It’s that time of year again. The Monday after Easter. Time for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

You might recall last year’s adventure. In a word, it sucked.

So this year, we had high hopes. Really high. I mean, the weather here has been gorgeous for days at a time. Ok, so the Cherry Blossom festival was done in a downpour, but c’mon, this year Easter is in April. It has to be a beautiful day. And the White House south lawn will be gorgeous on a beautiful day, right?

Yeah right.

It rained. Again. And again, we are not talking about just some drizzle, although it did start out that way. It wasn’t the hurricane last year was, but by the time we actually got to the White House, we were already pretty wet. We got in this time though, which was a plus. We sort of herded Jacob from venue to venue, and in about 15 minutes he started saying things like, “I’m cold. Let’s go home.” Or “I’m really cold, and my legs don’t work. Let’s go home.” We even made it down to a little area that had a very cool looking slide, and I said, “Hey, do you want to go on the slide?” at which point Jacob started to cry and said, “Can’t we just go home?”

You know when the 4 year old doesn’t want to slide, things are pretty bad.

So we trekked on out of there, back to the Metro. Again, the streets, etc were closed off, so we had to hoof it. But, as already mentioned, Jacob’s legs didn’t work, and after about a block, he melted into a little puddle and just sat there, crying.

Have you ever walked 5 blocks with a wet, 40 pound toddler on your back in the pouring rain while trying to hold onto an umbrella and a goody bag? I don’t recommend it. If Tracy M. were doing it, she surely would have given birth on the spot! (Want to come to D.C., Tracy :) ?)

I have to say, though, I did feel some grim satisfaction at finally having procured a goody bag from the Easter Egg Roll, having persued the elusive bag the year before with little success. We even have some photos commerating the event, although none from my camera, because it slipped from my hands and practically shattered on the wet concrete about 35 seconds before we entered the White House gates. I swear, that Easter Egg Roll is cursed.

So, afterwards we did what we did last year–warmed up with some hot chocolate and some treats. While we were in the coffee shop with our drinks, Jacob opened that precious goody bag and squealed with delight at the contents: A book, a coloring book, some crayons, and a wooden egg.

Yep, just some paper and crayons, and of course that little wooden egg. I know, I wanted to scream “That’s IT?!? This is it after all we’ve been through? I’m expecting a friggin’ golden egg here!”

Well, no such luck. Jacob spent the next 15 minutes happily coloring away while my parents and I thawed out. I think he liked the crayons more than the actual event. Go figure.

As we trudged home to my parent’s house, my mom blew into her hands to keep the circulation going, and she said, “Y’know, just once, I’d like to go to that thing when it’s not cold. Every year it’s just cold!”

The weather here now? Calm, breezy, clear skies with good visibility. Temperatures this afternoon reached mid 70’s. Sure to be a beautiful week, followed by a gorgeous weekend. Of course. It rained exactly during the hours of the Easter Egg Roll. Naturally.

I’m just wondering which president ticked off the weather Gods so much that they have cursed the Easter Egg roll. My money’s on Clinton.