The final celebration of the Chinese New Year!

The Chinese New Year starts off with a bang and ends with one as well!  We were sitting in our apartment one night and suddenly were surprised by the display of fireworks going off outside.  We later learned it was the mark of the end of the Chinese New Year.  

 Ellen now hopes they do them every night!  She was soooo excited to see them from the balcony.

What can you get at a local Chinese market?

Well, of course you want to begin with one of these cool Chinese baskets that serve many purposes.  A lot of people use them to carry their young children (there is a wooden seat inside) and their groceries from the market.  Karen and I decided to purchase brooms, so we carried those!  And let me tell you, we were getting a lot of stares and most people were wondering where our babies were.  

So, what else can you get at the market?  How about some live chickens?  I don't know about you, but the bird flu did not come as a surprise to me!  Sad it happened, but these are not the most sanitary conditions.

A Chinese Carnival!

We are very fortunate where we live as they always have events on the weekends that are catered to the young kids.  And of course, thank you to Takila for translating the signs and letting us know what is going on!  :). We were even lucky enough to have her join us on this day with another family that lives here in Palm Springs.  The first thing we did was try some Chinese cotton candy...Takila's treat! Ellen would not try it, so I ate it and believe it or not, it tasted just like any other cotton candy I have eaten!  

 Here Ellen, Takila and I wait in line to throw darts and pop balloons.  Poor Ellen could not throw a 

dart and could you say...dangerous!  Another game was shooting a BB gun to pop balloons!  Ellen 

actually did better at that.  The line for the ring toss was too long, but my child could have won 

anything from a tube of toothpaste to a bottle of wine!  Classic!

This was probably my favorite part of the day!  There was a man their doing self-portrait drawings and I was fortunate enough to have Ellen get one done!  She even sat still the entire time.  He framed it for me and now I have a great memory from our time here in China. 

A stroll through the park!

Winding down our week in Hong Kong, we wanted to do some sightseeing, but keep it low-key.  From the suggestion of a friendly patron we met one afternoon, we went to the this free park in the city of Hong Kong.  As soon as we walked in, Ellen was hooked as there were statutes of monkeys.  The best part was that we got to see real monkeys by the end of the visit!

 Cheers!  Grandma and grandpa were hooked as they sold ice cold beer!  It was a hot day and we actually ended up walking a while to find the park.  Here they were able to find a comfortable seat in the shade and have an ice cold beverage!

Ellen and I enjoyed the beautiful day with a nice ride on the swing!  We haven't done this since we left our gorgeous apartment in Michigan!