Happy Easter!

This afternoon Caroline and I caught up with Tara and her family. Tara lives just down the road from Chris, about 10 minutes from Caroline's house. She currently is staying with her mom and brother, and Tara's friend Lisa and Lisa's family were also visiting. Every Friday night, Tara and her family hold a games night, which I've heard from Caroline can be crazy!fun--plus, Tara downloads episodes of Supernatural as soon as they've aired in the States (otherwise, the lag time between countries is a few weeks if watching it on TV). So we invited ourselves over and got on our way!

We piled in Tara's living room and the 9 of us watched two less-then-stellar episodes in which all hope was lost because it is revealed that God doesn't care about humans or the impending Apocalypse. *eye roll* We we then joined by Tara's brother and Grandmother (and a cat) and ate a lent-friendly dinner of fish and chips before breaking open Scattergories. True to reputation, things got crazy!

The game lasted over an hour and was prefect for my initiation night, as I love word games and you didn't have to do anything embarrassing. :) The Horaks are a loud, hilarious bunch and Lisa and her family are great as well. Everyone had an awesome time and it really felt like one big happy family. I left feeling happy and exhausted. We'll defiantly be doing it again!

Saturday morning was a lazy indulgent one. We lazed around and enjoyed the sunshine and played ball with Paddy, then Caroline had a brilliant idea for dinner: soup! Tomorrow we'd be leaving to go to her mom's house, so it made sense to clean out the fridge and use whatever we could from the garden. We harvested a huge pile of beans and chard and a couple beautiful red bell peppers, and from the pantry some potatoes and tomatoes and onion, and from the freezer corn and beef mince. We only needed an extra can of kidney beans from the store, and as soon as we got home we started preparing the veggies and cooking the beef.

It took a good half hour (during which we also had to entertain a Screaming Sheltie with ADHD) to wash and dice everything, but one by one the ingredients went into a huge steel pot to bathe in chicken stock and spices. We left it meld for a while while Caroline found us another online episode of My Kitchen Rules, and we were enjoying restaurant-quality bowls of beef and veggie soup by the end of it. I loved it! Plus, we had enough for ten extra portions to freeze for later. If I thought I could get it through customs, I'd smuggle one back with me!

Sunday morning we got a proper start on the day. We woke up at 6:30 (daylight savings changed overnight) and we did our yoga routine then ate breakfast and packed for our week with Hillie. The dogs were on to us! They were all-too-happy when they were leashed up and bedded down in the back of the station wagon, watching while we loaded in our own bags. At the last minute, Chris asked us to come by his house and pick up a trailer that he wanted brought to Hillie's house. He helped us get on our way, and after just one quick pit stop to switch the luggage and the dogs (Paddy decided he no longer wanted to look out the back window and jumped the seat), we made it safe and sound to Pyramid Hill.

Actually, we pulled up to Hillie's house right behind Russell and Sheree (Caroline's cousin) and their two children. After Russ fixed Hillie's lawnmower, we all sat around the table. Caroline and I had a late lunch while the others snacked and everyone caught up. My iPhone stole the show for a while, after a brief glitch with accessing Hillie's wifi. It was a great, comfortable afternoon and Caroline's entire family is proving to be wonderful! Which is good, because tomorrow I'm meeting even more! ;)

After Russ and his family left, the rest of the night was spent getting settled and making a tasty, simple dinner of soft tacos. I've got the same bedroom as I did two years ago! We went to bed fairly early but my mind was too active. First it was a Rabid Australian mozzie trying to drain my lifeblood, then the bedside clock was too loud. And I had to pee three times. And play with the phone. Then John and Kristine woke up and we played a couple rounds of Words with Friends.

Eventually, though, I fell asleep and had a few really messed up dreams. And when I got up later for yet another pee, a tiny little mouse and I startled each other in the DUNNY. ;)