Happy Easter!

Greetings and Happy Easter to all! This is the first Easter I've spent away from family, and I have to admit that it was quite different from any other Easter I've experienced. Katie and I began the day by attending mass at one of the local Catholic churches. I found it comforting that most of the songs we sang are the same as those we sing on Easter in the ELCA church at home. When we arrived back at home, we spent some time out in the gardens around the house admiring the beautiful spring flowers. There are tons of tulips, daffodils, and flowering trees right now - it's gorgeous!

When we went inside, we spent time visiting with Katie's aunt, Barbara, and cousin Amalia. We also took part in their tradition of decorating Easter cookies (rather than dying eggs). It was a fun and delicious task!

Lunch wasn't quite the ham, cheesy hashbrowns, and snicker salad meal that I was missing out on back in MN, but it was still delicious - pan fried something-or-other that was basically a pannekoeken covered in powdered sugar, with cheese and crackers and salted almonds on the side. Very yummy :) And for dessert we had Easter cookies, and Easter egg chocolate truffles. As we were finishing up lunch, Katie's uncle Juan's parents came over (Jose and Yolanda) and invited us over to their place for the afternoon. They live not too far away (approx. 10 minutes), right on the beach at Chesapeak Bay. Katie and I accepted their offer, and after gathering supplies for a day at the beach, were whisked away in a sporty red convertible - with the top down, no less!

Katie and I spent most of the day dressed in our bathing suits laying on the sand, reading, chatting, and napping. I've never spent Easter that way! We took a long walk along the beach, going at least a couple of miles before returning back to the beachhouse. During the walk, we spotted several jellyfish stranded on the sand as the tide went out...we were very careful not to step on any of them!

When we arrived back, Jose and Yolanda's neighbors invited us to join their family for a barbeque - burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, pie....everything was so yummy, and I left stuffed. But aparently, I hadn't eaten enough. When we got back to Jose and Yolanda's, we were presented with a guava cake that we had to try. And then some almond candy. And then some marzepam. And then some hard nut candy thing (that Jose had to chip pieces off using a knife - I was very scared of breaking a tooth, so I ate carefully). And then some chocolate nut thing! Way too many sweets. I was starting to develop a tummy-ache, so I had to decline the offers of even more candy. Jose and Yolanda are such sweet people - I really appreciate their kindness in opening their home to us!

Not quite the Easter I was accustomed to, but it was great nonetheless. Hope you all had a great Easter! We've got one more day off of our long weekend before reporting back to work Tuesday morning...don't worry, we'll try to stay out of trouble :)