Easter Weekend Awesome Fun, Island-Style

We’ve rocked the awesome scale over the four-day Easter weekend—a four-day weekend that kicked off with my 40^th birthday.

This post is so not my deep and meaningful thoughts about turning 40. It’s a: “Quick!! Upload the photos from the weekend while the kids are watching Winnie The Pooh and throw something together for the blog before real life hits again tomorrow at 5:30am.”

So here is the quick, dirty, and photo-heavy Easter scrapbook post.

We kicked off the weekend by leaving the boys here at the house with Cynthia while Mike and I checked into Eratap Beach Resort for the night (thank you, local rates). It was mostly cloudy and raining on and off, but it cleared enough for us to enjoy wine-o-clock and a splashy sunset in our private beach hut in front of the bungalow.

It was still misty and rainy the next morning, but it sort of doesn’t matter when you have a view like this as you drink your morning coffee…

And you eat breakfast here…

After breakfast Mike and I went snorkeling and checked out the coral and fish. Then Mike kayaked around the beaches while I enjoyed an hour-long relaxation massage (thank you, Eratap, for the complimentary birthday add-in).

We were so excited to see the kids when we got home. Then, everything went pear-shaped. Within an hour we decided to take them out of the house before total chaos set in, so we packed them into the car and spent my birthday night out at Hideaway (that lovely little island of grilled prawns and papaya salad, white wine, pizza, swimming at dusk, and a night-time boat-ride back to the dock.

It was all SUCH A BIRTHDAY WIN!! (Especially given that last year I was flying alone to arrive in cyclone-ravaged Vanuatu for the first time, the year before that Mike had just finished chemo, and the year before that I was pregnant and packing up our house in Luang Prabang). I’ll take turning this again next year thanks, just minus the mosquitoes and the two hours of grumpy kids.

So, what else rates as “awesome” over the weekend?

I made pancakes for these guys that got two thumbs up.

On Saturday we drove out Devil Point’s Road and spent the night with several other families out at Benjor Beach resort. Cue more swimming, a gourmet pot-luck dinner, a heroic effort by Mike to light the promised campfire with wet wood, and some fun game-playing after the kids had gone to bed.

And today, we drove over to Havannah Harbor and met some other friends with a boat, who ferried us out to Lelepa Island. The day was sparkling clear and more than warm. That aquamarine water felt every bit as good as it looks.

OK, Winnie’s about to finish, and we’ve got a mountain of wet and sandy gear to clear away, sun-baked kids to bathe, some dinner to make, etc. So more from me next time.

I hope your Easter was full of glory, too—inside and outside.

Love from Vanuatu,