Photos: Lydia's Camera Shots !

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"Yeh Yey" (which means paternal grandfather in Chinese)

Kitchen at Pa and Ma Chin's home in Chesapeake, Virginia

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"Ah Ma" (which means paternal grandmother in Chinese)

Living room at Pa and Ma Chin's home in Chesapeake, Virginia

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Mom

Our dining room

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"Yeh Yeh" and "Ah Ma"

Living room at Pa and Ma Chin's home in Chesapeake, Virginia

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Dad

Our living room

Note: Lydia took all of these pictures on various dates during December 2008 or January 2009 using her ultra compact pink colored Canon SD1100 point and shoot digital camera.

Photos: Families with Children from China 8

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Melody Xie, Lydia's Chinese dance and language instructor, is pumping air into a tubular balloon for Vivian Foley.

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Melody is making an object out of an orange tubular balloon for Lydia.

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It's an orange hat!

Lydia likes the color orange because her best friend, Tiger, is orange.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 in the main hallway at Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, WA during the annual Chinese New Year celebration that is sponsored by Families with Children from China.

Photos: Families with Children from China 7

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Lydia is searching for coins that were hidden in this large dishpan of uncooked rice. This was just one of the many games for young children at this event.

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Lydia is sweeping her right hand through the rice. Although Lydia did not find a coin, she had a lot of fun at this station.

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Lydia is trying to match the animal that appeared on the dice with one of the six on the table. If she matched it correctly, she would be given some candy as her reward.

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Lydia's head was just high enough to see the table's contents.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 at the Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, WA where Families with Children from China holds its annual Chinese New Year celebration.

Photos: Families with Children from China 6

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Lydia is gazing at the basketball as it heads towards the basket.

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While holding onto her mother's hand, Lydia is getting ready to toss a black ball into a bucket.

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SiowFong was excited when Lydia tossed the ball into the bucket. Lydia's success came only on her third or fourth attempt.

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The volunteer at the putt putt golf station is showing Lydia how to hold and use a putter.

Most of the volunteers who manned the stations were adolescent-age children from China who were adopted in the 1990s.

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Michelle Wie?

No.

Lorena Ochoa?

No.

Lydia?

Yes! Look at that swing!

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 in the gymnasium at Eckstein Middle School during the annual Chinese New Year event hosted by Families with Children from China Northwest.

Photos: Families with Children from China 5

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Lydia is bowling.

The entire gymnasium was set up with various games for the younger children, and Lydia, like her peers, loved her experience at every station.

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Rolling. . .rolling. . .rolling

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Lydia's ball strikes some pins.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 in the gymnasium of Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, WA during the Chinese New Year event hosted by Families with Children from China Northwest.

Photo notes: The newer Nikon digital SLR cameras, such as the D90, D300, D700, D3, and D3x, make images with less noise, improved resolution, and more color fidelity in lower light situations, especially the D700 and D3 because of their full 35 mm sensor and larger pixels (please see images of the Chinese dancers from the earlier blog entry today that is entitled Families with Children from China 2). Another advantage of these models that were introduced in 2007 or 2008 is the ability to shoot a very rapid sequence of images (3 to 9 images per second, depending on the specific model and depending on whether low speed or high speed is selected), which is evident in these pictures.

Photos: Families with Children from China 4

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Melody Xie, Lydia's Chinese dance and language teacher, made this balloon toy for Lydia.

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Adorned with her orange balloon hat, Lydia is walking on the stage in the auditorium after lunch when she was playing with Vivian Foley.

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Lydia is happily strolling on the stage while holding a piece of paper as she mimics what Vivian was doing.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 at Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, WA during the annual Chinese New Year celebration hosted by Families with Children from China Northwest.

Photos: Families with Children from China 3

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Lydia with the Foley family

Carolyn Pastoriza (Vivian's mom), Lydia, Vivian Foley (who is about one year older than Lydia), and Todd Foley (Vivian's dad)

Vivian was 9 months old when Todd and Carolyn adopted her from Jiangxi Province in China. SiowFong has known Todd and Carolyn for a number of years since they have worked for the same company, and they graciously provided advice to us during our China adoption process.

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Vivian is holding Lydia's hand as they walk down the main corridor of the school.

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Vivian and Lydia are ready to reenter the auditorium after lunch.

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Vivian and Lydia are folding paper together on the stage in the auditorium.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 at Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, WA during the annual Chinese New Year event that is sponsored by Families with Children from China Northwest.

Photos: Families with Children from China 2

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Melody Xie, Lydia's Chinese dance and language teacher, runs the Melody Institute, a school that teaches Chinese dance to girls of various ages, and many of Melody's students are girls who have been adopted from China.

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These girls, most of whom are four to six years of age, attend either Melody's class either on Wednesday afternoons or Saturday morning. If Lydia had wanted to participate in the Chinese dances during public performances, she would have been a part of this group.

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These girls are performing a Chinese fan dance, and their arranagement resembles a flower.

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Another Chinese dance features the work of adolescent dancers.

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At the end of the Chinese dances, Melody and her pupils gather on stage.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 at Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, WA during the annual Families with Children from China event to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Photos: Families with Children from China 1

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Lydia and her mom are in the auditorium while waiting for the start of the Chinese group dances.

Today was our first time that we attended this yearly event, and we were excited to be here.

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Families with Children from China sign that was hung on the curtains of the stage

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Mom, Lydia, and dad are sitting in the cafeteria

Photographer: Todd Foley, the adoptive father of Vivian Foley (who is almost 4 years of age)

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Dad, Lydia, and an inflatable Chinese character

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Colorful lion's head for Lion dance

Note: All of these pictures were taken on February 1, 2009 at Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, WA during the annual Families with Children from China Northwest celebration of Chinese New Year.