Easter and Homecoming

Mother Nature delivered 25 degree (77 F) temperatures for the long Easter weekend and we made the most of it. On top of the usual Easter celebrations, today (April 4) is the second anniversary of Zoe's arrival in Canada - our homecoming as a family of three.

Here is the weekend in photos:

Dyeing Easter eggs was first on our agenda. As much as Zoe enjoyed it, her main concern was how we were going to get the treats inside them. Obviously she remembers the plastic ones from last year with sweets inside.
Friday found us at the zoo with thousands of others enjoying the warm day off work. We packed lunch and snacks causing Zoe to initiate a picnic at every bench we came to. It also provided Julian an opportunity to practice public humiliation techniques for when Zoe is a teenager. For now, however, she was happy to loan him her sun hat.

Another bench. Another "let's have a picnic" suggestion.

Zoe was fascinated with the snow leopards.

On Saturday we attended an Easter Egg Hunt and swimming party at a friend's home. Zoe was very proud of her eggs, even before discovering there were chocolates inside. (Later in the day she was found prowling around unattended baskets and might have made off with a few extra chocolates before we noticed.)

She was not going to let her basket out of her sight, even to decorate cookies. (Apparently word had gotten out that there was a little girl skimming chocolates.) She very cleverly and carefully hooked it over the back of her chair before attending to the cookies.

Lunch with friends.

Following the egg hunt, lunch, and various games, we headed indoors to the lovely pool for a nice finish to a wonderful party.

Sunday morning arrived with the discovery that the Easter Bunny had visited in the night. Among the loot were bright yellow Crocs (yellow is her favourite colour) and a felted bunny purse with bubbles in it. Shoes, bags and bubbles make Zoe a happy girl. Add some goldfish and a few Smarties inside the eggs and she was on cloud nine for the morning. Or perhaps it was a sugar high.

We saved today's big gift, the one for her homecoming anniversary, until afternoon so as not to confuse it with Easter. We will probably not use a gift to commemorate each anniversary; it is more our style to celebrate by doing something special. But we wanted to get Zoe a PlasmaCar anyway and this was as good an opportunity as any to give it to her.

She started by trying to propel it with her feet.

Then quickly caught on that it propels itself when you turn the handles back and forth.

With temperature records being shattered all across the province, the warm weather was on everybody's mind this weekend. We couldn't help but remember the huge piles of snow we came home to two years ago, especially as we were seeking the coolness of shade at yesterday's outdoor party.

Other than remembering the snow, our weekend was so busy that we did not take much time to fully reflect on our homecoming anniversary. But we frequently look at the photobooks we made from the blog with Zoe. In that way, we often relive the various steps of the journey on a frequent basis. We love sharing the stories with Zoe as much as she loves hearing them. To say that we cannot imagine life without Zoe is an understatement. Happy Homecoming, sweet girl!