Vacation Day 6: Cultural Festival and Tree Lighting Ceremony

Today was a really nice day. The weather was nice, and we had some fun activities! We attended the Cultural Festival in Bentonville Town Square during the day. The boys made a passport at the first booth, then Aiden took his around to every booth, collecting stickers at each region’s activities. He had his face painted with a Chinese dragon, colored a Dreidel, tasted candy from all different countries, and got a prize at the end for filling up his passport. Jeremy colored a Dreidel, too – and we all ate Churros from the Mexico Station. There was music and dancing from many nations, and lots of different food to taste. Vavo and Madison came by toward the end of our visit and Maddie got to check out some of the activities, too. She colored a Menorah. The weather was perfect for this event – nice and sunny, not too cold and not too hot.

Aiden Making His Passport

Dragon Face Painting

Jeremy with Churro

Later in the evening, we met up with the Summits back at Town Square for the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. The lighting took place a little later than expected, so the boys and Maddie got a little antsy waiting, but they were in awe once the countdown started and the whole Town Square lit up in Christmas lights.

It was something you would never really see in Sacramento, because it was very Christmas-based (as opposed to “holiday season”-based) – very Christian in nature. The songs groups sung were about Jesus, there was a nativity scene, and the speakers on stage said things like, “we should remember that Christmas is about how Baby Jesus was born and died for us”. This area is very religious in nature – specifically, Christian in nature, so it was something we surely wouldn’t see at home.

After the tree lighting ceremony, we came home and ate some Stewed Chicken that Vavu made. It was his Mother’s recipe. Aiden was eating carrots like there was no tomorrow! After dinner, Tim (Andrew’s brother) and Heather (his fiancée) came by for a visit. They drove from Kansas City to visit for the weekend. It was really good to see them. They brought Jeremy a birthday present, and a present for Vavu’s birthday, because he will be with us in DisneyWorld on that day. Aiden remembered Uncle Tim right away, and was playing with him in no time. The boys had a strange attraction to putting things in Uncle Tim’s ears. Jeremy snuck up on his side, put the squeaky toy lizard in his ear, and blew it, then the boys both started trying to put the play stethoscope in his ears. Maria felt sorry for him!

Aiden Helping Vavu Open his Birthday Present (Tim watching)

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The best part of day 6 was spending time with family and seeing the countdown to the tree lighting and hearing Christmas music. It reminded us that Christmas is on it’s way.
The worst part of day 6 was the fly that wouldn’t die that followed us into the van and tormented us on the way to Town Square.
What we learned on day 6 was even though there is a way to post comments on blogs, no one ever does it and that stinks. You can hit and drop a TV only so many times before it craps out (that’s how we had to turn on Vavu’s 20+ year old TV – until it broke, and wouldn’t turn on anymore. Time of death: 14:39, Saturday, Nov 17, 2007).
The weather on day 6 was beautiful!