A Curry of a Life

It's Chinese New Year! Plothow's second favorite holiday after Halloween. We're a funny lot.  This year is the year of the pig or boar. It is the last animal in the Chinese zodiac. Next year it starts over with the rat.  The kids have CNY off from school, which is the best! We kept with our tradition of heading to Chinatown to see the sparklers go off to start the CNY celebrations. We went with a bunch of friends this year. It was a great group of kids, and moms. Everyone had a buddy to stick with. We braved the extreme crowds and had a wonderful time.  I have only been to see the sparklers go off. One mom knew Chinatown well. We walked to a restaurant, which allowed us to really experience CNY a lot better than we have in NYC. We saw lion dances. The kids all had the red envelop to "feed" to the lion. I was told that is a new tradition that is done. The kids all got poppers, or silly string to use to celebrate with. There was confetti falling

We are into mid-February, but I want to highlight what we did in January that did not make it into its own post.  First off, this is the best January that we I have had in several years. Nothing will beat January 2017 (Singapore, Sister trip to Japan, no snow), but this one was the best I could have expected in NYC.  Yes, it was freezing, but we have learned more and more every year about how to live in the cold. I read the book There is no Such thing as Bad Weather , and that has revolutionized the way I think about how to live in the cold. I think of it like this: there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes. We have stocked up on long underwear for everyone, bought winter boots, rain coats, hats, gloves, and scarfs for the kids (something they do not wear often, but appreciate when it is super cold). I have not frozen like I have in years past. It is cold, but we are prepared.   Lyndon and I saw School of Rock before it left Broadway. Loved it! The legend

On the coldest day of the year, we went outside! We are crazy, but it was MLK day and we had to get out of the house. The New York Botanical Garden Holiday Train show was on our Christmas outing list, but too much to do, so little time we didn't make it up there. Freezing cold day made it sound like a good idea to venture up to the Bronx.  We took the Metro North from Grand Central to the NYBG. Lucky for us our terminal was off the food court. We grabbed some lunch, and Gatorade. The kids are obsessed with Gatorade. Then we were off! It was a good outing. When we got to the show, we watch a little film about how the buildings were made. An artist and his studio make it every year out of wood and other natural objects. Learning about how it was created, then seeing the show, made it even more impressive than it already was. Miniature famous landmarks from NYC made with sticks, acorns, leaves, etc. It was amazing to see how they were all incorporated into the miniatures.