Tenth Anniversary

On the day we were married, Brandon's uncle Richard said he bet we would divorce within two years. I'm not sure if he was joking or not, but either way I am glad we proved him wrong and were able to celebrate our tenth anniversary.
On our actual anniversary I surprised Brandon with some Reese's peanut butter cups and Dr. Pepper. These are nearly impossible to find in China, so it was a nice surprise. Brandon surprised me with flowers after work.
We celebrated our family together with the kids and went to dinner at a Muslim restaurant by our house, which had been recommended by Brandon's co-worker. The food was ok, and we had a nice time as a family until a big vermin ran by our table and into a glass food case. There has been much discussion in our family on whether it was a rat or mouse. Brandon and the kids all said the tail wasn't big enough to be a rat, either way it was disgusting and anyone who knows me, knows that I am deathly afraid of mice. I was trying to not freak out and had to take deep breaths but we got out of there as fast as we could.
On Friday night Brandon arranged for a babysitter and he and I went to the Tang Dynasty, Xi'an dinner and theater. It was a fun night out.
During dinner we enjoyed traditional Chinese music. Dinner consisted of a seven course meal: the first course was salad, hash browns and chicken. Second course consisted of a black mushroom consomme, for the third course we had delicious shrimp and  honey cashew nuts. Fourth course was a tender beef and rice dish and fifth course was a cold orange soup. The sixth course was a platter of Chinese desserts. I'm not into green bean and red bean pastries but Brandon liked it. the Seventh course was coffee and tea.
After dinner was served the dancing and music performance started. The dance segment was spectacular. They did four dances: a white ramie cloth costume dance. This is the dancing where the women have long sleeves and they spin the sleeves around in cool designs. They next did a dance that represented the concubines taking a bath, then there was a rainbow costume dance and warrior dance. The warrior dance consisted of a lot of acrobatics. While the people danced, there was an orchestra playing.
The next portion was primarily instrumental. They played a happy spring song and a spring orioles song. The orioles song was played using an instrument that looked like the flute Peter Pan plays. The notes it makes sound exactly like the orioles bird. According to legend, an emperor ascended the the throne and a flock of orioles flew overhead during his coronation. To remember this momentous good omen, the emperor had this song written and performed.
The Tang Dynasty lasted from 618 AD to 907 AD and is distinguished as the post prosperous and progressive era in China's history. The performance really captured the grandeur of this time period and was definitely worth the $83 a person price.

                                                White Ramie Cloth Costume dance

The Tang Emperor graced us with his 

presence