Easter Holiday

We had a lovely time off for the Easter Holidays. The weather was nice and sunny (not very warm, but nice and sunny) and we spent loads of time together as a family. Here's Liam enjoying his little Easter basket. They don't do baskets here, so it was only by luck that I got this one. I also had to cut up a bunch of green napkins to make the little Easter grass- apparently they don't do the grass here either (or at least, I couldn't find any). He got a few stuffed toys and bunny cookies and chocolate (plus some new clothes and money from the family).

Liam in his nice little Easter outfit. I think he looks really tall in this photo, but I also think it's the angle it was taken at. He was fairly well behaved at mass- thankfully our chapel has a 'crying chapel' which is an enclosed room for parents with young children. There are some toys in there and at least the screaming and crying won't interrupt the mass! We enjoyed Easter Sunday dinner at Ollie's mum's house. Aunt Susan and Uncle Gerard were there as well. Liam loved his Turkey dinner and the chocolates after! The turkey was massive and Ollie's enjoyed turkey and stuffing sandwiches nearly all week!
Cutest little Bob the Builder pyjamas! Look at the hair- it's wild first thing in the morning.

We went to the Belfast Zoo on Monday. We were wise to have arrived before 10am as we only had to wait in the queue for 1/2 an hour. Had we left it any later, we would have waited up to 1 1/2 hours! The traffic and parking looked a complete nightmare when we left the zoo around 1pm.

Here's the wee man with a cute bear in the parking lot. He was so excited by the bear and was screeching in enjoyment. It was super cute! He's not much for still shots these days, so it was very difficult to get many shots of him enjoying the animals.

They have a small petting zoo area with farm animals - Liam liked the wee donkey. I was close at hand with anti-bacterial wipes.
The Belfast Zoo, for those of you that have never been, is set on 55 acres of what is essentially a huge hill. We were walking at a near 90 degree angle in some points- talk about a butt workout! I allowed myself a little chocolate Easter egg because of the workout. Most of the animals were out enjoying the sun and the influx of people- they must make all of their money on Easter Monday because there were probably 1-2 thousand people in there throughout the day. Liam enjoyed the penguins and sea lions. He also loved the lion and lionesses and the monkeys of course. We got him a cute red panda and a zoo cutlery and plate set.

We then flew up to the house for a quick change and then onto Annie's house for Easter Monday dinner. Ollie's Aunt Margaret and Uncle Pat are in town from Pennsylvania. It was there first time meeting little Liam and he was, for the most part, very well behaved. He enjoyed the cooked lamb and I tried not to gag at the smell (I think the smell of lamb is so gross).

I worked a bit on the garden and planted a few new flowers in pots at the front of the house. We still need to finish the fence and erect a shed and make my organic veg planters, but we have this weekend and next for that. I took a few extra days off to run about and hit the gym (burning off the few Easter chocolates I allowed myself).

Liam's routine was a little thrown off and the sugar rushes from the chocolate made for difficult naps and evening bed routines. He slept much better last night and hopefully will sleep okay today at daycare.