Apart from the storm, it’s been a pretty uneventful month.  Sarah enjoyed some bacon.

The kids got some new lego sets.

We went out to Mt. Fuji Steakhouse for dinner one night.  Sarah was pretty scared of the flames, but Blaine seemed into it.

Sarah held this turtle at school!  I was amazed because all last year she always refused to touch animals at preschool and at the Rye Nature Center.

Blaine admiring his new hoodie.

… and the new pajamas they picked out.

I’ve never been happy with the results cooking a whole rack of lamb in the oven so I tried it out in the sous vide.  I was pretty impressed with the results, very even and perfectly cooked, though I’d try to get more of a crust during the searing next time.

Sarah was invited to a birthday party at the Rock Club, a rock climbing gym in New Rochelle.  So we took a family outing there to see if we could get her warmed up for the party.  Both kids were hesitant but we eventually got them in a harness and climbing a little bit.  Andrew and I had fun, though!

We had another snow day on 3/21, while Andrew was in India.  And this time we got some actual snow — 6 to 8 inches I’d guess.

Here we are at the actual rock climbing birthday party, a huge affair for six birthday kids.  The hosts were kind enough to let Blaine tag along since Andrew was away.

The highlight for Blaine was the magic show during pizza/cake.  He was dying laughing!

After that we went to another party at a playground, and then on to swimming lessons.  Sarah was proud to wear goggles for the first time.

The weekend was rounded out with a third birthday party (Blaine was invited to this one) on Sunday!  Phew.  We’ve all been getting over some rough colds, as well, so it was a pretty exhausting time.

The following week, Blaine’s Kindergarten classroom had a little party to share their reading and writing.  Blaine read us this book he wrote and illustrated, called “Bee and Toaster”.

Winter storm Riley hit on Friday, 3/2, with tons of rain and wind.  I guess at some point it became a nor’easter?  We lost power at roughly 1:30 in the afternoon, and went into the basement to find that it had flooded with 1-2 inches of water.  Yuck!

Sarah decided it was nap time.

We were debating what to do about dinner when our power conveniently came back on about 5pm.  We took the opportunity to turn up the heat and fire up the microwave to make a spread of leftovers for dinner, and then lost power again just in time for a cozy candlelit dinner.

We made sure everyone had enough blankets and figured we’d be fine for the night, but the next day we decided to get out of the house and headed into the city.  First stop, brunch at Sarabeth’s on the Upper West Side.

Then, on to the Museum of Natural History.  We checked out a special exhibit on the senses, and also made sure to see the T Rex and Triceratops, of course.

Sarah has not been into being photographed lately, so many pictures feature her angrily running out of frame, like this.

After the museum we went to Shake Shack for lunch.

And then to a playground, though it was a chilly day.  At that point we’d checked with all our neighbors and determined the power was still out, so we decided it was time to find a hotel.  Andrew found a room at the Hilton Stamford Executive so we stopped at home for spare clothes and drove out.  The line to check in was insane!  We finally got our room and then had a slow dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was overwhelmed by people whose power was out.

This may have been the first time our whole family slept in one room!  We had a king bed and a pullout couch for the kids, which meant it was not our most restful night.  The next morning we had a tasty breakfast at the Stamford Diner.

Then we went back out to Larchmont for a birthday party.

With the power still out, and no room at the hotel we’d stayed at the previous night, we moved over to the Hyatt House in White Plains.  It was a better fit for us with suites and mini-kitchens.  We moved all our perishables into the fridge and freezer there, and ordered Chinese for dinner.  We all slept better not being in the same room.

The hotel had a shuttle bus to the train station to get Andrew to work (it was Monday morning at this point), and a buffet breakfast that the kids and I enjoyed.  Sadly, the Hyatt House was all booked up for Monday night with business travelers so we had to pack everything up again to head back out to Larchmont.  We were only 30 minutes late for school!

