Children enjoy Beeping Easter Egg Hunt for the Blind

About 40 children — both blind kids and their sighted siblings — enjoyed the Beeping Easter Egg Hunt for the Blind on Saturday morning at the Washington State School for the Blind. Organized by the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes and the CenturyLink Pioneers, kids enjoyed the egg hunt but also tried beeping kickball, tandem cycling and petting therapy llamas and dogs.

Angel Miller-Boyko, 7, offered a carrot to Rojo the therapy llama. He greedily ate it and waited for another one. Clearly, he knew the drill. Angel did, too, She’s been attending the event since she was 2.

“It’s a family tradition,” said her mom, Shaleena Miller from Vancouver. “Every year, for weeks she can’t stop talking about Rojo and Smokey. She prepared her own carrots today.”

Rojo and Smokey wore bunny ears, garlands, bows and sparkling blankets to greet the children for the festivities. Lori Gregory from Mountain Peaks Therapy Llamas and Alpacas handed children small carrots to feed the animals. Some brave kids held carrots in their mouths and let a llama gently take the carrot — and give them a llama kiss. Parents and grandparents took photos of llama kisses and hugs with their smart phones.

Twins Kalista and Urijah Gonzalez, 4, from Beaverton, Ore., walked up to the llamas and held an animal’s lead. But their little sister, Kalina Gonzalez, 14 months, took one look at the furry animals towering far above her head and ran the other direction. Her mom, Mayra Gonzalez chased her.

Their dad, Manny Gonzalez, said it was the family’s second year to attend the event. As the twins reluctantly walked away from the llamas for their next activity, Manny Gonzalez said, “Urijah, here’s your cane, buddy.”

Holden Lewis, 4, stood on the track petting Eldridge, a therapy dog with Guide Dogs for the Blind/Dove Lewis Portland Area Canine Therapy Teams. Holden, his dad, Shandon Lewis and his grandma, Sharon Lewis, drove from Beaverton, Ore., and got stuck in traffic.

“We were worried we wouldn’t make it,” Sharon Lewis said.

Holden smiled and kept petting the dog.

Meanwhile, Angel was united with her friend, Jasmine Eiland, 7. The girls attend Hough Elementary School together. They held hands and took off to see what fun they could find next. Their parents walked beside them as they headed toward the field.

“Right in front there’s going to be a bar,” warned Angel’s mom.

Both girls reached out their pink canes to feel for the metal railing separating the track from the grassy field. They ducked underneath and stepped onto the soft grass.

“It’s bouncy!” Angel laughed. “Do you want to bounce? Boing! Boing! Boing!”

Turning in circles on the field, Angel and Jasmine each held a cane in one hand as they grasped hands and bounced while they awaited the egg hunt.

The CenturyLink Pioneers, a volunteer group of former and current employees, supplied the beeping eggs, candy-filled plastic eggs, Easter baskets and stuffed animal bunnies, said Carolyn Brown, one of the Pioneers.

Six girls wearing bunny ears set up the beeping eggs surrounded with plastic eggs filled with candy. The volunteers are students from Central Catholic High School and The Madeleine Elementary School in Portland. When they received the signal, the volunteers pressed each battery-operated egg’s “on” switch to emit a beep.

Carrie Scott from Northwest Association of Blind Athletes gathered the children and their families around the gazebo.

“Are you guys ready?” she asked.

“Yes!” shouted the kids.

“All right! Let’s do the Easter egg hunt!”

Children and their parents scattered onto the field and followed the sound of beeping eggs.

Garret Hawk, 12, was in hot pursuit, but his cane was slowing him down.

“I can’t do it with my cane!” Garret told his brother, Nick Hawk, 15, who was assisting.

Nick took his younger brother’s cane. Then Garret plunged to the ground where the egg beeped. It was surrounded by a pile of plastic eggs filled with candy. Garret plunked the booty into his basket.

Still holding hands, buddies Angel and Jasmine carried baskets filled with plastic eggs and goodies.

“Listen! Shhh!” said Angel’s mom.

In the distance, one of the last eggs remaining on the field beeped. The girls ran in a mad dash toward the beeping egg.

Cole Fish, 4, of Vancouver, was more interested in the beeping eggs than the candy. Sitting on the grass with a nest of beeping eggs around him, he was reluctant to give them up to a volunteer collecting them after the hunt ended.

“He likes to turn them on and off,” his dad, Galen Fish, told the volunteer.

Then Cole handed over a beeping egg. And then another. And another. And yet another.

“I like beeping eggs,” Cole told his dad his sister, Kaylee Fish, 7. “I want an egg that beeps.”

Ready for one more adventure, Angel and Jasmine climbed onto the back seats of tandem bikes pedaled by NWABA volunteers Whitney Pritchard of Portland and Ananda Vardhana of Hillsboro. Then they all pedaled around the track.

“Do you want to go around again?” Pritchard asked Angel as they finished a lap.

“Yeah!” Angel shouted.

And off they went.