Tet 2010

On Saturday, we decided to head to Ithaca, NY for their yearly Tet celebration (Vietnamese New Year). We made it the first year but skipped last year. All the children from the surrounding areas that were adopted from either Lang Son, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, or Ho Chi Minh City were there. Most of the moms keep blogs so we all know what the other has been up to and/or doing but it was wonderful to be able to talk to eachother while the kids played together. I think this is the first year Isabella has had some understanding of her birth country's cultures and traditions. One tradition she would rather not celebrate is the Lion dance, though. The whining started on the way to Ithaca and continued while we checked into the hotel, went swimming, got ready, and arrived at the restaurant. She decided that she would like to stay in the hotel instead of going to Tet and then she decided she was going to sit in the car. After all of that, she fell sound asleep and stayed asleep through most of dance. I didn't want her to miss all of it - I new she would enjoy it if we kept our distance. By the end of the night, she was actually petting the head (without the people in it) and talking about it's nostrils (don't know where she got that word).

We stayed in the same hotel as the Porters (a family from our town that adopted 5 kids and helped us through our adoption) and had a chance to look around Cornell and visit the Science Museum. It was a very nice Valentine's weekend:)