On Saturday, we headed down to the Los Altos easter egg hunt early so we could be sure to have time to park and feed Baby Finn before the festivities.

It was a good thing we were early. Parents were positioning their kids at the start line a full 30 minutes early -- and coaching them. Seriously. Overheard: "OK sweetie, remember the strategy? You have to run out ahead of all the other kids. Don't waste time on the first eggs you see."

And here I was reminding Calvin not to take eggs out of other kids' hands. I hadn't expected a 4-and-under egg hunt to be treated like, well, Little League.

There was a five-egg limit. And it was crazy.

Calvin found one egg already open, the raisins tossed, aside, and put it in his basket. That was his one egg. (A kind Boy Scout later gave him another one.)

It was all over in about 90 seconds.

Saddest of all: The parents grabbing eggs for their kids. Calvin was standing forlornly on the picked-clean field, saying he wanted another egg, as a proud dad nearby posed for photos with his kid's basket full of eggs. His kid, I should mention, didn't look like he could even crawl yet.

We were relieved to meet young friends Lela and Arwen (left) and their families, who were about as shell-shocked as we were.

But the Easter Bunny -- and friends -- came to our rescue! Calvin carefully dyed over a dozen eggs, nearly all of them pink, and set them out in a basket for the big guy. In the morning, he was delighted to find the eggs half-hidden in the playroom -- and a basket full of toys and the most gigantic bullion bunny he'd ever seen.

The biggest hits in the basket: his first pair of scissors and gardening gloves. Baby Finn got some treats too, but mostly of the cuddly kind.

And then we celebrated spring with a more modest egg hunt in the back yard, with Simon and his parents, and some gardening. Calvin's tomato and eggplant pots are finally ready to soak up the sunshine outside.