive," said Ann Edinger, chief, DFMWR Events and Entertainment. "Everyone gets candy and still can pick eggs for fun."

More than 3,000 people attended the event for a day of family fun with egg hunts, pictures with the Easter bunny and the children's Spartan race, an obstacle course where children crawled under string made to look like barbed wire and jumped through lines of bouncy houses.

"The kids are excited to try out the obstacle course," Cammarasana said as she headed toward the bouncy houses with her friend, Jody Carpenter, and her three children, Dustin, 10, Christopher, 8, and Maryann, 7. Both of their husbands deployed to Afghanistan three weeks ago with 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

"These family events really get the kids' minds off the deployment," said Carpenter, wife of Spc. Eddy Carpenter, 4th BCT, 4th Inf. Div. "And it's nice to have friends like Chrissy who are going through the same thing to enjoy them with."

This is Carpenter's fifth deployment and Cammarasana's third.

"The kids have grown up with their father deploying all the time," Carpenter said. "It's something we just have to deal with."

Edinger said events like Eggsperience are meant to provide the military community an opportunity to enjoy family-oriented activities during a time of constant deployments.

On Saturday, arts and crafts, games, food and an animal petting station lined the walls of the SEC while sponsors of the event ringed the center.

The animal petting station was a busy attraction all day. One after another, Families pet rabbits and turkeys.

"We wanted to give the kids an opportunity to pet the animals and see them outside the zoo setting," said Stacy Cantu, DFMWR operations. "We are considering a petting zoo for the next Eggsperience."

The event also offered families a glimpse of programs and events that will be offered in upcoming months.

Army Community Service promoted financial readiness programs while DFMWR presented April, Month of the Military Child, events such as the children's golf day and Outdoor Recreation Center events planned in April.

Related Links:

Army.mil: Army Families