White House Easter Egg Roll

When the lottery opened up for the White House Egg Roll, I eagerly submitted our names.  I knew that it was a big event, but I didn’t realize that people from all over the country attempt to attend.  Needless to say, we did not get lucky.

Then, a week before Easter, Thomas was listening to our weekly recorded message from the kids’ school when the principal made a special announcement; their school was one of 4 in the county selected to receive tickets to the Easter Egg Roll!  Quantities were limited and interested parties were directed to call “Mary” on Tuesday morning (this was on a Friday).  When Tuesday rolled around, I started calling every 15 minutes, beginning at 630.  Thomas left a message with his cell phone number—we were trying to cover our bases.  If it wasn’t Spring Break, I would have gone down to the school board offices, but there was no way I was going to stand in line by myself with the 4 kids.  By 915, I had called at least a dozen times with no luck.  Then, Thomas called me:  Mary had returned his call and our name had made it onto the wait list!  He was told that they weren’t sure how many tickets they would get, or even if they would actually get any.  She said if he didn’t hear back by 3:30 then we weren’t getting tickets.  3:30 came and went and we thought all hope was lost.  Then, on Wednesday, she called again and said we needed to come pick up or tickets.  So, me and the kids went and got them.  The county had been given 200 tickets and we were 6 of the lucky recipients.

In preparation, I read a few blogs of people who had been, searching for tips.  One person had been a few times in recent years.  Her advice, which she gave in a very authoritative manner, suggested that if you didn’t have a specific list of things you needed to accomplish, then show up at your start time, or 15 minutes later and skip the line.  She stated that it would be crowded inside, but that the slowest line is the one to get in.  Since we were bringing Luke and wanted to minimize the number of times he would need to be fed, we decided to take her advice.  Bad decision… nee terrible decision.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.

On Easter Monday, we were set and ready.  It is amazing how much more time it takes to get out the door when one is traveling with a baby, but we departed on time and reached the metro station on schedule.  It was Luke’s first time riding the train.  However, he wasn’t impressed, choosing to spend the whole ride eating.

Luke's first train ride, his stroller is kind of blocking the shot.

The closest stop is Federal Triangle, but we decided not to switch trains and departed at the Archives.  From there, it was about a mile walk to the White House Ellipse.  Then, we had to walk another 0.5 mile to find the line.  The kids and I all used the port-a-potties, which is a good thing because the line was endless.  And, the worst part was we kept thinking it was over, only to find there was another line to stand in.  We got there at 1210 (our ticket time was 12:15-2:15) and it was 1:15 before we were actually inside.  We spent an hour walking and waiting (on top of the walk from the metro).  The kids were really grouchy. 

If you look way off into the distance, you can see the White House.  This was sort of the line to get into the line to get into the line to get onto the lawn.

Approximately an hour after the last picture.  We are still walking in line (but, almost there).

And, we're in!  

Once we were finally inside, the crowds were pretty daunting.  There were literally thousands of people.  We were expecting huge crowds, but it was even more than we had imagined.  The area in front of the stage was packed and the lines for all the events were extremely long.  We decided to do the seminal Egg Roll first and then go from there.  I got in the line for the roll and Thomas and the kids got in line to meet Sophia and then met up with me.

There were lots of Disney characters walking around.  Their handlers had Walt Disney World name tags, so they were the real deal.

The line for the Egg Roll seemed really long, but it moved extremely quickly. This is the closest we got to the White House (and, it was very close).  We saw the balcony that the President speaks from and learned from one of the volunteers that it looks directly to the Jefferson Memorial, so that the current President is looking into Thomas Jefferson's eyes when he steps outside.  It felt very historical to be standing right in front of the White House and being part of a centuries-old tradition.  I love that our children have joined the throngs of other children, who for over a century have rolled an egg on the South lawn. That experience alone made all of the frustration worthwhile!

This is the view looking out from the White House.  In the distance, you can see the Jefferson Memorial.

And, looking toward the White House.

Jack did his so quick, I couldn't get a picture, so I sent him back to pretend he was rolling :)

After that, Thomas took the kids through the "Eggtivity Zone" zone while I fed Luke.  Again, the line appeared long, but moved very quickly.  

There were professional athletes in the zone, including Matt Lawrence of the Ravens

Thomas took over the feeding (only Luke's second bottle ever) while I took the kids to do one of the posed pictures.  

They had 4 or 5 wooden cutouts, the lines for these were also a bit long, so we just did one.

We walked around a bit more and listened to the group performing (whose name I can’t remember, but whose song I have heard many times on the radio).  Another trip to the port-a-potty and we were on our way.  We had also read that the line to get out could take a while.  Since it was only 10 minutes until our allotted time ended, we decided it was a good time to leave.  We got in line, which thankfully moved very quickly, collected our Peeps, an ice cream treat and souvenir wooden egg.  Here are a couple more pictures, one looking toward the White House and one the Washington Monument.  Note, there are people everywhere!

Then, it was back to the metro.  We stopped off at Chevy’s for a late lunch/early dinner.

All in all, it was a fantastic day and an experience I would highly recommend.  We all had a fabulous time and would love to do it again!  

If anyone has googled and reached this blog looking for tips (and managed to read this far) here is my advice:  

1) Get there early.  We had friends who got there an hour and 15 minutes before the allotted time and got in very quickly.  They ended up only waiting 15 minutes longer than us and had an extra hour of time to enjoy the event.  We would have liked to do the basketball/tennis activity and played on the President's court.  We also missed the story being read by Jim Carrey, which would have been fun. 

2) Don’t be intimidated by long lines.  There were many people who walked by the line for the roll and decided it was too long.  They run this event like a finally tuned machine and the lines move quickly (well, not the one to get in, but I have already belabored that point). 

3) The rules say no food/drink.  We had no trouble with our diaper bag and the snacks it contained.  Before the final line to get in, there was a water and juice box station.  Some people were walking around with bananas and apples, but we never saw where to get them.  Don’t go expecting to be fed. 

4) Do go expecting a crowd.  This is a national event.  There were people from every state represented (and lots of students from DC).  The two families in front of us in line to take our lawn picture were both from California.