More CNY, MacRitchie, and the Winter Garden

Chinese New Year is still going on!  A lot of people take the entire week off for CNY and business definitely slows down.  During Christmas time here none of the stores or businesses close and life goes on pretty much as usual, but during CNY things definitely close and slow down.  We caught a lion dance this weekend -- random lion dances or dragon dances take place throughout the week.  Jack loved it and wasn't scared at all.  Ainsley enjoyed it but the loud drums scared her a little bit.  Kara was totally freaked out and didn't like it at all.  Kara had to be held the entire time and even then was on edge.

This weekend we tried a new park, MacRitchie Reservoir.  It is a really nice trail along the water (~10k) but we barely made it 1/2 a kilometer.  The kids enjoyed running around and then we ate a picnic lunch.

We got to see some monkeys!

Some pictures we took one night last week in the winter garden (at our apartment complex)...

Orange trees are everywhere right now for CNY.  Below is what the decorative orange trees look like that are all around our apartment complex (even in the "winter garden").  Traditional gift during CNY is two oranges and a red envelope with money, called Hong Bao.  

Jack playing with rocks...

Kara smelling the flowers...

No idea what the next two flowers are, but they are pretty...

I am not sure if I was photographing the ants or the flower, but it looks cool...

And of course, this week's best pic is Kara's pose when I asked her to smile for the camera...