Chinese New Year Parade (Part I).

P had talked to a police officer who told him that the parade would reach our area around 7:30 p.m. We are so glad we did not heed his advice, or we would have missed quite a bit. It reached our area around 5:45 p.m. Maybe the officer was thinking about the end. P messed with the nighttime pictures, using our desktop monitor, tweaked with the brightness and contrast, and now we have more pictures than anyone will care to see.

P staked out a nice spot across from the hotel.

SS perusing through one of her many Pe@nuts coloring books (thanks JJ). See the Snoopy bag next to SS? P bought it when I was in the hospital and I had forgotten all about it. When it was time to get SS's entertainment stuff ready I found it in the closet. Check out how nicely it compliments the blanket I made for her.


One can't just sit and watch a CNY parade, one must ward off evil spirits with firecrackers. P is such a good Baba and immediately purchased "snap clappers" for SS to throw at the people below us. Sunshine also bought SS a box of the giant type, and here is SS after dropping one. It landed next to a woman below us, and the sound startled her. She was not amused, but as you can see P got a kick out of it. This one is going to be good for reminiscing during those nights our little vandal will spend in juvenile hall. P also purchased extra snap clappers for SS's and JJ's birthdays.

Let the parade begin...

From the bridge:

Back to Saturday.

Just as we arrived at our room, P received a text message from JJ inquiring if Grandpa was OK. He lives in Maui and there was that tsunami warning due to the huge earthquake in Chile. The strongest we have experienced is around 6.8, I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been. I bet there was no time to engage in our favorite after earthquake activity, checking their equivalent to the USGS website to enter feedback. P could not get through to his father on the phone, and we watched like everyone else, on CNN. P was certain that his father was OK, because he rarely goes to the beach, and he lives inland. Grandpa later told P that he found out about the warning when the sirens woke him up, so he set up shop in front of the TV as well. Since we could not do much but wait we walked to Chinatown for an early dinner.

To say the place was packed is an understatement, and since we were hungry, we did not want to walk all over looking at menus. You can't really go wrong in Chinatown. We chose a restaurant close to the hotel where there was a band playing right outside. Dinner and entertainment for SS, who did a mean drum playing with her chopsticks on the table.




SS took the initiative to begin practicing with normal size chopsticks. Just before I snapped this picture, she had managed to pick up half a dumpling, brought it to her mouth and dropped it on the floor. I was so upset that I did not get a picture, since it was all her doing. :( SS has developed a taste for dumplings recently. A week ago she had six for lunch, and that is a lot for someone her size.

SS really liked the jasmine rice and the noodles. I know, big shocker there.

Another first, SS having only one bite of her ice cream. It appears that she draws the line at green tea flavor.

By the time we were done with our senior citizen dinner, the singer was among the crowd, urging them to join him dancing the slide. We tried to get SS to join them to one of her favorite songs, September (by Earth, Wind & Fire), but she had turned into stone. What were we thinking? Everyone knows that in SS's world live music is to be absorbed while inert.

We stayed and listened for a while, to give SS her live music fix. They were pretty good.

The young lady with the backpack caught my attention. There was something about her looks (although much lighter skinned) and her effervescent personality that reminded me of SS. A bit weird to think about SS so far into the future, but we will be there before we know it.

Another coincidence, the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco located on the third floor of the hotel. We had no idea until we were there.

Shӑo Niӑo ( our Little Bird) pointing at a shӑ niӑo.

A little rest before we returned to the crowds and noise.