At this point ConEd was giving vastly conflicting information about when our power would be back on — Tuesday?  Thursday?  — so I decided to pick up some dry ice ConEd was supposedly giving out in New Rochelle.  I got there and found out the dry ice truck had broken down somewhere in the Bronx!  So I moved all our perishables to DeCicco’s, our local grocery store, which had kindly offered to store people’s food for them.  Thanks, DeCicco’s!  The Hilton Stamford was available again that night, and we were able to get two adjoining rooms this time.  I took the kids to Dinosaur BBQ for dinner.  Here’s Blaine pondering his coloring page, asking “Are they cooking other dinosaurs?”

We took a pulled pork sandwich to go and picked up Andrew at the train station.  That night we got word from our neighbors that the power had come back on!  Woo hoo!  The next morning Andrew took the train in for work and the kids and I had one last hotel breakfast.

After dropping the kids at school I went home to give our fridge a serious cleaning and get rid of all the food we’d left there that was bad.  I also went to DeCicco’s to pick up what I’d dropped off, and stock up for the big snow storm that was predicted for the following day.  The kids’ school was cancelled that evening.  As it turned out very little snow accumulated so it felt like a let down.  We spent the day getting the basement dried out.  The only other excitement was this tree at our corner which started to lean precariously toward the street as a result of all the precipitation.

But someone came and cut it down before it actually did any damage.

The end!

I had the chance to visit Sarah’s preschool two days in a row, on 3/1 for the Purim celebration, and on 3/2 for Shabbat.

I’ll admit I don’t remember the exact story behind Purim, but the kids were encouraged to wear costumes so Sarah broke out her firefighter costume!

There was also a little carnival, and I volunteered to help out.  They put all the parent volunteers at the face painting station, which I’d never done before!  Always fun to try something new.  Here I am painting Sarah’s face, which I believe was a first for her, as well.

I was pretty pleased with the result, though I have had practice with drawing fire themed tableaux.  The biggest challenge was a little boy dressed as a policeman who wanted a “whistle” painted on his cheek.  I did my best…  Then Sarah and I played at the school playground.

The next day I’d signed up to visit Sarah’s class for Shabbat.  Sarah got to be the person of honor and drink from the cup and lay her hand on the challah.  The challah is Sarah’s favorite part of Shabbat!

On 2/18, we left the house at 3:45am in the middle of a snowstorm to get to LGA for our flight to the Bahamas!

Here we are transferring in Ft Lauderdale.

Sadly the original flight we boarded was delayed due to mechanical difficulties!  But two hours later we finally had convinced Blaine to change out of his PJs and we were back on our way!  After arriving in Eleuthera we took a short cab ride and then a boat to Harbour Island!

We arrived at our beautiful rental house in Dunmore town, called the Strawberry House, and Andrew cooked a delicious dinner for us.  He’d done his research and found that even the locals bring frozen meats to the island, given the prices, so we’d brought enough to cook for three nights at home.

The next morning Blaine and Daddy explored the rooftop balcony.

Then we headed to Arthur’s Bakery for some yummy cinnamon rolls and other breakfast items.  Sugar!!

We spent most of our time at the beach.  Sitting, reading, eating, drinking.  Playing in the sand, cooling off in the ocean.  It was pure relaxation.

Here we are for our first night out to dinner with the kids at a beautiful bay side restaurant called Aquapazza, with a sunset view.

Our house also had a small private pool, which was a nice change from the beach.  One day the kids found a tiny frog swimming around and we rescued it.

Here we are on another day out to lunch at the Blue Bar at the Pink Sands resort.  It was a gorgeous view!

We brought along an inflatable boat to entertain the kids in the pool.

Another day we went to lunch at Sip Sip.  It’s a lunch-only spot which is so desirable people line up well before opening to get a seat.  It was tasty.

Sarah really started to enjoy swimming with this floaty on.

There was a guy who would bring around these horses you could ride down the beach.  That used to be my childhood dream, though now it doesn’t seem nearly so appealing so I was content to watch others.

Ice cream by the pool!

I forgot to mention the golf carts!  I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture.  Most people get around the island on golf carts, so we rented one for the week.  The kids loved it, and it made going anywhere into an adventure.

The only downside to staying in the town were all the roosters!  Here’s one below.  These guys would crow at all hours and disturbed our sleep on numerous occasions.

Andrew and I went out for two delicious dinners sans children, not pictured.  We went to the Dunmore Club one night and the Rock House on another (and our property manager arranged a sitter, who happened to be her mother).

