Chinese Gardens

Last Wednesday was Chinese New Year's Eve. To celebrate we got to smell some strange burning incense all day from the part of our complex right below us. They had these bins set up and people were putting orange paper in them to burn. I've heard of the Chinese burning paper money on different holidays because they believe by doing so they are sending it to their ancestors so maybe that was it? I don't really know.

Brennan only had to work half a day in honor of the holiday so he got to take Tatum for a swim in the afternoon while Declan slept. We got her a new floaty, a puddle jumper, so she got to try it for the first time and apparently did amazing with it.

That evening we headed out the Chinese Gardens. We had heard it was a good time to go because they have Chinese New Year decorations up and that evening was the best time so you could see the lanterns lit up. Well...it was mostly disappointing. The gardens themselves were nice but we probably could have gone any time. There weren't that many decorations and none of the lanterns ever lit up. It was still a nice way to spend our evening!

Twin pagodas. Me and the kids are that tiny blob on the second floor. :)

Tatum is in a "make-a-weird-face-when-mom-wants-to-take-a-picture" phase. It's awesome.

He just looks so old!

And dang adorable.

Brennan being a dork.

I like this shot with the reflection of the pagodas.

Time for our picnic. On a fleece blanket. :)

Our friends from Church (who are also Tatum's awesome sunbeams teachers) met us there. We got to see an interesting area showcasing how we can reuse and recycle everyday items. Such as toilets? Oh yes, just fill them with cement and you've got yourself a chair.

My friend pointed out this sign and how it is just interesting how some things just don't translate quite the same. I pick flowers and pluck my eyebrows. I don't usually refer to it as plucking flowers.

And what should you do with the lid to that toilet you filled with cement? Why paint a face on it and hang it on your wall of course!

It was a fun night despite the bit of a let down the CNY part of the gardens was, the red ants biting us like crazy, two kids falling and getting scraped up, and an almost lost ball down a sewer drain thing. :)