Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Mid-Autumn Festival ~ Sept. 10th

It was a year ago that we flew to China, on Sept.10th, to bring our daughter home. I'm enjoying remembering our trip day by day, but am thankful we're not missing the first weeks of school again... that was a bit insane. :) This past weekend, we were able to join local adoptive families of Chinese children, who decided to get together to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. (We recall being in China and seeing mooncakes everywhere...) We met at a school yard in Walnut Grove at 7pm. Thankfully, it had been a beautiful sunny day.


Thomas and Lewis were good sports to come along... we bribed them with promises of snacks. Nora enjoyed the slide, having no fear.



Ever seen toddler girls play football? It's very entertaining, especially when they won't share the ball. The kids ran around the playground while we met the other families, many of whom had traveled together to adopt their daughters.


As the moon rose higher, we gathered for an evening picnic of shared treats. When I asked what the story is of the moon lady, no one actually knew verbatim and so we figured we should probably find out to tell the children next time. The boys wondered what the neighbours were thinking across the street, hoping that they wouldn't see anyone they knew! :)


Once the eating began, it definitely felt like a party... 


Many interesting foods to try, including mooncakes.


We all brought paper lanterns to use for a walk around the field when it got dark enough. Glow sticks abounded as well.


Nora wasn't satisfied with just one lantern...


She enjoyed running around in the dark, while Thomas confided to me, " I don't like this, as I'm sure some little girl is going to get lost...." He was half serious, I believe.


Scott was having fun trying out new techniques with his camera. The boys did have a good time despite the eventual destruction of one of the lanterns. Was nice to meet some new families. With Nora being the youngest, she was reminding the other parents of what it was like when their girls were that small.


An amazing shot taken by Scott of the full moon, which while beautiful, definitely influenced the behaviour of those where I worked over the weekend. (That is one myth which always seems to be true... yikes!) I really enjoyed getting out in the midst of my shifts, even if it felt like going from one bizarre reality to another magical one. Normal life tends to be over-rated, right?! :)

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