The Year of the Tiger!

Today Ruth and I took Kira and her boys down to Chinatown for a Chinese New Year parade.

It was so fun! We drove and parked downtown, took the redline on the "El" and headed over. We got great seats by walking through the snow (which lent itself to whining from Kira because her feet were 'so cold they would never work again' and lead to her wearing gloves on her feet for part of the parade. You'll see a pic of that as you scroll down.). We got there *just* as the parade started with the police and the American Flag. So that was really wonderful.

 This is the best group shot I got on my camera, hopefully Ruth's turned out better than mine. At least this one isn't my fault. Thanks anyway, random dude in the subway. ;)

Chinatown from the "El" station and near the parade.

 

  

 

I cannot tell you how hard it is to get a clear shot of a building, etc. when hundreds of people are around you. So this is the best I could do today.

After we took the train back to the car and then went and had...wait for it...Mexican. :) You didn't guess that did you?! Ruth and her boys had Chinese the night before for dinner so we went for something different. Plus, China town was so crowded, there was just no way we wanted to fight through the mobs of people.

So, here are a ton of pictures. Enjoy!

 

  

Some of these are blurry, and I apologize for the quality, but they exuded

such genuine happiness, so I wanted to share them anyway. It truly was a celebration.

  

  

This little girl and her dragon puppet were just so adorable. I couldn't resist taking her picture. Isn't she beautiful!

  

This is just funny. Never in my wildest dreams did I suspect I would be treated to bagpipes this cold morning in China town. :) 

  

I think he is the grand pooba or somesuch. His hat made me think so. :) He just looks so in charge too. I took several pictures of this man. He intrigued me to no end.

The next float was just benches with elderly people waving flowers. Ruth commented on how that is something she really admires about the Chinese culture, how respected and cared for and valuable their elders are within the community. And honored. And she is right. A lesson more of us could stand to learn I believe.

 

 

This puppet troupe was just fun! A lot of character on this float for sure. 

  

 And then Kira's feet with gloves on them, and a couple shots of us enjoying the parade. Thanks for looking!

Yes the child has boots. No she did not wear them. Don't even ask. If you have an 8 year old daughter I'm sure you can imagine. Thankfully gloves on the feet as slippers and then standing on top of her shoes kept her mostly  quiet for the duration of the parade.