It was a very busy, yet strangely relaxing Easter weekend in Lagos. Walking, pool time, a playdate for both Laryssa and I at one of her friend’s, date night… so much fun!
It began as a very quiet weekend, as most of the teachers have left for the five-day Easter break. Those of us who stayed behind have enjoyed a quiet campus and a surprising number of social events!
Laryssa and I went to her friend Isabella’s house on Friday for a playdate. The girls played while Isabella’s mom and I sat and chatted. She is such fun and very easy to talk to, so we had a great time laughing and carrying on. When we got home, we did a quickie clean up and got ready for Uncle Donny, who came to babysit Laryssa for the evening. She was very excited and had the evening all planned. They played board games, watched a movie and ate pizza together. I’m not sure which of them enjoyed it more! While they were having fun, Chris and I went out with our friends Susan and Jay. Yes, that’s right… seven weeks left of this school year, and Chris and I finally made it off campus at night! (And not just to cross the road to 1004!) We actually went out for dinner and then to the Sheraton Hotel for their open air Jazz Night. It was lovely to sit out under the stars and listen to live music!
Saturday was also a fun-packed day! Tracy and I took the girls to the GQ for the Easter Egg Picnic! We met our new Canadian friend, Fari, there with her daughter, so it was a girls’ afternoon! The GQ had various games and activities planned, and of course, the Easter Egg Hunt. It was nice that all of our girls won prizes at the games as well! They also had a little barbecue so the kiddos had a chance to eat too. It was so hot though! Yikes! They had canopies set up in the garden, with fans, but it did little to relieve us in the 35 C heat. When we left, we had enough time to slip home for a shower and change of clothes before heading off to our next engagement! Very sociable for us… quite out of character, really! A teacher from school, Brenda, invited all of us who stayed in town this weekend to Easter at her home Saturday night. Everyone brought something to share and it ended up being a very lovely evening. Brenda and her family are getting ready to move to their next post in Poland, so she was wanting to empty her pantry. Not sure if she managed to do that, but there sure was a lot of food! They live on the other side of the river, in Ilkoyi, in a very nice (and extremely secure) complex. Brenda’s husband works for the U.S. State Department. They have a lovely balcony/terrace overlooking the city, which was beautiful as the sun set and the lights lit up all around us.
Sunday began with a candy hunt for all the treats that the Easter bunny left for Laryssa. She was quite excited about that! We then had the chance to Skype with our friends Lisa and Finn in Singapore. They will be moving to Lagos in August, so we had a nice little chat (should say frustrating little chat, as the internet went out about 10 times!) about living here, and Finn asked Laryssa a few things about school. We can’t wait to have them join us here! Easter Sunday continued as a relaxing day, until about 3:00 when the sky turned black and we realized that our Easter BBQ by the pool wasn’t going to happen! We quickly emailed and texted everyone and had them come to our house instead. Then it was a mad rush to tidy up and go through our freezer to find enough food for everyone! It was a potluck affair, but we were worried that because we couldn’t grill as planned, no one would have a main dish. So we warmed up some curry and some peanut sweet potato stew, made a big batch of rice, and cooked some sausage in the oven. A great time was had by all. About 20 people… a nice intimate gathering!
Now it’s Easter Monday, and I’m so thankful to have another two days off! We don’t go back to school until Wednesday. I’d have loved to have gone somewhere, but being new home owners, we decided we should just stay put. I’m glad we did!
Laryssa tucking into the Easter basket!
A few photos of our Easter dinner
The kids all got bored later on, and out came the electronic devices!
savagesinafrica 