Pocketful of Yuan…

In January I pulled out my big red coat that I hadn’t worn since last Winter and found all these treasures in my pocket from China!

1.Yuan!!!!  73 1/2 Yuan to be exact.  Sounds like a lot, but it’s just around 10 bucks. Worth hanging on to for the next time we go?  Possibly ;)

2. Candy and Gum- I was pregnant and very sick at the time.  Sometimes sucking on these things were crucial.

3. Lots of Tums- Pregnant.  Enough said.

4. Receipt that reminded me of how cool and beautiful their symbols are.

5. The best scented VS lip gloss that I thought I lost.  The good smell right under my nose helped me avoid puking.

All these items added up to a total score.  They reminded of China and how we needed to celebrate Chinese New Years!  So we did, with some last minute Beef and Broccoli from the freezer section (oh yes, we’re all sorts of fancy), fortune cookies and a Chinese Movie via RedBox!

Last Year’s Celebrations-

J drove us all over the city to see all the fireworks on our little red motorbike…then tried to get me to go up on the roof of our high rise building at midnight (when the fireworks really go ape-wild) but I wouldn’t due to my fear of heights and the ridiculous ladder you had to climb to get there…It was amazing though in our apartment….Fireworks were literally going off on all sides as far as you could see and there were ones RIGHT up next to the window.  People were lighting huge ones in the courtyard too that landed on the roof…right were J was!  He was fine, but a little singed.  The video he got was well worth it…I’ll have to find it in our old files and add it here one day!  This picture was from our ride before there were too many over the river…and there’s that lucky red coat!

This was our spread this year…(the hanging symbol was given to us by our neighbor, Ron/Charlie…he couldn’t ever decide on just one English name…so we always called him both.

  

If you’re wondering why she’s in a Bunny suit, here’s the answer:

We celebrated Chinese New Year’s living in Tianjin, China last year and it was the year of the Bunny.  In China, you are the animal of the year you were born, according to their calendar and when your year rotates around again, it’s a BIG deal…You pretty much have the biggest birthday party of your life, you’re super lucky for that year, you eat a ton, wear lots of red and people give you mullah in pretty little envelopes (if you’re Chinese, we just ate a lot and enjoyed being pyromaniacs).  Amelia-Jayne was born last year, so she’s our China Bunny…1987 also happened to be the year of the Bunny- so I’m a bunny too!  I guess that makes Jordan the new Hugh Heffner. Haha.

Amelia-Jayne tried to munch through her own fortune cookie and got her first taste of what else?!  RICE cereal.  We had to get the Asian theme in there somewhere for her. :)

 

We decided that we want to have traditions surrounding the places we’ve been and that next year we are going to really live it up for Chinese New Years…a party will happen with joutsa, chopsticks and PYROTECHNICS!  (We’re really excited about that)  So, if you happen to be in the Uintah Basin…come celebrate with us!  YOU’RE ALL INVITED!

Next stop…BRASIL!

  Carnival, anyone? I’m not sure Vernal is ready for that kind of party. ;)