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Dragon Dancing
Six families, a dozen kids, three huge dragons, lots of food, and a little restaurant and it was just nuts and fun and crazy all rolled into one.
We started with all the families and the kids got their own table by the walkway. They certainly enjoyed it a lot, and had a great time with each other. They really needed the food, so the parents really got down to business with them, first and ordered food for them to start. They got fed in dribs and drabs and the waitress was not very good about remembering who had ordered what, so she put the food down anywhere, and the kids were even worse about it, so they just ate whatever was in front of them. Worse yet, the parents were ordering the 'wrong things' or thinking they ordered something and really ordered something else, so we had to return a couple of dishes and ask for what we really meant, and knew it was our fault.
It didn't help that Jet's so picky, it's HARD to find things he'll eat, so when they dropped his egg rolls in front of someone else and they got devoured, I made absolutely sure that his scallion pancakes landed in front of him, not the other hungry kids. And everyone was like "What's THAT?" Hee.
Jet was pretty pleased by that.
The dragons were great. The drums sounded through the whole restaurant and the waitress was really good at explaining that during the dance they couldn't serve any food. Luckily the whole kids' table got served before the dance started, though it did kind of leave the parents hungry and grumpish. But the dragons themselves were great once they spread through the restaurant in hunt of their heads of lettuce, oranges, and red envelopes/tips.
The guys in the suit actually went up on each other shoulders to get up to the "goodies". And then the dragon spit out the lettuce to squeals from all the kids. That was pretty cool.
After the dance it took the kitchen a while for the adults to get their food. So the kids started roaming as a pack, scaring the wait staff, bugging the front desk, and getting fortune cookies, little umbrellas, and mints.
They were in the hallways, and it's always... amusing to watch a non-parent panic when they see a kid zig-zagging in front of them, but less amusing when the person is carrying a huge tray of food. I started grumping at the kids, and told them to get out of the way, but they just don't have the experience to understand when they are IN the way... so it got kind of frustrating.
But our waitress was great. She was patient, spoke up once or twice, and managed to get through it all without spilling anything, stepping on anyone, or making anyone else cry or crying herself. I was pretty impressed, and realized that all the parents were when we all tipped. She came back, a little dazed, and told us it was pretty much half of what we'd paid for th bill, and asked us, "Are you sure you don't want some of this back?"
We all looked at her and grinned. "No, you keep it, you dealt with us being complete idiots on so many levels..."
She nearly cried at that, but she'd been like a saint for us. So we were all happy. "Happy New Year," I said, and she echoed it back.
We started with all the families and the kids got their own table by the walkway. They certainly enjoyed it a lot, and had a great time with each other. They really needed the food, so the parents really got down to business with them, first and ordered food for them to start. They got fed in dribs and drabs and the waitress was not very good about remembering who had ordered what, so she put the food down anywhere, and the kids were even worse about it, so they just ate whatever was in front of them. Worse yet, the parents were ordering the 'wrong things' or thinking they ordered something and really ordered something else, so we had to return a couple of dishes and ask for what we really meant, and knew it was our fault.
It didn't help that Jet's so picky, it's HARD to find things he'll eat, so when they dropped his egg rolls in front of someone else and they got devoured, I made absolutely sure that his scallion pancakes landed in front of him, not the other hungry kids. And everyone was like "What's THAT?" Hee.
Jet was pretty pleased by that.
The dragons were great. The drums sounded through the whole restaurant and the waitress was really good at explaining that during the dance they couldn't serve any food. Luckily the whole kids' table got served before the dance started, though it did kind of leave the parents hungry and grumpish. But the dragons themselves were great once they spread through the restaurant in hunt of their heads of lettuce, oranges, and red envelopes/tips.
The guys in the suit actually went up on each other shoulders to get up to the "goodies". And then the dragon spit out the lettuce to squeals from all the kids. That was pretty cool.
After the dance it took the kitchen a while for the adults to get their food. So the kids started roaming as a pack, scaring the wait staff, bugging the front desk, and getting fortune cookies, little umbrellas, and mints.
They were in the hallways, and it's always... amusing to watch a non-parent panic when they see a kid zig-zagging in front of them, but less amusing when the person is carrying a huge tray of food. I started grumping at the kids, and told them to get out of the way, but they just don't have the experience to understand when they are IN the way... so it got kind of frustrating.
But our waitress was great. She was patient, spoke up once or twice, and managed to get through it all without spilling anything, stepping on anyone, or making anyone else cry or crying herself. I was pretty impressed, and realized that all the parents were when we all tipped. She came back, a little dazed, and told us it was pretty much half of what we'd paid for th bill, and asked us, "Are you sure you don't want some of this back?"
We all looked at her and grinned. "No, you keep it, you dealt with us being complete idiots on so many levels..."
She nearly cried at that, but she'd been like a saint for us. So we were all happy. "Happy New Year," I said, and she echoed it back.