New Years (K)eve 2012-13

Twas a goodun. Placeholder until Stephane uploads his photos. Q: What is this famous New York landmark of lego?

And from the karaoke round:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9WvEwCTsd0

Ruby, Eben and Brie

Let's start with the Brie. New York never stops surprising me. Not only that this exists but the fact it's $8.39.

So we decided to try and teach our children what 8.39 is and took them to the museum of maths. A new & brilliant museum. This was a square wheeled bike that you rode along a bumpy thing. Despite my Maths A Level never got to the bottom of why this was a mathematical exhibit.

So on to religion. We did all 8 nights chanukah - we brought Nathan in for some candle lighting, and Ruby made her own menorah.

Ruby has become incredibly fond of the painting shop, we have A MILLION boxes, ornaments and other clay paraphernalia. We tried to take Eben but he ate the paint.

We had a fun trip to Rye to see our old neighbors - a BIG night out in Rye - surreal is the only word for it. The kids enjoyed the train!

Ruby outside her favorite tree in its winter form.

And at home causing endless trouble.

Dec 20 2012

Great birthday this year - champagne and foie gras paired tasting menu at Paradou, courtesy of Kfir. Ended in meatpacking bar coyote ugly style. Blurry photo is apt.

Next day still blurry (post bizarre couples massage with vodka sweets and champagne in corner)

Two other important things about my birthday: Al discovering how to make home made pizza and beautiful birthday flowers from Simon.

Weekend away in Hudson without the kids!!

Thanks to Gillian and Tom.

Phenomenal truly sensational sleep. Our inn was amazing - cozy, fire in the room, fabulous transexual hosts, everything you could dream of in a mini-break. Hudson's a cute little town about 2 hours away from NYC, lots of little galleries and a few good restaurants.

Al in no kid bliss.

Gingerbread

I didn't think our gingerbread house was too bad.

Then we went to the gingerbread exhibition at the Parker Meridien. We really went for what some may call the best burger in NYC at Burger Joint. But the gingerbread exhibition was amazing!  Here's Chichen Itza and the famous hanging crane of superstorm Sandy..

Beary bear

Beary bear belongs to Ruby’s class. Every night some lucky family gets to take Beary bear home and show him a good time. The competition is savage,  there's a book the parents have to fill in with pictures (no mean feat to take the pics, write the entry, get the pics printed and everything sorted all in a night after work..). But  beary bear has done some extraordinary things in NYC.  We did manage to take him out in the freezing cold to get some ice cream though turned out it was Beary bear’s turn to learn about going to plan b. Screme was closed so we settled for a munchkin from dunkin. 

Recent trips (Fall 2012)

One really great day trip (planned by Al) was to Cold Spring. About an hour and a bit north into New York state, it's a cute arty village. One of the nicest things is the train trip up there which is just miles and miles along the Hudson river bank with gorgeous fall leaves.

Which Ruby loves to crunch on.

We had lunch in a cute restaurant which used to be the old railway station, looked around the village, got some hot apple cider and spent a lot of time in the village playground.

I went on Ruby's first class trip with her which was apple picking in New Jersey. My favourite part was going on the yellow school bus.

Then there were a few trips closer to home, including a recent hike to Carroll Gardens which took us 2 hours in horrible Sunday subways. Love Brooklyn but not enough to do that again for a while.

Ridgewood to see Rob and Leslie. Utterly Handsome Eben in the school field opposite their house.

And closer to home, forays to Central Park. This was from when mum was here.

And one of the highlights of mum's trip was seeing Woody Allen playing clarinet at the Carlyle. The guys practically expires when he tries to play, a little painful but very exciting to be that close to him.

And a concert at Carnegie Hall to see the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Lovely concert and truly beautiful venue.