EASTER CELEBRATIONS... have a way of starting a tad early, or at least tradition reveals as much. The egg dye doesn't make its first showing on Easter morning proper, but rather a few days ahead of time, alongside the bottle of vinegar and those little fizzy tablets (plus all of the stickers and glitter and such). The neon-hued plastic grass and over-sized baskets and plastic, open-in-the-middle eggs adorn our kitchen tables sometimes weeks in advance of Easter, which can put the egg-enthusiastic aficionado in a holiday mood far ahead of the actual date. Where to go, then, to find your hippity-hoppity when it is still technically early March? There are places out there that start it all on the early side, like Irvine Park Railroad. The sweet kid-sized attraction starts all of the major holidays on the early side, in fact, with pumpkins and Santa sightings arriving well ahead of their important occasions. So, too, does Easter, which officially opened at the Orange location on the first weekend in March. Yes indeedy, that means that...
THE EASTER BUNNY... is now in the house, or, rather, the park, which makes for a nature-sweet setting for the springtime fun. There are photos to take with the long-eared icon, and Easter egg hunts, face painting, and hay rides, and, of course, the train that has made the spot a favorite for families for two decades now. (In fact, Irvine Park Railroad just celebrated its 20th anniversary.) Lively doings are afoot every day through the Saturday before Easter, so cast an eye -- or a long ear -- here to see if what's doing is what you have in mind. Everyone who adores the floweriest, eggiest, chocolate-bunny-iest of days loves to jump-start the action early, and if that high-jumper of a superstar is there -- a certain Mr. Bunny -- it can truly put the hippity-hoppity in one's heart.
