Chinese Lantern Festival

Our sweet friends that live across the street spent their New Year suffering through the flu.  :(  We felt so bad for them!  The flu has been just terrible this year.  Unfortunately, they had tickets to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Dallas that they were unable to use.  They were so kind to share them with us!  It seemed wrong to plan this fun event when we knew that they were all so sick, but they insisted and assured us that the tickets would go to waste if we didn't use them.  We had planned to go on the night of January 3rd.  Sadly, that was the day that we had to put Sydney Girl to sleep.  We briefly debated about missing the festival, but decided that it would be nice to get out of the house and do something fun.  The festival ended up being a good distraction on a really sad day for our family.  I'm so glad that we went!  It was a super fun night.  :)

I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I envisioned lots of hanging lanterns and a carnival like environment.  In actuality, there were tons of scenes and floats that were lit up.  It was really beautiful!

There were acrobats, dancers, and a bian lian performer (a dramatic art where the performer switches masks in a split second).  It was really fun to watch!

These towers were made out of dishes.

 It was soooo cold!  This little Buddy had the best seat in the house - bundled up with many layers and blankets, perched in his stroller, enjoying the ride.  :)

Thanks, Katy & Carlos, for sharing your tickets with us!  It put smiles on little faces that had been quite sad all day.  We are so thankful!