Easter Eggs and Lilies

Today, AIT put on a big Easter event for the U.S. diplomatic.  It was a beautiful afternoon and not too hot, although Taipei is starting to warm up quickly.  At the party, there was a great outdoor Easter egg hunt, food of all sorts to snack on, little activities like coloring and stickers for kids, and a visit from the Easter bunny himself.

The front yard was loaded with eggs.  When the host said go, hordes of kids stormed into the yard like a herd of locusts.  Within literally 60 secs, dozens upon dozens of candy-filled plastic eggs disappeared. It was pretty incredible.  Heather and I had to fend off roving bands of older kids to ensure our girls had some eggs to find.  But it was fun and they had a great time.  Here are pics of the girls on the hunt.

 Predictably, Sienna was not happy to take pics with the Easter bunny.  When the bunny first made his (played by a girl) appearance, Elli stood and studied the bunny for a few minutes.  Then she turned to me and said: "Daddy, that's just pretend.  He's not a real bunny!"  She's a sharp one!  Quickly, I explained that he was just helping out because the real Easter bunny could not make it.

The Easter event was held up on Yangming Mountain.  Further up the mountain, there are many fields of calla lilies which are in full bloom.  We decided that since we were so close, we would take some time to visit one of these fields.  Of course, the area was full of other visitors, which made it a little hectic.  But it was still beautiful.  This field was set in a quiet little valley at the very top near the highest peak of Yangming Mountain.  The air was cool with the coming dusk, too, which made it all the more enjoyable.  Although the girls were off and on moody, we at least got a few good pics.