Happy Easter to all! We are actually just finishing our first of two Easter weekends as the Ukranian (Orthodox) Easter is next Sunday. I am looking forward to witnessing next Sunday's celebrations as I remember fondly the bells ringing continuously throughout the morning as families walked to and from church carrying baskets filled with candles, eggs and cakes. There is less an emphasis on chocolate here and not a single jelly bean in sight. The shop windows are filled with intricately decorated eggs and brightly colored pastries. Yes, Western traditions have certainly taken hold and chocolate bunnies are around but the only children doing egg hunts and searching for the Easter Bunny are the ex-pats.
Yesterday we went with the Charles family to the school playground to do our own egg hunt. Pictures follow of the fun. Mostly Grace and Gio were thrilled with being allowed to go barefoot (no babushkas on school ground!) while they raced around the campus on their scooters. The jelly beans and eggs were just an added bonus to the fun of the morning.
And they're off!
We had these funny eggs with suction cups (thanks to my visit to the States last month!) so it was fun to watch them try to retrieve them from the middle of the slides!
Lots of loot!
An assist from Papa.
Look at Mr. G who has finally mastered the "big boy" swing!
What naturally follows an egg hunt? A worm search!!
As always, our supervisor. We suspect he ate a few eggs when no one was looking. Will know later if there are any Enzo-sized egg farts. Yikes!
And then today we headed to the outskirts of Kiev to an Italian family's home for a big Easter celebration complete with every kind of yummy Italian Easter delicacy you can imagine. It was a massive feast. There was another egg hunt, a wild game of soccer with the big boys (and Gio, who never shies from any game) and general mayhem. As Gio nodded off to sleep once we got home he declared, "I had fun at the party. Can we go again tomorrow?"
Where's Gio? Yes, climbing a tree as always...or at least attempting it.
Inspecting his first chocolate egg. He was disappointed there was nothing inside....
...but powered through and ate it anyway.
Look who made out with most of the candy loot- the big boys, of course! Gio was happy just to have found one. And I was also happy that his sugar high would be somewhat contained!
Tomorrow is actually our day to hit the local indoor water park! I am as excited as he is about this adventure. Since it is predicted to be in the 30s and snowing tomorrow, I think going there is the perfect way to spend the morning. Yes, we are again on vacation and do not return to school until April 18th. We are filling the next 10 days with lots of playdates with the many other families that have stayed in town.
Here is a bonus video for those of you who are not on Facebook. Gio is turning out to be quite a creative counter. I keep my math teacher hat off for this and just let him be. Someday it will be important for him to count properly but not now!
Sorry to the rest who have already seen this....
A happy happy Easter to all of you celebrating today!
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