New bike!

Wynn's old bike was (finally) too small for her, so this weekend we ordered up a new one from Erik's Bike Shop. This one should hold her for a few years ... training wheels for now, but the hope is that they'll be off by the end of summer.

The State Fairgrounds is a great place to practice!

Set the old bike at the end of the driveway ... gone in an hour

"A Passage to China" at the Mall of America

For six years now in April, the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN has hosted "A Passage to China," a 2-day festival put on by Minnesota's Chinese Heritage Foundation and local newspaper China Insight. This year's festival involved over 45 organizations & businesses - some there to sell merchandise, others to talk about programs they put on, and others to grow membership.

There were demonstrations of cooking, dance, martial arts, singing, painting, calligraphy, and many other crafts - kids received a "passport" and would get a stamp at each booth they visited, then redeem the stamps for a necklace or bracelet.

It was great to see so many Asian faces and hear so much Mandarin in one place here in Minnesota - and it was heartening to see so many non-Asian faces watching the performances with interest and walking through the booths with their kids!

Wynn had a fine time, of course. Now that she's a little bit older and able to speak in Chinese for herself, she got a lot more out of this year's presentation:

Having the Starbucks in the background makes it more authentically Chinese ;)

Moulding-your-own Terracotta Warriors

Little Warriors for sale...  we're holding out to get a life-size one for the garden in the backyard

We stayed for a number of vocal performances and dance numbers

Paper-cutting, a traditional folk craft from Shaanxi province - it can get amazingly intricate.  (She did not pay any attention to the American Girl shop just beyond :)  )

Finally able to get out and walk!

Now that the sun doesn't set until 7:30, and it's not freezing anymore, we're finally able to get out after dinner and walk around!

Back to our usual stomping grounds at the State Fair ... the snowpiles are shrinking quickly! Soon the grass will be green and Wynn will be practicing her bike riding in the empty lots!

Hearing Aid Calibration check-up

Wynn had her hearing aids checked this morning - everything is working as intended. No additional work on the devices is needed.

She's really had no issues with the hearing aids - no stigma she's talked about from school, and she's been very responsible about cleaning them & changing batteries when needed. It's just another piece of technology to her, like her uncle's iPad or my eyeglasses...