Easter was always a holiday that brought people together. Rex Ramos remembered growing up in a Hispanic family that had lived in Texas going back to well before Texas gained its independence from Mexico. Things like Catholic mass were always there, but it did allow for him to meet others and share his desires and interests. Rex took great pride in that no one rejected his interest in dinosaurs and paleontology, which grew into the work that he'd done over the years that related to study into North America's greatest Cretaceous hunter, Tyrannosaurus Rex. There were questions but no rejection when he volunteered to become a Tyrannosaurus Dinotopian and then falling for Tyra Wrex. They also loved seeing the photos of his and Tyra's hatchlings, Jonah and Manuel. It was all something that Rex did like.
But the past few years had been rough and really prevented there being the forging of new memories like the ones he remembered having while growing up. Much of it came from the pandemic which had major effects and forced most people to "hunker down," and regardless of attempts to keep the "economy" open, it still slumped. The high cases and deaths saw to that, but while the pandemic was still moving on things had been getting better. It was this that allowed for this Easter to begin to return to something more normal and provide the citizens of Glen Rose and Dino City with an Easter Egg Hunt with a more Dinotopian flair. It brought Rex onto a platform with a wooden projection board with posters written on it. With him on the platform where Glen Rose's mayor and Dino City's mayor, William Tarr. Gathered around them were a crowd of people, mostly parents and children, and the children holding large brightly colored baskets.
"Welcome all to this year's special Glen Rose and Dino City Easter Egg hunt," Glen Rose's mayor said with a smile and bathing in the handful of photos that were then taken, "and something that will open up the celebration of this special day and something that helps connect Glen Rose with our Dinotopian neighbors and Mayor Tarr and I have had some private volunteers that have put forth the ideas for this hunt and should be most enjoyable."
"In various spots around Glen Rose and Dino City, some specialized sand boxes have been set up to serve as a scavenger hunt," William Tarr spoke up, noting his wife seated in a specialized chair next to Tyra with his three hatchlings sitting to Rex and Tyra's two hatchlings, "the locations of the sites should be easily found on the Glen Rose Easter site. There and buried under the sand will be the eggs to brought back here. Volunteers will also be standing near each sand box to then provide help with the tools needed to find the eggs."
"Tools?!" a father gasped from the front row asked, "are you saying..."
"The eggs are buried in a fine layer of sand," William Tarr answered, "and I would turn things over to Doctor Ramos who has done more to coordinate the hunt and will know more."
Rex then stepped forward and rolling the poster board forward with its wheels squeaking a bit as they rolled forward.
"The eggs are buried at each site, but the sand is fine, and the eggs are not so deep that those arriving at each side won't know where an egg is buried," Rex explained, "all that would be needed is to brush the sand away and the eggs will be revealed. Not too different from what a lot of paleontologists will do to remove fossil bones or eggs from a site where the fossil is buried in something like sand. Those that are helping protect each site will have brushes to share with all participating in the hunt. So, it wouldn't be too much work."
“I thought scientists just found fossils,” one young male child commented from beside his mother and raising his hand.
“Sometimes that does happen… particularly in places where land meets the sea or a river or other body of water,” Rex answered, “you can find some small fossils there. But a lot of times, with larger finds… that will often take a bit of work and can be problematic depending on the year of excavation. Some very early paleontologists were not above using explosives to excavate fossils, even though that would be just as likely to damage the fossils in question. More careful studies may have also come more as an accidental discovery. A farmer or miner or someone doing some other work comes across something that gets identified as a fossil and then paleontologists can be called in to collect the fossils and document them. About the only times when a paleontologist is the first to find these fossils is when they know of areas that are known to be rich in fossil deposits and get permission from the landowner to dig there."
Rex watched as the gathered children gave a series of "oohhs" showing some interest. A part of him wondered as to how many might actually seriously consider paleontology in the future as a result of talks like this.
"But for the purposes of the hunt, the eggs are not buried deep and can be revealed with some like and smooth brushing," Rex then continued, "and the plan is that this is also to be something of a scavenger hunt as well. All of the eggs at each site are different and will match the design of various fossil and Dinotopian eggs that have been found."
Rex then gestured to the posters that then showed photographs of the buried eggs that were to be found. They all looked like various photographs of fossil eggs that had been found, and for those that they didn't have fossils of, photographs of a Dinotopian's eggs were provided. Each photograph then had the species name underneath it and this drew more of the parent's attention, though many of the children also noticed some things.
"Not all the eggs look like the eggs we colored at home," one girl spoke up.
"Yes..." Rex nodded, "while there are a great many animals that lay eggs of some kind, not all eggs will look the same. Some sharks lay eggs that look like a spiral, for example. Now, a Dinosaur's eggs will be closer to a Bird's eggs than a Shark's, for some obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean that every egg will have the same shape. And while all modern Birds evolved from Coelurosaur Theropods, not even all bird eggs will be identical. Some have slightly different shapes and/or colors. And since this Easter Egg hunt is going to be in both Glen Rose and Dino City, we've substituted a Chicken's egg with various Dinosaur eggs. Each station will have enough eggs buried that everyone may uncover or discover one egg from each site. And the species name for each egg will also be written on it. When you discover one egg, you can then move on to the next site. Everyone may uncover ONE egg from each site."
"And you said this would be like a scavenger hunt?" one mother wondered.
"Yes, complete with prizes," Rex nodded and yielded the stage back to Glen Rose's mayor.
"The prizes will then be determined by how the hunt goes," Glen Rose's mayor spoke, "if someone recovers one egg from each of the species listed on the board, that person would gain a $500 universal gift card that could be used at any Glen Rose/Dino City business..."
"Including conversions at Dino City's Horizon office IF that is what the winner wants," William Tarr added.
"And they would then go down depending on the combination of eggs that are found," Glen Rose's mayor finished, "and everyone would have the chance to win prizes of candy or plush dinosaur in a shirt saying, "have a Sauring Easter" on it."
"No one has to go to the same site at the same time," William Tarr also added, "once one has collected one egg from each site, they are to return here to collect the prizes. We will be here until..."
His announcement was cut short by a series of honking cries which made him look down to seeing Candace leaning down to see one of their three hatchlings laying on its back and crying out another was seated on Candace's foot and looking over to fallen sibling and with the third up on all fours with his tail pointing out in a direction that told William that the hatchling had lost interest got up and then turned to do something and accidently knocked over his sibling with his tail, as the male was looking over to the one that was on his back. This got Jonah and Manuel Ramos to start chirping from where they were seated and one reaching up toward Tyra. As Candace lifted the one that crying out, William came down and collected the one that had knocked him over.
"You are trouble," William said to the infant.
"Oonngguuuuhhh!" the infant Parasaurolophus Dinotopian honked back and reached for William's beak with its own blue scaled arm.
"Just be careful," William told him and then moved back up to the stage, and then spoke to the crowd, "I'm afraid we'll have to cut some of the explanations short, as we're losing John's interest here." He paused as there were a few chuckles that he heard, and he thought he heard someone say "cute" in the background. He eventually continued with, "We will be here until four PM handle the prize deliveries and so on. Have a good time and an excellent hunt."
That got people to then file out to begin the hunt as Rex came up beside William.
"More that they'll put together good memories," Rex commented, "and in a few years, our hatchlings can take part."
"Assuming John, here, remembers that he has a tail," William gave a small sigh.