lantern festival at yu yuan garden

today is the last day of chinese new year holiday - the 15th day of the lunar new year. coincides w/ a full moon (how do they DOOOO that?) actually, that's why the new year falls on a different day every year (to ensure the full moon). some of my friends never know what day their birthday falls on without using their extra sharp mathematical skills.

and today, being the full moon - and to close out the holiday - is lantern festival. and to celebrate? well, one of the varkenkidlets got to tackle the mass of humanity at yu yuan gardens w/ the rest of her classmates.

these are the riddle lanterns. often just silly riddles like what has very large ears, a tail and a trunk. they're not as funny as one would expect. then again, i'm sure there are many things lost in translation.

these are the picture lanterns. they tell a story on each side. although, since they were up high, we really had no idea what stories they were supposed to convey. still, they were lovely to look at...

then we have the enormous "lanterns" this being the year of the rat (mouse) they tend to be awfully large. there were many of them and one would wander around a corner and there would be yet another great mouse lantern.

the new additions

meet molly and leo. well, just for now they're still molly and leo. that may change. especially if the varkendaddy gets his way - then they're both named after beligian beer. and the varkenkidlets will have none of that.

so molly is the darker one in personality and in coloring. and also the one in charge.

leo is more playful. and the people person. is constantly surprised he has a tail. molly likes the quiet dark space - which is vast and unreachable by humans - under the kitchen cabinets. we think she's quite goth.

DAILY news

this is one of the things i find so crazy about china. we subscribe to one of very few english language SCRUBBED newspapers. here's the happy new year headline.

and then in the days after when i wasn't receiving any DAILY scrubbed news (yah, the kind where they just blatantly steal from the wires but never credit anyone)? i search inside the last one i received. and in teeny tiny print (i've made it bigger for y'all) i see this.

a DAILY NEWSPAPER?

this is sooooooo china

varkendaddy almost loses his fingers...

well, not really, but we were OH-so prepared, just in case it happened. not with medical supplies, mind you, but we just prepared ourselves - MENTALLY for what it would be like to have a father with no fingers.

i mean, when you see the size of the fireworks!!! the big one was quite the cannon. we set that baby off at midnite...

especially when they're all laid out in a row - a thousand in a brick. and he's still running w/ a lit match...

no fun colors, just white. and smokey. and noisy. but then, that's all part of the fun, inn't it.

surveying the damage. i'll have y'all know - that by 8am this morning, all the carnage was swept away. time for a repeat session tonite.