Easter 2013 - New Traditions

Holiday, Friends & Chocolate!

So I started to write this longer post about our weekend, but I think the photos tell the story nicely with a little narration - It was a fun weekend - full of a combination of both new French tradition and American ones.  We spent Easter with good friends who are also American and just enjoyed our whole day together!

Easter egg hunt at church...collection of chocolate eggs and then distributing them to the little kids.  (Way more eggs there than any parent wanted to take home!)

What's Easter without trying to take a family portrait, as they are dressed up so nicely...well after a couple of tries I think it worked...

This is my oldest daughter's best "American" friend here - they both met here in Bordeaux - they go to different schools - but are bonded by common culture and arrived within a month of each other.  It's been fun to watch them grow and get to know each other.  I love this series as they were just laughing and joking with each other.  This summer, her friend will move back to Michigan - so these Easter pictures are so special.  The girls have spent the last 2 Easter's together.

Always nice when someone just "gets" you!

Easter dinner of Duck Magret & Potatoes!  Yum!  and of course, French crepes for dessert. (Don't you just love the little chocolate eggs for garnish!

Serving dessert!

Now here's, a little something out of the ordinary - our friends are of Italian descent and they just returned from Sicily where they were visiting relatives.  Apparently in Italy, on Easter day, you sacrifice the lamb for the meal - so it has been symbolized through marzipan (almond paste) lambs sold with a tooth pick.  One, picks up the tooth pick and pokes the lamb to symbolize how a lamb gives of himself for the Easter meal.  (Now, if there are any Italian's out there...and you know who  you are! - would love to hear more about this tradition for Easter!)

So the oldest 2 girls - "sacrificed" the lamb and then enjoyed the marzipan!

So after a great meal - we hopped off to a nearby Castle (not hard to find around here) and enjoyed the afternoon strolling around the grounds and partaking of some fun family activities.

Chateau Vayres - in Vayres

This is was great for the family & kids - a word find puzzle...

Scattered around the grounds were these clues hanging on the tree - the kids (& adults) had to figure out the word and then fill it in the sentence.  Clever and fun!  So what do you think the following picture says...remember it's in French here - Cat & drop don't work...

This one is Chat + d'eau + Chateau  (fun, don't you think?)

 Try this one...Funny enough it was my middle daughter (9 years old) who figured this out first.

Did you get it?....First part - a note of music - La
Second part - a tree - Pin (Pine tree)
Total is an animal - Lapin (rabbit)

 This was a pretty popular activity and some were harder than others.

I loved this tree in the garden...funny thing was my littlest didn't notice the eyes until she saw the photo.

And after you strolled around the jardins, they had a fun little workshop where they blindfolded the kids and had them smell and feel different fruits  - Not too bad - healthy & fun.

My kids found the Castle grounds very interesting it was such a beautiful day -

 it was nice just to meander and enjoy being outside.

 Their favorite part of the grounds - (and they remembered this from last time they were here...was rolling down the sides of the Moat...)

 It was a great day Chateau Vayres - until next time!!

The American kids (minus my youngest) - Fun to have a souvenir of a special Easter together!

(Couple little side notes to French Easter traditions - First, the official French holiday is the Monday after Easter - or Easter Monday.  This is the day that most families hold their Easter egg hunts.  Easter egg hunts in France are not plastic eggs filled with assorted candies - In France, it is all about the chocolate.  Egg hunts are done with small chocolate eggs which are just scattered and hidden around a yard.  Kids find and gather the eggs in one place and then they are equally divided.  (We saw this at church).  Easter baskets also don't really exist here - Kids might be given a Chocolate Easter bunny or Chocolate figurine from a chocolatier.  Hard boiled eggs are also not dyed in France.  One can not even find egg dye here.  We had ours sent from the States. So, we combined our American traditions and added some French - it's so fun to compare how holidays are celebrated.)

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!