Tet Trung Thu

 

 

Dek and Mercy, age 2, celebrate the annual mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Tet Trung Thu). In Vietnam, the festival is geared towards children and as aptly titled to honor the lovely full moon. Kids typically dress up, have snacks and enjoy parading around the town with lanterns especially those shaped like animals like swans, butterflies and stars.  There are some kid-centric celebrations in the VA area that I dragged Derek to, but here he's just enjoying Tet Trung Thu with Cousin Mercy.  I also tortured him/Mike by teaching him a traditional song about the holiday which we sang for weeks at a time and almost made Mike go off that deep end hearing about Tet Trung Thu.

First Day of "School"

Derek returns to rule the school as one of the big kids - though he's turning 3 in November, he wasn't 3 in time for official preschool so he's starting in the 2 year old class where he towers over most of his counterparts. That's ok though, he's potty trained and able to express lots of thoughts (compared to just crying and screaming when we dropped him off last year).  His favorite things about school, it seems, are going outside to the playground and having turkey sandwich for lunch. Sometimes turkey sandwich and banana chips are all we can talk about sometimes.  Though school is only two days a week, he often asks me to "pack his lunch" every single night and makes turkey sandwich is part of that deal.

Bros

 

Dek with bestie Conor (kidding, I don't think preschoolers use the word bestie). These little dudes do have a good time together and were reuniting at Baltimore Comic Con for the first time in awhile. 

Encounter with Spidey

Dek and buddies Conor and Everett check out Balitmore Comic Con with Spider-Man! (One of many spideys there I might add). Derek was very star struck to see the long parade of super hero folks walking about.

Fun at Adventuredome

 

 

 

One of the few 'pluses' (if you can call it that) of staying at Circus Circus. The very small set of rides at AdventureDome which Derek of course loved, minus the "roller coaster" that he was yelling on the whole time. We did get a video of it though. Too awesome.

Vegas Cousin Time: Part II

 

 

Another day, another buffet. I am sad to report that the major activity while vacationing for us eating. There are no pictures of landmarks, quirky posing or "look I was here" apparently, as parents all we can manage is to snap a few photos of the kiddos running around dinner time.

Derek with other Vegas cousins, William (7) and Lily (5), who were very sweet. Its an experience I never had, growing up in a big sprawling family that was spread out across the U.S. and beyond.  Cousins were well acquainted with one another by the end and hopefully they'll be able to see each other before the get too big.


We enjoyed the Wicked Spoon Buffet at the new Aria Casino. I have to tell you this was the last day of our trip and we literally could not eat anymore. The excess. Too much. Time to head back to Washington. 

Vegas Cousin Time: Part I

 

We brought Derek for his first Vegas experience (at the tender age of 2.5, he will have to wait about another 18.5 years until he reaches the legal gambling age). Though it meant a different experience, that is less gambling and boozing more trying to navigate through Casino floors without lingering too long in fear of being stopped by rent-a-cops, Derek enjoyed the trek out west. Best of all, he got to meet his Vegas cousins. Here he is with Sammy, age 7, at the Studio B Buffet at M Casino. They ate several plates of food. I was shocked to see the sticker prices for kids buffet price (over 4) was almost $30! We ate our moneys worth though and so did the kids - Dek most of all since he was free :)