Memories of the Great Easter Beer Hunts

   PETALUMA, Calif. - There are traditions and there are traditions.
     And so it was when my oldest son was nearly 5-years-old and my daughter not quite 2-years-old, we added a special Easter Egg Hunt to the traditional search.
     We still had the traditional Easter Egg hunt, with colorful decorated Easter eggs hidden around the backyard of my suburban Petaluma home. (The house was on Rocca Drive off Payran Street, in case anyone knows Petaluma.)
     My children and children of friends would scour my backyard coming back with Easter Eggs and candy hidden all about.
     It was great fun, of course.
     But as soon as all the Easter Eggs were gathered, the children would take over the event, hiding cans of cold beer around the yard for the adults to find.
   

      As the adults would wander around, pretending not to see a silver-colored can of Coors Light under a lawn chair, the children would squeal "Look down, look down!" or give some other clue to the obviously bumbling adults.
     The party after the Easter Egg and Easter Beer Hunts was always fun, too, usually including a big Sunday brunch that included adults raiding Easter baskets for the children's chocolate.
     And somewhere in my photo archives is a picture of my daughter that first year of the Great Easter Beer Hunts, splendidly attired in a pretty yellow Easter dress, using two tiny hands to hoist an unopened Coors Light can to her lips.
     It's a family classic, of course.

     Happy Easter to all, and to all a good day.