Happy Chinese New Year 2008!

This Saturday we went to Oregon Convention Center to celebrate Chinese New Year. Event was not as large as I thought it would be, but still nice. I wish we didn't have to pay any admission, since with this many people it adds up too fast. Lucky for us, there were plenty of samples, so kids were all set.

As soon as we came in, there was a table giving away plastic bead necklaces. Gabe went for the "bling" look and got a gold and a silver one and actually wore them all day.
Larissa went for the "girly" colors (pink and purple), and, predictably, Jon got a green one.
Little that I notice, they were in a shape of dice, given away by a local casino...

As we were checking out displays and samples, we made our way to the back of the exhibit. Local fire department had a fire truck there, letting kids climb in and take pictures.
All the kids took turns sitting in the passenger seat and really enjoyed it.
Then, all of the sudden, the sirens went off (as you can see from the picture, Larissa holding her ears closed) and I see firemen running toward the truck, franticly trying to turn them off... Immediately, I assumed that Larissa flipped some switch off, since she was the closest to it. But, after looking at Gabe I realized that it was him. I have no idea how he did that and got out so fast that (as you can see in the picture) by the time sirens went off, he was already outside... We quietly made our way away from the truck...

When we were all done, we took a long walk around the Convention Center, in search of a place to eat, but all we could find was a Starbucks and an Indoor Paintball place. I felt that since we paid $8.00 for "all day parking", I needed to take advantage of it, LOL. No luck though, we ended up giving up the spot and driving back home.
For lunch we went to a Mongolian Grill and kids really enjoyed only getting the food they wanted on their plates. Gabe ended up with a variety of meats only and it took some convincing to have him add some noodles to it...
Our Sunday was filled with taking walks and going to the stores. I finally decided to catch up on my scrapbooking and that got (the oldest two) kids all fired up about making their own book, so I had to take them (after MUCH begging) to JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts store for their own supplies.
Both have allowances they could spend, so I really didn't want to tell them "no". All I could do is make sure they got a good bargain and the right product.
So typical though, Gabe got everything he needed for the scrapbooking and then some toys, and purchased it, Larissa selected a bunch of "pretty" things, then changed her mind at the last second and put it all back!!! She decided that since she only has so much money, she would rather spend it in "Build-a-bear" store.