Many thanks to our family and friends who sent the kids some Valentine cards and even a few goodies! They absolutely loved getting the mail all week long. This was one of my favorite reactions. Katherine got this card (above) and I asked her, "What did you get?" and she said, "It's my Daniel!". Believe me, she was not going to let anyone touch her card from Daniel. It really was a good week.
Not only was it Valentine's Day, but it was Chinese New Years as well. So, we celebrated that as well. Beside dressing up and reading a few kid books about China and making a few crafts, we were not sure how we were going to celebrate until we heard about a festival that they were having in a town nearby. So, we piled in the van and went to the festival.
This is one of the crafts the kids made. They made their very own dragon masks. Benjamin thought that this meant he would get to be in the parade.
This was the highlight of the parade. These "dragon dancers" were very good. The kids were mesmerized by all of the events.
We found out after the parade that it is actually tradition to feed money to the dragons for good luck. The dragons will dance around and go back and forth to people opening and closing it's mouth and when you start to feed it the person inside will hold their hand out of the mouth to take the money. I did not notice if anyone fed these particular dragons or not.
Here are the older kids with the purple dragon. We squeezed through the crowd to get up close to them. Katherine and Lauren stayed back with Jonathan. Truthfully, I don't think Katherine would have gotten this close :)
Inside the mall, they had a tallent show. There were a variety of Chinese talents including musical instruments, tai chi, martial arts, singing, drama, and this fashion show at the end. Regan could not wait for these girls to get on stage (and of course they were the last ones on stage). This particular group was from some sort of school...the teacher was taking their picture and we asked if the kids could get in one. Katherine was there, but yet again, was too shy to get too close to them for a picture.
Lauren did make the trip, but fell asleep in her stroller after lunch. She is becoming very active. She wants to run around with the other kids so badly. One day soon...one day very soon.
Some of the kids we were sitting with during the fashion show. I love seeing all the little ones dressed in their New Year's outfits. They were all adorable. Oh, in case you were wondering, the year 2010 is the year of the tiger.
Here's Benjamin with Cassie, a family friend. We are glad we have made friends so quickly.
And here is little Katherine. I just like the picture of her. She is growing so quickly, and her vocabulary has exploded. She really does communicate very well for a 2 year old. We are all having a good time with all of our adventures. We do miss all of our family and friends and hope we can see some of you in the near future!
Many thanks to our family and friends who sent the kids some Valentine cards and even a few goodies! They absolutely loved getting the mail all week long. This was one of my favorite reactions. Katherine got this card (above) and I asked her, "What did you get?" and she said, "It's my Daniel!". Believe me, she was not going to let anyone touch her card from Daniel. It really was a good week.
Not only was it Valentine's Day, but it was Chinese New Years as well. So, we celebrated that as well. Beside dressing up and reading a few kid books about China and making a few crafts, we were not sure how we were going to celebrate until we heard about a festival that they were having in a town nearby. So, we piled in the van and went to the festival.
This is one of the crafts the kids made. They made their very own dragon masks. Benjamin thought that this meant he would get to be in the parade.
This was the highlight of the parade. These "dragon dancers" were very good. The kids were mesmerized by all of the events.
We found out after the parade that it is actually tradition to feed money to the dragons for good luck. The dragons will dance around and go back and forth to people opening and closing it's mouth and when you start to feed it the person inside will hold their hand out of the mouth to take the money. I did not notice if anyone fed these particular dragons or not.
Here are the older kids with the purple dragon. We squeezed through the crowd to get up close to them. Katherine and Lauren stayed back with Jonathan. Truthfully, I don't think Katherine would have gotten this close :)
Inside the mall, they had a tallent show. There were a variety of Chinese talents including musical instruments, tai chi, martial arts, singing, drama, and this fashion show at the end. Regan could not wait for these girls to get on stage (and of course they were the last ones on stage). This particular group was from some sort of school...the teacher was taking their picture and we asked if the kids could get in one. Katherine was there, but yet again, was too shy to get too close to them for a picture.
Lauren did make the trip, but fell asleep in her stroller after lunch. She is becoming very active. She wants to run around with the other kids so badly. One day soon...one day very soon.
Some of the kids we were sitting with during the fashion show. I love seeing all the little ones dressed in their New Year's outfits. They were all adorable. Oh, in case you were wondering, the year 2010 is the year of the tiger.
Here's Benjamin with Cassie, a family friend. We are glad we have made friends so quickly.
And here is little Katherine. I just like the picture of her. She is growing so quickly, and her vocabulary has exploded. She really does communicate very well for a 2 year old. We are all having a good time with all of our adventures. We do miss all of our family and friends and hope we can see some of you in the near future!
