Sunday, May 1, 2011

Easter egg hunt!

Our first year in Hangzhou, I think that Josh and Gao Yan found this wonderful park. It is not really that far from our house. It is pretty, and usually very peaceful. Not many people know about this park. In fact, when I ask for the ladies to tell me the name or address of the park, no one knows it. This is the third year we have had an Easter egg hunt here. It is the perfect place to have an egg hunt. This year was the biggest hunt we have ever had.

Some of the kids, while they were waiting for the eggs to be hidden. They are crowding around a guinea pig. You should have seen and heard the excitement, when they let the guinea pig out of the cage!


Hunting for eggs! (and Josh taking a picture)


After the eggs were all found, the guests sat around and enjoying the day and fellowship. We also passed out cupcakes and had fruit and drinks.


Some stood around and talked. This is Bob talking to some of Jon's students. Pray that Bob will find time to start coming again.



 
Margaret had the good idea to get a group shot. I counted that seven people had already left and three guys were taking pictures. If I counted right, that makes a total of 56 people! It was a great success! We definitely plan to do this again next year.

Boiled eggs and vinegar!

When we started talking about having an egg hunt again this year, the ladies asked about when would we dye the eggs. It was quickly decided that we would have an egg dying party the afternoon of the day before Easter. We had several people to bring boiled eggs. I think we boiled about 40 ourselves. Elaine even looked up on the Internet how to boil them so that the do not crack. (you start with COLD water, and use medium heat).

 
The kids and their helpers dying the eggs

The ladies and some of Jon's students thought the egg dye smelled strange. I used vinegar int the dye. I used regular white vinegar instead of Chinese vinegar. To me the smell of boiled eggs and vinegar reminds me of dying eggs when I was a kid.


Elaine had the great idea to wrap the cracked eggs in foil and then to decorate them with stickers! Then they made some interesting "creatures".
Li Wen (center) brought over 100 plastic eggs and some small toys to fill the eggs with. Everyone helped fill the eggs with toys and candy.
The lady in the center of this picture is Li wen's cousin. She has a daughter that is about Hallie's age. Li wen also brought her to church the next day and to the egg hunt. Pray that we can continue to build a relationship with her.
We shared some peeps with everyone. Eryn and Carissa really enjoyed the peeps!

Jon said I should not have done it, but I did put all the (real) eggs in this basket. :)