Greeting the Year of the Snake at Harbourfront

Pawsway exhibit

Apart from eating rice cakes (which I totally love!) we have not been able to attend a lot of Chinese New Year celebrations.  DD#1 had been taking up traditions and celebrations in school so I decided to expose her to more culture. This took us to Harbourfront on Chinese New Year.

We started our adventure at Pawsway where there was a Chihuahua meet. Now, I much prefer medium to large dogs, but the girls were thrilled to see so many of these little creatures. We also enjoyed looking at the exhibit showcasing beloved pets and their amazing stories and the girls had a bit of time to do some crafts.


Harbourfront Centre

Then, we walked over to the Harbourfront Centre straight to the Dumpling fest (we had to eat first, you know!). We ordered a variety of Asian dumplings—Chinese wonton, Japanese gyoza, and Korean dumplings! Yummy, but not cheap. It was a quick lunch but it gave us sufficient fuel for the activities ahead.

Dumpling fest

 First, we went to the Lantern Jungle. The lanterns, made of jungle animals, were fantastic! These were very colorful and the characters were fun. The girls enjoyed the different activities—from ring toss, to talking parrots, to frogs with drum tummies.

Lantern Jungle

 Next, we caught “The Road to the Imperial Palace” show. The girls were concerned that it would be in Chinese and that they would not understand it. But between acts (there were three), there was an English translation so I just explained to them the gist of what the kids were about to do. The performing kids were amazing. They had all the words memorized—songs and poems, among others. In my mind, my girls began to appreciate the value of learning another language and having talent to showcase them onstage. But then again, maybe it was just me, because after the show, they didn’t talk much about it.  I will continue to hope, though, that this learning is in their subconscious somewhere.

Lunar fest show

We then headed to the crafts and games area where we made some snake hats which lit up--such a delightful craft! They also played some marble and “fishing” games while I tried to learn to write the word, “school,” in Chinese.

It was a nice way to celebrate the New Year. Gong Hey Fat Choy!