Since having children, I have never spent an Easter away from home. The kids were either too little, or it just didn't work out for us to travel during Spring Break. So this year was a first.
Spending Easter away from home certainly lacked some of our favorite Easter traditions, but I can't complain. There were no Easter baskets (nor bonnets), no egg hunts (finding plastic eggs in my garden with melted chocolates inside a year later is never appealing to me), no chocolate Easter bunnies (too fragil to travel with on the plane and all sold out at the local Costco in Kona), no fancy outfits (no doubt a relief for my crew) and no ham and scalloped potato dinner (which I did miss). But how can you complain about spending Easter in paradise?
I did miss going to church, which is a tradition I enjoy on Easter, but other than that, I feel we did a pretty job of making the day feel as much like home-grown as possible.
We started our day with a lovely brunch featuring warm frosted cinnamon buns, a fruit salad (with lots of local pineapple) and oven fried eggs. I snuck over the bunny-themed tableware in my suitcase so it would feel festive for the kids. I packed their Easter cards as well.
I packed pink tee shirts for everyone to wear with their shorts for the day. Hardly fancy Easter attrie, but festive nonetheless.
After spending the morning at the pool, we headed to Hapuna Beach to spend the afternoon. Read more here about this magnificent beach: https://www.lovebigisland.com/big-island-beaches/hapuna-beach/
Miles, ever the digger, spent most of the afternoon digging holes and/or burying himself in sand.
After spending hours in the water, Garin, who has been getting up the the crack of dawn and has yet to make the adjust to Hawaii time (three hours behind Los Angeles), built himself a little bed in the warm sand and took a cat nap.
Catheirne spent the entire afternoon in the water, mingling with strangers (which she is famous for) and honing her boogie board skills.
We packed up at sunset to head home.
There's nothing prettier than a Hawaiian sunset.
Easter dinner was Ribeye steaks cooked medium rare on the barbecue, mashed potatoes, sautéed carrots and a Greek-style salad.
Dessert was a delicious coconut cake from a local bakery.
The crew struggled to smile and stay awake for this photo. After a long day of sun and swimming they barely made it through my lovingly prepared dinner.
Catherine, always full of energy and eager to help, stayed up to help me clean up after dinner and prepare for Garin's birthday, which was today.
Stay tuned for the upcoming blog post featuring Garin's 14th birthday in Hawaii!