Oscar and Leo were not only excited about a visit from the Easter Bunny. They were also super excited about the return of Daddy. The boys made him a special Welcome Home sign. When the Bells returned home in February, Richie had to head back to London to finish up some work. He arrived home for good on Easter Sunday.

It was funny though because he came home looking like this.

When Richie's car pulled up to Copa, Oscar and Leo both ran outside to greet him. When Richie got out of the car, both of the boys stopped in their tracks and then took a step back. They hadn't seen him for a couple of months and he no longer looked like Daddy. It then took Oscar and Leo a couple of minutes to warm up to this stranger (recently returned from a fishing trip or from logging trees in Canada or holding up stage coaches in the bush.)

The beard has gone now (thankfully!).

More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

This year, we spent our Easter break at Copacabana with the Bells and the rentals. Wasn't it nice to have 5 days off in a row this year? Unfortunately, my five day break was also interspersed with uni work. I had a uni assignment due on Easter Monday so I spent some of the weekend relaxing and the other half trying to do uni work. Trying to concentrate on uni work in a room where the nephews are playing is an exercise in focus and selective hearing.

The weather was a bit mixed. We had two beautiful days which we spent at the beach. I'm always sad to see the last of the warm weather. Every time we go to the beach I feel like I have to go for a swim as it might just be the last swim of the season. I guess I can't really complain when we're still swimming in late April. I think we're officially into the cold weather season now (boo!). I've been wearing leggings and boots all week (yay! one good thing about colder weather).

The other two days were rainy and on both of these days we went to the movies. On Easter Monday, we went to see Thor. It cost Andrew and I fifty dollars for the outing. Fifty dollars! I was most unimpressed. Fifty dollars for 2 tickets, plus 3D (although 2D wasn't an option) and 3D glasses (must remember to take own glasses next time) and a red slurpee. The movie was OK and Liam Hemsworth was certainly very nice to look at. His chiseled abs weren't worth $50 though. And they wonder why online piracy is such a problem.

One of the highlights of the weekend for Oscar and Leo was a visit from the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny left a couple of big eggs for the boys and then scattered little eggs around the house. The boys were still discovering hidden eggs later that morning. So much chocolate! I hope the Easter Bunny was good to you too. I'm still working my way through my Easter stash.




More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

We visited the Veitch family last week for dinner. It was the perfect opportunity to bake some Easter themed cupcakes. These days I always volunteer to bring dessert.

So the decorations are supposed to look like Easter Eggs on grass. The coloured dots are supposed to be flowers (I didn't have any flower shaped sprinkles). That's what they totally look like... right? In the beginning I was piping little dots of grass but it took fooooooooorever. With 15 cupcakes to ice, I took a bit of a shortcut continuously piped the grass and added a few dots at the end.

I had bookmarked this idea last Easter but I could not find the crunchy shell Easter eggs. This year I bought the crunchy shell eggs as soon as I saw them in the shops and put them away just so I could make these cupcakes. Yes, I'm one of those sad people who buy Easter eggs months in advance. I also bought a special piping tip to do the "grass".


So were the cupcakes a success? The Veitch girls thought they were very pretty. But, as usual, when it came to eating them they just licked the icing off and left the cake bit.

Now, I have no problems with the cake bit. Last week I had a cupcake every day for four days in a row. Luckily, they are all gone now (in mah belly!). Methinks I better have a few CFDs (cupcake free days).

In between uni assignments (3 down in 3 weeks, 4 to go!) I managed to fit in some Easter baking. Bakerella.com is a great inspiration for all things cupcakes and her Easter ideas are very cute. I decided to try out her Easter basket cupcakes to take to our Good Friday family gathering.


I'm not 100% happy with how they turned out. I searched high and low for a lolly that I could use for the basket handle. The closest thing I could find were cola lassos and they weren't stiff enough to stand up on their own. So I guess they aren't really Easter baskets.

The boys didn't care though. Anything to do with chocolate and lollies was welcome. Oscar and Leo ate the lollies off the top of their cakes. Leo ate some of the icing on his (Oscar doesn't like icing... weirdo). Then they both put their cupcakes aside for later. They had been overloaded with sweet stuff throughout the day. The adults were less discerning.
More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

A visit to Croatia's Pag island is like a quick trip to the moon. The landscape is devoid of greenery. It's just grey as far as the eye can see.

We stopped in the town of Pag for a quick wander. It was Easter Sunday and most of the town was at church. After church finished the townsfolk gathered in the square for a special Easter brunch. The village band played and kids danced to the music (well most of them anyway). It was quite a festive atmosphere.

Pag is famous for Paški sir, cheese from the island of Pag. It's a hard cheese made from sheep's milk. There must be some greenery on Pag as the flavour of the cheese comes from the diet of wild herbs that the sheep graze on.

Cheese making is a family business on Pag. You visit people's homes rather than head to a traditional shop for your cheesy goodness. We found a Paški sir sign, knocked on the front door of the cheese seller's house and asked for cheese. We were then taken to the cheese vault. The mother of the house was in charge of the transaction but the 16-year old daughter was our translator. We wondered just how many languages the daughter spoke. I'm sure she knows the word for cheese in at least 7 languages.

We had Pag cheese sammiches for lunch while we waited for the ferry back to the mainland. Pag cheese is yummy!

More photos on Flickr.

Our visit to Pag was part of the Aegean Odyssey. Mum, Dad, Andrew and I spent a few weeks in Croatia and Greece with a quick visit to Slovenia and Austria in the middle. Other entries from this trip include: Climbing in Croatia.