Easter in Paradise

One of the great things (and hardest things) about moving around a lot is that you get the chance to reinvent traditions almost every holiday. This year we decided it would be a great chance to separate the two Easter holidays (pagan Easter fun and Christ-centered celebration of the resurrection). Saturday morning, My Man and I were awakened (not altogether unexpectedly) by the sound of a paper being slid under the door.  It read "is today Easter?"

We got up and asked the kids why they would think that?  "Well," Funny Guy explained, "there are eggs everywhere and baskets downstairs!"  Well, maybe the Easter Bunny got tricked by the time difference.

After exploring the Easter baskets, we gave the word and the three kids were instant blurs, running to find every last hidden egg.

They didn't though and we were finding eggs randomly throughout the day: "Wow, the Easter Bunny did a great job hiding the eggs this year!" a reverent Darling Daughter exclaimed.

After the excitement of the Easter Egg hunt we had breakfast--after making everyone else a hot breakfast, I enjoyed some left over mangoes and sticky rice. I am completely addicted to mangos right now.

Then we dyed eggs (duck eggs since they were the only white ones I could find here, but the kids didn't notice any difference). It was a very serious business and we got some awesomely creative eggs, including a football and several spring scenes, though it turns out that Young Man is too old now and opted to skip egg dying this year.

After that, we headed over to some friends' for an afternoon of swimming before enjoying a delicious dinner at a cool restaurant called Khaomao-Khaofang, which is an outdoor jungle-themed restaurant, with My Man's supervisor and his wife. The restaurant is beautiful, with waterfalls, flowers, and beautiful landscaping. Funny Guy confided sheepishly, "even the bathrooms are cool!" We had a wonderful evening and loved the restaurant, but I think the kids' favorite part was reading "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" on the way to and from. 

(Picture of Khaomao-khaofang restaurant, from their website)

Overall, it was a wonderful day and I loved having a full Saturday to enjoy the fun celebration of spring and eggs and candy and new beginnings, leaving Sunday for more reverent introspection of the miracle of the Resurrection.  I do believe a new tradition has been born.