Chinese New Year - Iowa Style

On Saturday, Jan. 21st. for the first time in the history of the Pleasant Hill Schmitz clan, we 'celebrated' the Chinese new year. Heck, for all I know, it may have been the first time any of the Schmitz clan have acknowledged it... who's to say?

Robby and Calebs Aunt Doris sent us an email on Friday with a link to a web page about the Iowa Chinese organizations celebration on the campus at AIB on Fluer Drive in Des Moines.We thought it might be fun to check out even though Lesley had plans with Robby later that night and we needed to start cooking for a gathering at our house on Sunday for the same purpose.

I think next year we may plan to spend a little more time there.  There is food to be had, which was really good even though eating in such an environment with two young boys can prove a bit stressful.  There were arts n' crafts activities for kiddos to do, face painting and much more that we didn't delve into due to time constraints.

We did watch some of the shows/presentations while we scarfed down the aforementioned food. This first photo is just a shot of the Robby and Caleb in front of where the shows happened.  I've learned to get a pic early while they're still smiling.

A few of the tables with crafts and t-shirts for sale.

A table with some young'ins making bead necklaces and the like.

We first saw this instrument being played as a duet with a grand piano in the hotel lobby of the Shang Ri' La in Changchun.  I believe it is called a Zither and it's absolutely fascinating to watch them play.  I'm pretty sure that I was freaking the two ladies out in Changchun because of how I was staring at them, but it truly was fascinating to watch and beautiful to the ears.

I already forgot the name of this dance but it's done in the Chinese culture to ward off evil spirits.

This was the second or third part of what I called the dragon dance. It was fun to watch but not nearly as fun as the expression on either Robby or Calebs face!

As far as we know, this is Calebs first crack at a crab rangoon.  Happily, for dear ol' Dad anyway, he did not care for it and could not give it up quick enough. 

Some type of symbolic battle/dance. We noted that the weapon that the pony-tailed dude is wielding is one of them that was in the background of the photo of Robby and myself at the base of the Great Wall.

We didn't see this group of girls/ladies dance or whatever it was that they were going to do.  It appeared they were up next and Robby wanted me to get a shot of their costumes, for whatever reason...  8-)

This group of people were nerve wrecking to watch.  How somebody doesn't break their neck or back during these displays is simply beyond me.

Again...

On Sunday, we had Uncle Frank, Aunt Doris, Aunt Molly, Aunt Dianne and her kids Samuel, Jonah and Zoe and one of her co-workers from China, Jinying over at our house for a big lunch of Chinese new year dishes. Lesley and I made egg rolls, beef/broccoli/noodles, and fried rice while Jinying brought two different kinds of dumplings that were both beyond fantastic.  We went to a dumpling restaurant in Changchun that was pretty darned tasty, but Jinying blew'em out of the water!  Robby commented tonight as we polished them off, "She could make those for us again. Any time!".  I agreed. Enthusiastically.

Aunt Doris down in the trenches with a whole pile of nephews!

And the million dollar shot goes to this one of Caleb, who seems to really like babies, holding his cousin Zoe.  When he saw this picture tonight while I was posting, he shouted, "AAAHHH, BABY!!!!" while cradling his arms and rocking back and forth with as big of a smile as he has in this photo.