Happy New Year!

For the past three or four years, we've had lunch at Hong Kong Cafe during the Chinese New Year's lion dance. We remember having lunch last year, realizing that our daughter would be with us the next time we had lions dancing next to our table.

Well, it's true! This Saturday, we met our friends Donna, Nick and their three kids for lunch. They were so sweet - they gave Ava the traditional lucky money in a red envelope and even a bag of oranges for good luck in the new year.

Ava and Hanna did amazingly well with the firecrackers and dancing lions. After some initial concern where Ava wanted to scramble from Mom to Dad - she must have thought Scott could better protect her! - she enjoyed the show and even pointed at the lions a few times. Must be because before lunch, Scott danced around the house like one of the lions to get her used to the idea.

It was so much fun to see Ava in a traditional outfit again. The blue dress that she wore in China for the red couch photos still fit. (We included a photo below, just so you can see how much she's matured in the past five months even if she's in the same size dress!) Well, here's a few photos of our cuteheart and good friends!

Same dress - September 22, 2006 and February 17, 2007.