Monday, April 25, 2011

Buona Pasquetta!

Today is Easter Monday in Italy.  Literally, it means "Little Easter."  We asked several Italians why they celebrate it, and nobody knew why!  Today (April 25) also happens to be another National Holiday in Italy--Liberation Day.  It just so happens they fell on the same day this year, and both holidays are days off of work.  So there's lot of eating and chillin' going on today.  We did our best to celebrate appropriately with friends, picnicing on a terrace in the middle of the city.  Bellessimo!

Yesterday, of course, was Easter (Pasqua), and we had an absolutely incredible day.  We met for church in our pastor's apartment, and there was something about being in a home with 15 people who also knew the incredible power and grace of the resurrection that made it a profound morning of celebration.

After church, we headed over to our friends' house for Easter Dinner.  These are our friends I wrote about a couple of months ago, whose son broke his arm.  They live just outside Bologna in a free-standing house that has an actual yard with grass and a full-fledged swing set they brought from the States.  Oh, and did I mention they also have a grill?!?!

We colored Easter eggs, ate, hunted Easter eggs, ate, did egg races, ate, played outside in absolutely perfect weather, laughed, enjoyed just sitting together for hours and ate some more.  It was just delightful in every way.

So here are gobs of pictures of our perfect day.  Hope you enjoyed a beautiful Easter too!

Grandma and Papa send some Easter goodies from America (Peeps, anyone?), and we got the kids the traditional Italian Easter gift of a gigantic chocolate egg filled with toys.  They get pretty extravagant, and pricey, so these were our best affordable attempt!

Coloring Easter Eggs

We can only get brown eggs here, so coloring them was a bit of an experience.  We made it work somehow.

And had fun in the process!

The dads hiding the eggs. . . 

Kids are on the hunt. . .



Ben LOVED this game!



So proud of their bounty

Egg races



Drew and Hannah

With our grilled beef tenderloin, Kim fixed a tortellini dish they'd had a restaurant that had  a strawberry sauce topped with coffee grounds.  Sounds crazy, I know, but it was amazing.

Did I mention how yummy ALL the food was?  Oh my. . . 

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