Five-year-old twins Kristen and Lauren Brown hunted for Easter eggs, made fancy bonnets and then raced across the sprawling lawn at Maymont to climb a pair of magnolia trees.

You can safely assume that the Chesterfield County girls were having a big time. Everywhere they turned, there was something to do at yesterday's Family Easter at Maymont.

And another line to stand in.

"We stood in line for the animals," said the twins' cousin Tracee Logan, who pushed her sleeping daughter, 7-month-old Sydnee, in a stroller. She and the twins' mother, Jamie Brown, got into the swing of things by wearing bunny ears for a while.

"Then we hiked up here to stand in line to do the Easter egg hunt," she said with a laugh. "And don't forget the funnel cake line."

A warm and breezy afternoon -- until rain showers moved in late -- helped attract an estimated crowd of more than 12,000, according to Maymont officials who were thrilled with the big turnout.

Yesterday's short-sleeves weather was a far cry from last year, when snowflakes were flying on the Saturday before Easter and Maymont had to cancel its annual event after an inch of snow fell on Richmond. Yesterday, the most noticeable things flying around Maymont were kites, footballs and soap bubbles.

The bubbles had 2-year-old Ava Sanders' attention. She and her mom, Leslie, were trying to snatch them before they hit the ground.

"It's a lot of fun," said Leslie Sanders of Chesterfield, who is relatively new to the area and was experiencing her first Maymont Family Easter. "We love the bubbles. We got a tattoo. Now we're going to do the cakewalk."

Ava didn't win a cake -- a cakewalk was held every half-hour throughout the afternoon -- but 5-year-old Charlie Pulley of Arlington County did. He was visiting relatives in Richmond, where his mom and dad, Dana and John, grew up.

He reached his hand into the white bakery box, pulled a few fingers worth of green icing from his egg-shaped prize and rewarded himself with a taste.

"Mint!" he said.

Maymont was a sea of strollers, with animals to pet, horse-drawn carriages to ride and stories to listen to (under the Bunny Tree, of course). Acres and acres of inviting grass attracted those with blankets just wanting to soak in the early-spring sun.

At the bonnet-making tent, kids and grown-ups attached piece of fabric, ribbon and just about anything else they could find to disposable plates -- with the centers cut out -- to create flashy lids.

Standing nearby, Azure Straub of Chesterfield and her 3-year-old daughter, Ava, were plotting what they were going to do next -- and beyond.

"We've been out here, but it's been a while," Straub said of Maymont. "We've already said we'll come back and do a picnic."
Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or wlohmann@timesdispatch.com.