Chinatown

I decided to take Sylvie to Chinatown today after all, and my mom came along too. [Thomas was home with paper grading and report cards.] My dad threw out the suggestion that we ride the Metroline, which was pure genius. Sylvie sees the Metro almost everyday and almost everyday asks me if she can ride it. Today was her day! We rode 4 trains into Chinatown and 3 trains back, so Sylvie went from having ridden zero trains to riding 7 trains in one day. I loved when she was on the train yelling "Oh my goodness! I'm on a TRAIN! I have to tell my dad!" [I did not love when she yelled "Something's stinky!" pointed, and then said, "Maybe it's that guy. I think he tooted."]

7 trains and that's not all...dim sum lunch, a dragon and drum parade, window shopping and buying a new soup spoon for Sylvie, and bringing home dessert for Daddy from Phoenix Bakery. I'm exhausted, but what a fun day.

Lychees

A little more about Chinese New Year...I bought some lychees for Sylvie and her friends to snack on. In case you are unfamiliar, lychees are a Chinese fruit with a texture similar to a grape. I was totally mystified when none of the kids wanted to eat my lychees. Not even Sylvie, who likes all fruit and absolutely loves grapes. Later that night, with our friends gone and stuck with an entire remaining can of lychees, I got Sylvie to give lychees another try by showing her that lychees aren't just food, they're finger puppets too!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Sylvie invited a few friends over today to celebrate the Year of the Ox. We decided it was the perfect opportunity to get out our sushi roller and make veggie rolls. We acknowledge that this isn't exactly Chinese, but hope we get a few points for being within the region. Cousin Amanda was feelin' the Chinese New Year spirit and dug right into the dress-up box...

Sylvie's good friend Koa...

Sylvie and Uncle Nils...

What's better than a juice box with friends?

More pictures over on Cousin Amanda's blog and Alyssa and Gavin's blog. Happy Chinese New Year everybody!