Easter Lunch! And Hunt No. 3

For Easter lunch, we invited the Hills, because Olivia's grandparents were visiting from St Louis, and they are also Catholic. This was the second one on one playdate that Olivia and Katy shared. They loved it, especially when they got a chance to cool down in the pool. Olivia is borrowing Katy's swimsuit, which is unfortunately too small for her now. Katy's bikini is getting itsy bitsy too!
We did lamb two ways - the Australian Italian (garlic, rosemary, balsamic vinegar and fig jam) and the American Mediterranean (garlic, olives, rosemary).
It was the first time we had done lamb on the BBQ/grill, and it turned out really well, although in my opinion, they ended up tasting pretty similar.
After lunch, we all lumbered down to the park for Easter Egg Hunt No. 3.
Dada dressed as an Easter duck for the occasion. The girls dressed as Belle and Snow White.

We then retreated into the air conditioning for dessert - a magnificent chocolate Easter bunny that the Hills had brought from The Mandarin.



Katy was pretty stunned by all the chocolate and sugar!

Parish Potluck and Easter Egg Hunt No. 2

We have not been as involved in our current Parish as we were in our Parish in Wanchai. It's hard with a small child. But this year, as we were here for Easter, we helped to organise and took party in a Parish Potluck after the 10.15am Easter Service. We also arranged small tambourines and triangles for the kids to play "This is the Day" with the choir.

Rick with our Parish Council President Richard Alburquerque.

Katy also took part in Easter Egg Hunt No. 2.

Egg Hunt No. 1

Easter Sunday, Katy was up bright an early as usual, and ready for her egg hunt. She was champing at the bit!




Katy collected 21 coloured eggs and 12 chocolate eggs. What a stash.

The Easter Bunny also brought Katy an Easter Zee-bra (at her request) and, following Krauel family tradition, a lego set. Katy hasn't played with lego much, but she loved this set, and loved playing with it with Dada.
Note dated 23 May 2011:
The whole Easter egg hunt thing was such a thrill for Katy. She kept on re-enacting it for weeks. Much to our chagrin, we discovered recently how good Katy has been about hiding eggs...last Tuesday night, as Mama put Katy to bed, Mama couldn't get over what a terrible smell there was. We hunted a bit, looking for an old wet nappy, or thinking maybe one of the babies had pooped somewhere...The next day, Julie set out to find the source of the stink. And she gasped in horror at discovering an old rotten coloured Easter egg oozing all through Katy's stuffed toy box. Naan was so horrified, she had to call her mother to come clean it up. They both scrubbed and disinfected the room and everything in it with eucalyptus oil. And we had to throw away piggie, which ironically was a gift from the Co's for Katy's first Easter. Piggie was too far gone and immersed in egg goo to be saved. Of course, when asked, Katy claimed that it was the Easter Bunny who hid the egg in that box!

Shhh, the Easter Bunny is coming

It was a little tricky to get Katy to go to bed. She was SO excited about the Easter Bunny coming. She left a little note and a carrot for him.
EB (as the kids are calling him these days), brought Katy an Easter Basket filled with mango body lotion and lots of chocolates!
While she was sleeping, the house got magically decorated for Easter, and the Easter Bunny also came and hid some eggs for Katy.

Easter Sturday

Katy was so excited for Easter to come. She had her Easter jar all ready, and had gone through all the candy (a bit Gollum-like actually), deciding which she was going to eat first and when and with whom.

Uncle Bert, Auntie Pinky and Gabriel came over to colour eggs with us. They couldn't make it to Easter lunch because they were off to KL and a resort holiday on Easter Sunday.
Eugenia and her mother Blossom came to colour eggs. Eugenia is 10 and they go to the same Church as us. Eugenia's Dad, Edmond, is on the chair setup roster with Dada. Eugenia was super excited as she had never coloured eggs before. She and Blossom decorated 36 eggs between them!
Katy enjoyed having company and another kid to colour eggs with.

Ocean Park Mach 2

Three days later, we were back again! We had had a pre-existing arrangement to go to Ocean Park with Olivia Hill and her grandparents, Ed and Kate Hill, who were visiting from St Louis. Katy called them "The Grandpa" and "The Grandma".
Of course, the first thing the girls wanted to do after the obligatory walk through the Super Aquarium and Super new Panda Enclosure, was ride the carousel.

And have an ice cream after lunch.
But the day was different from Saturday because we spent most of the day in the little kids section, which was awesome. The girls had a ball going on the rides by themselves. Olivia's Mummy Debbie and I see each other regularly, but the girls do not. This was the first time they had had a one on one playdate together, and they got on like a house on fire. It's really lovely seeing them get to know each other better and enjoying their time together.

They both loved the little train.
And the bouncy trampoline.
And the amazing new adventure playground built just for their size.
Of course, our two little rebels loved going off-piste even more than the real slide.
There were SO many rides that they could go on together without an adult riding with them.
And there were no queues, which was awesome. They just hopped from one ride to another with hardly any waiting time. Grandpa Ed found this little ladybird ride tucked in a corner with hardly anyone on it. They hopped off one turn and hopped right back on again.

Katy and Olivia loved it. I think having Olivia with her made Katy a lot less apprehensive than she normally is about trying new things.



And even Sophie loved the rides. She had to be dragged off the little train. She was so cute peeking out of the window. It was lovely that she got to be included in the fun.
The kids section also includes these great little carnival games.


And it even has its very own mini carousel, with beautifully painted and decorated old fashioned horses. Katy loved it even more than the giant sea life carousel in the main area. It is certainly more intimate and child sized. Katy loved the pink rose horses the best.
And Little Sophie got to ride with her Grandpa.