Chinese Lantern Festival

This past week we had a chance to check out the Chinese Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It is a special exhibit from China that has never been seen in the US before and is only here for a few weeks.

Dave didn't have any interest in attending the event but Abby saw a commercial for the exhibit and really wanted to go.

The event started at 6p but they don't turn the lanterns on until 8p. Abby's idea of lanterns comes from the Disney movie "Tangled" which is much different than the Chinese lanterns at the festival.

 This was by far Abby's favorite exhibit. Probably because the panda's were the same size as her. Although I have to say this was a very cute display.

 The plus of getting there early, good parking and a chance to take pictures before the masses arrived.

 Abby loved that the dragons on this display because they moved. She is still talking about the moving dragons.

 I thought this was really cool, an old man fishing with his bull. When Abby sat down for this picture she drew a crowd for being so cute. She was naming the fish and just loving everything the night had to offer.

 We made one walk through of the 20 displays before 8p, so we took advantage of the garden and checked out the rose garden. It had been warm all week but this day had been cold and rainy. We dressed for warmer weather but Abby didn't care. She loved her new dress and showing off to everyone.

 It was so cool to see everything lite up. Abby was in awe of the exhibits.

 There was a whole walk way of these moon lights. I loved them. So whimsical.

 And of course we had to stop back at the panda exhibit.

 I think she still loved it. It may also be that I had her say "turkey boogers".

 This is the tail of one of the two dragons that were the centerpiece of the whole exhibit. The dragon was made up of fine china plates and spoons.

 The dragon was a little scary for Abby. They moved and made a lot of smoke.

 I loved this whole garden of larger than life flowers. Since it was getting later Abby wasn't big about stepping away from Mommy, I love that she's such a good girl.

 It's hard to tell from the picture but this boat is made up of tiny medicine bottles filled with different colored liquids. Abby was very concerned about who was living on the boat, how it got in such a small pond and why they needed a boat. Any takers on answering her questions? There a lot of them lately.

 This is one tired girl, who loves lanterns, life and questioning everything we tell her.