Happy Year of the Sheep!

Happy Year of the sheep! Or goat, or ram, or whatever you call it. We are calling it the sheep. We went to Chinatown and got some food to celebrate the new year and because this baby loves Asian food. I mean loves it! I seriously cannot get enough. We walked all the way through Chinatown on Canal street and then had to walk north to get to this dumpling place. It was worth the trek and we saw a different part of Chinatown and the city that was new to us. There is a Buddhist temple we passed and this beautiful arch (kind of like the major one in Madrid) we passed. It was fun except for the unexpected blizzard we got caught in. Winter is the worst, and I hate it. We did go to our stakes Chinese New Year celebration and that was fun. The Chinatown Ward put it on and it was fantastic! They had the food, fun stories about the Chinese zodiac, cultural dancing, games, and the lion dance! That was the best. The program was done in Chinese and English. I love New York. I really like that there are so many different cultures here that we can learn a little bit about. I wish we could have gone to Chinatown for the huge parade but it was in the middle of church. I have calculated it and we can go in two years when we have 9 o'clock church again. 


The dancing! Cosette tried to mimic the dancing and she was not half bad. 
The best picture we could get of the Lion Dance! Best part of the night. The kids got to go up and touch it at the end of its performance. The lion got a little up close and personal with Henry, which he did not appreciate. 
I am been really into the whole Lunar New Year celebrations and activities this winter for no particular reason. Just something that has sparked my interest, so we went to another celebration at the MET. We have never been to family friendly activities there, so I was extra excited to go and it got the kids excited to go and be around art. Win for exposure to culture! We have been really into dragons lately because we have been obsessed with Dragons Love Tacos. I told the kids that while we were at the MET we were going to find all sorts of pictures and sculptures of dragons. At the mention of dragons both kids got really excited. Henry threw his arms up and yelled "yay!". I love him. It was crowded and a bit crazy at the MET, but it was a blast! We made banners to hang up in our home for good luck. We made three so we will have triple the luck. We went to a tea ceremony in the Japanese tea garden! Talk about cool. The MET has this incredible replica of a Japanese Garden tucked away in the Asian art wing. It is hard to believe that you are inside a museum when you step into it. Having the tea ceremony station in there was like being back in Japan. We learned about rock carvings and had to stop Cosette from snatching the crystals that were at that station. She loves rocks, especially sparkly ones. We learned a little bit about Asian cuisine. We barely made it to the lion dance, but so glad we did. This time there were three different lions and we had front row seats when they paraded around the Great Hall. And we did find some dragon sculptures. The kids were ecstatic!

Showing off her banner. 
He had so much fun making his. He loved using the stamps and only used them for his.
The tea ceremony demonstration! I was so excited for this. My cousin's husband actually performed one for us while we were in Japan. It's such a neat cultural experience. 
We have been talking a lot about the Chinese Zodiac because we have been attending all these different activities. Cosette enjoyed talking about which different animals we are. Lyndon is an ox, I am a dragon, Cosette is a rabbit, Henry is a snake, and baby number three is going to be a sheep, baaa. 

Happy Chinese New Year!


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