Feast of Lanterns

Picture from the Feast of Lanterns pageant--held on the pier at Lovers Point Beach.

Part of the pageant is this dragon that swims around in the water right off of the beach. --Very exciting to the kids! After the pageant, fireworks are set off and it's so neat to see them over the water. These are our favorite fireworks--we like them even better than the 4th of July ones (which because of budget cuts we did not have in Monterey this year). Usually the fireworks in Monterey are very nice but sooooooo many tourists come here that their simply isn't room anywhere for the locals to see them. The Feast of Lanterns celebration isn't as widely known about I think so it's a little easier to stake our spot.

Gavin and Carter (Tera's boy) Tera and I told the boys not to get wet because it would get cold when the sun went down. Of course boys will be boys and they were soaked from head to toe. Albert was such a sweet Daddy and went home to get Gavin some dry clothes.

Carter and Gavin having way too much fun being silly boys.

Linnea

Jaime, Micah (in Moby wrap), Albert and Gavin

Jared (with the moose hands), Maila, Dallin in front, Tera and Anne

Mitch and Jacen

Albert and Gavin--snuggling to keep warm

I know these are pretty old-from July, but I just found them in my computer and remembered that I hadn't posted them. I thought I would because Feast of Lanterns is one of my favorite PG celebrations.

Feast of Lanterns celebrates an old Chinese folktale, ending in two lovers turning into two Monarch butterflies, flying free, and that is why we are the butterfly town with the Monarch sanctuary and why the monarchs come every year here. It's a great tale and so fun to watch. It's also quite a feat to mark out our spot on the beach to watch from. The signs posted said that we could reserve a spot on the day prior (Friday) at 2 p.m. I showed up at 2 p.m. on the dot and their were maybe 4 spots left available. It's become a tradition in our family that we love though.