CHINESE FESTIVAL

We found a small piece of China in downtown Indianapolis today, as we explored the 2nd Annual Chinese Festival in Military Park. A beautiful day and lots of wonderful music and dancing to enjoy! Originally, I thought this would be a great way to celebrate Jessa's heritage, but honestly, she wasn't having a good day so that was just a side-note. So it ended up being a family outing, not just a Jessa day, which is probably what it should have been all along. 'Cause Hollyn had the best time of anyone and really enjoyed watching the dancers perform! I love seeing her personality shine and her passion for music come alive! 

These beautiful women posed with the girls and Hollyn was so excited! Do you see her smiling AND looking at the camera! Crazy how she won't unless she is super, duper excited! LOL! Hollyn just loved the artistry of the dances and the wonderful ethereal quality of the Chinese music. She was swaying along and following their hand movements - so lovely! :) For sure, the notes echoed back to us the memories of our trip to Guiyang and the music of the park that was tucked up in the mountains. An awesome memory for David and I and so cool to relive it so close to home. A rowing team had brought their Dragon Boat to the festival for families to explore. Andrew and Hollyn were excited to play the drum and set the beat for the kids pretending to row.

Jessa - not so much. She was having a rough day all around, but you know, after she saw Hollyn have fun, she decided to try it. See why I think God knew she needed a sister to help her along. :)

 

We all enjoyed making our own paper lanterns. These were super easy to make and I can't wait to repeat them for Chinese New Year's! They loved decorating them too!

We did manage to eat some Chinese food for lunch. Okay, so it wasn't that great, but then again, we had just ate at PF Changs so really there is no comparison. ha! Another fun thing was watching a Tai Chi demonstration and seeing the kids trying to copy the movements. Andrew was the master! And David was cracking me up trying to get them to follow his lead!

reaching up high to the sky

then going side to side

open up those arms so wide

following Daddy...this was so not part of it! LOL!

It is only the 2nd time the Chinese community has held a festival like this in Indy, and there is potential for it to grow more, but it was really nice to have fun without fighting a huge crowd, and the kids didn't have to stand in line to have their turn in the bounce house. Always an added bonus. :)

We hope they have it again next year and we hope to see more adoptive families join ours in celebrating China. The musical acts alone were reason enough to come out!