*I'm guest posting for Nicole over at Flip Flops and Combat Boots today! Be sure to check it out.*
One of my all-time favorite holiday traditions is rolling Easter eggs with the Grafs. It's a family tradition dating back many generations to our ancestors in Wales. I grew up thinking this was an entirely normal activity for everyone, but have since been informed that it is not. Although, a brief Google search just confirmed that its English roots are still going strong, and that the
White House has hosted an annual Easter egg roll for
134 years and counting. (So, there.) That said, I'm pretty sure that our version of egg rolling is pretty unique no matter what tradition you stack it up against.
We start off by dyeing and decorating hard boiled eggs just like any regular person. And then the fun begins. We hike into a pre-selected location with a nice, dirt hill and then get to work on an intricate track for the eggs. This year, Matt, Christian and Matthew stepped up as the head engineers of the project and created quite the masterpiece! After the first curve, the egg crossed a bridge which it then funneled back underneath. It then wound up for the big jump over a water hazard, after which it shot underneath a tunnel and then up and back a boomerang. Once it came down the boomerang ramp, the egg turned and zigzagged through a mini-half pipe and into a bowl below. At that point, it was stacked into a dirt egg crate where it awaited transportation to the top of the hill to start the journey down the track all over again.
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| The location |
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| Hanging out during construction. Jake got a kick out of stomping on tin foil. |
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| The completed track! |
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| Narrating the track on camera |
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| The bridge-into-funnel |
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| The jump |
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| The boomerang ramp |
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| The final zigzag, finish line, and waiting area |
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| The little kids made their own straightaway track for the grand finale. |
The egg rolling party lasts for a couple hours, and at the end, whoever's egg is the most intact is declared the winner. To top it off this time around, we then promptly destroyed that egg and the remainders of any other eggs with some good, old-fashioned batting practice.
And that, my friends, is how you roll Easter eggs.
What a fun tradition! Looks like a blast!
ReplyDeleteYour Mom looks so so so happy holding baby Jakey! I'm so glad she got to spend lots of time with him. :)
ReplyDeleteMatthew and Christian did a fabulous job on the track! I'm very impressed! What a fun tradition! Can I join your family?
Whoa! You guys are serious about your egg rolling! I'm comin' next year :)
ReplyDeleteWhere was this at?
Oh man, I love our family. It has been far too long since I've been to a proper egg rolling. This brought back such fun memories of Easter trips to Zion for egg rolling.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe we missed the best track ever! Next year we will forgo the California beach and be there to roll eggs.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this! That's awesome!
ReplyDeleteOmg this looks like so much fun! I have to show this to the husband later, I know he'd love to do this next year. Jake is so big now by the way! LOVE it :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a BLAST!! We never rolled Easter eggs before but we might have to take it up!
ReplyDeleteFound you through Flip Flops and Combat Boots!
That's such a fun and funny tradition! I've definitely never heard of it. I bet my engineer husband would be all over that!
ReplyDeleteAndrea
Left brain, right brain, pug brain.
Ok, so much happiness in one place in this grand tradition! I knew egg rolling had to have roots in some place very regal.
ReplyDeleteI think the baseball bat and egg distruction at the end must be an addition because we never had that as an ending, but then again we didn't have big creative boys to add to the fun!
So glad to see this Graf family tradition is still going on!
Yes...that is how you roll an easter egg!! hahaha, hey that looks like a TON of fun... and we feel sad we had to miss this year. Next year we should be able to be in on all the traditional fun once again ;) Dad said that it was a beautiful day and that Kolob was a perfect choice again for the hill site! Sharla...the batting of the easter egg started around 15 years ago with Jay and Shaun who spontaneously added that part of the fun ;) I remember the first time those easter eggs went blasting all around us as those big boys swung the bat as hard as they could! hahaha, oh man! Then, Grandpa Graf has us kick around and cover up all the colorful shells into the dirt. Ashley, your pictures are awesome and it makes us feel as though we were right there! We are so super happy to see the awesome egg rolling track that was constructed! That is the coolest ever!!! Can't wait for next year! ;)
ReplyDeleteSharla- What Lisa said :) I remember Jay and Shaun introducing that fun batting business at Zion once upon a time! So fun.
ReplyDeleteCourtney- This was down near Kolob Canyon in Southern Utah. It's so pretty there!