Happy year of The Dragon! For our first family Chinese New Year celebration we went to one of our local Chinese restaurants. Unfortunately we do not have many in our area to choose from. Or, not many of them are "authentic". We were hoping the restaurant would be full of local Chinese people celebrating the new year. Or at the very least possibly meet another family in our area with a Chinese adopted child. Neither were the case. And, we were disappointed the restaurant didn't even decorate for the special day. However, that said, all the employees were bonkers over Zachary! They gushed over how handsome he is & they wanted to know all about him...where he was born, how he was adjusting. Our waitress mentioned he was a "BIG BOY". Which I giggle at because most Americans say he is small but when an Asian looks at him they always comment how big he is. Zachary loved the attention.

The most interesting thing about the restaurant was how different the food was from the Chinese delivery restaurant we normally order from. Our beloved egg drop soup had a sweet flavor with the addition of onion slices. Matt did not like the extra touch but Zachary and I did. Also, unfortunately the sweet & sour chicken and sesame chicken dishes we both ordered were covered in a thick breading which neither of us enjoyed. I think we will be looking for a different restaurant for next years New Year celebration.

Our waitress did offer to take a family picture of us at the table. This will be a cherished photo for us no doubt!
I hope by now you have been able to watch our little iphone video of Zachary saying the alphabet with our chop sticks. And, I have got to share how that all got started. We were all eating with our chop sticks and Zachary was doing the best he could manueving his and at one point he must have noticed that he could manipulate his chop sticks to look like an "X". I was quietly watching him...he exlaimed "X!" I didn't say anything. Zachary intently continued to play with his sticks and he formed a "Y" and explained "Y!" and at that point I knew he wasn't accidentally creating the letters and I brought all this to Matt's attention who then started making the letters for Zachary to identify. It was a fun family moment we are not soon to forget. I must write all this down in my journal. Here they are with their chop stick letters
I've got to share these adorable paper fortune cookies that my friend Monica taught our Card Swap group how to make at our recent swap meeting. She had cut 3.5 inch circles from various valentine's day patterned paper. And, she included different strips of fortunes for us to insert in the center. I have put ours in the center of our kitchen table next to our bamboo.




Today, Saturday, we will be celebrating a home cooked chinese meal with Nonnie & Bop-bop and my sister Camille's family. Last night Matt and I made our very own home made fortune cookies! I will share more on our evening in a few days.

Again, Happy Chinese New Year! The year of the dragon is a very special year because on the Chinese zodiac the dragon is the only mythical animal! And, we wish you each a year full of happiness, health & prosperity!