The Dragon Dance {Sunday Snapshot}

We have made it a point to celebrate Chinese New Year ever since Kate joined our family.  We all really enjoy it. I have made a banner and decorated our home and the kids all have traditional Chinese clothes to wear.  Some years we cook (like last year and I never posted about it), some years we have ordered out and had friends over.  This year, I wiggled our way into a restaurant with Chinese Dragon dancing at the last minute.  Apparently, this place books up a month in advance but I was able to talk our way in on Friday evening.  I was so excited!!

This was in the entry of the restaurant and Kate was FREEZING cold-- so it was a quick (blown-out) shot:)

We were in a rush and Harry was at a friend's house so he did not have his Chinese clothes on.

Dinner was great but we had to stretch out some time before the dragon dancing began.  

We saw them setting up and then we heard the drums.  Kate does not like loud noises.  I was a little concerned but thought maybe she would just cover her ears.

But as soon as she saw the dragons...she buried her head in Harry's lap and would not come up.  She was terrified!!!

Harry was the SWEETEST big brother ever.  He and Dave just rubbed Kate's back and tried to soothe her.  The dragons came around to all the tables and we were kind of trapped so we could not leave.

Will "feeding" the dragon a red envelope.

The show was great but Kate was so scared.  I felt awful.  I never would have thought she would be so terrified.  On the way out, the dancers were out front and we showed her the people and the costumes.  The next day, we accidentally walked into another dragon dance in town with little kids and she was not afraid of that.  It was adorable to see tiny little kids (like 4-5 years old) in the dragon costumes. So maybe we'll try again next year?

I realized as I was doing this post that I never posted about CNY last year....so I wanted to include a few snapshots.....

Dave bought us a Wok for Christmas a few months before CNY and had worked on seasoning it and perfecting some Chinese recipes.  Harry is allergic to soy and you cannot really find a Chinese restaurant that will cook without soy! (the restuarant above was Vietnamese and they made him plain rice and grilled shrimp:)  It was so funny..... when we informed our waiter of Harry's food allergies (wheat, gluten, dairy and soy), he said, "Oh everything here was MSG, soy and gluten in it!"  We laughed.  Luckily, a manager came and helped us out.

So, these are the photos of the dinner Dave cooked for us last year (Chinese New Year 2010)...

He made a  noodle dish with chicken and a rice dish with shrimp...but I only photographed this one.

It looks like Kate was in princess attire and I never got photos of her or Will.  I have no clue how I dropped the ball on posting about this or even taking good photos last year.

I am going in to Kate's Pre-K class this week to teach them about Chinese New Year.  I am going to read books, do a craft, hand out red envelopes and bring dumplings!  I will admit that I feel silly doing this since I am certainly not an expert but she is the only Chinese person in her class this year.

Sorry for such a long "snapshot."