The last night we went out for one more family dinner at the Landing.

Sarah ordered a cheeseburger which was described as having bacon on top.  This girl loves bacon, so when that component was missing she was pretty upset!  Our waitress explained she’d rushed the order out for the kids rather than wait on the bacon (?) so we requested she bring it out later on for Sarah.  Sarah was finally happy when it appeared.

The next day we left for home via golfcart, boat, cab.  The airport in Eleuthera was across the street from this liquor store where everyone would hang out drinking beer or wine after checking in.  We’d brought along some conch salad from Queen Conch and it was a tasty lunch while waiting for our flight.

Here we are before the last leg of our flight, transferring in Orlando.  We had some pizza for dinner and then boarded the flight home.  It was pretty late at that point but the kids were really well behaved despite blowing past their usual bedtimes.

It was a wonderful trip and we’d all love to go back sometime!

Here are all the other photos from February!

This is a dog Blaine made in the maker space in his Kindergarten class.  Note the face and the leash attached!  The dog is also named Blaine.

One day I got to visit Blaine’s class for a #BetterTogether event.

When Andrew got back from India he brought both kids some new lego sets, and it was Sarah’s first chance to put together some real legos all by herself!  She loved it.

Sarah also needed some new sneakers and specifically requested this rainbow pair of “Twinkle Toes” shoes with lights that many of the other girls in her class have.

Passports in hand for our upcoming trip to the Bahamas!!

Making Valentines…

And an orange chocolate bundt cake.

Sarah was disappointed that her Jewish preschool does not celebrate St. Valentine’s Day!  So she was pleased when one of our regular crossing guards was giving out bags of Valentine’s candies.

Here we are in Flint Park finally trying out the stomp rockets that Blaine got on his birthday!

Then we went home and Daddy tried out his new drone!

Andrew was away in India on Superbowl Sunday so I decided to take the kids on what turned out to be an ill-advised outing.  First, we went to Shake Shack!  Yum!  Definitely a good idea.

Then we went to the Hudson River Museum, which is where I got into trouble.  The kids had never been to a planetarium before, and we’d never been to this museum because it doesn’t open until 12.  Now that Sarah isn’t napping I wanted to give it a try, so we bought tickets to the 12:30 show which was supposed to be appropriate for kids.

Sadly, the 12:30 show turned out to be the animated story of Perseus defeating Medusa, and a sea monster!  Blaine started screaming midway through and we had to leave.

That night he couldn’t close his eyes without picturing the “sea monster” (due to bad animation it was simply a pair of sinister eyes emerging from a black underwater cave).  So eventually I brought him downstairs to watch the superbowl with me (YAY EAGLES) where he finally fell asleep.

I would say “lesson learned” but I believe I should have learned this lesson two years ago when the lego movie frightened him at Legoland.  So maybe it’s a lesson I need to relearn every two years.

We had a pretty low-key New Year’s Eve and Day — I even forgot to take any pictures!  But we celebrated with Andrew’s traditional black-eyed peas and collard greens dish, which was delicious as always.  Here’s a pic I took of our kitchen with our new wood blinds.  We are so enjoying our privacy now that we have window treatments on the first floor — mostly wood blinds, but fabric romans along the front of the house in the living room and dining room.

The kids were excited to go back to school.  I loved this picture Blaine drew, which he explained was about visiting Gram and Grandad.  The top portion is the house, and the trail of circles is the stone path from the garage to the door.  In the bottom right is our car with us in it.

Blaine is enjoying his new world map in his room.

Sarah officially gave up her nap in January.  It was a gradual end, though.  Here she is sleeping in my arms on 1/7.

And again the next day on 1/8.

On 1/12 I checked on the kids on my way to bed and found Sarah asleep in bed with Blaine!  Apparently Blaine was the instigator, but it appeared Sarah was taking up most of the bed.  They looked so sweet, I decided to leave them rather than try to move Sarah.

One Saturday we went to our local library for a kids’ yoga event taught by a woman from my book group!  It was awesome and the kids loved this expanding ball.

Both kids have been really into the magic schoolbus series recently; we have read the human body (thanks, Aunt Suzanne!) and also the waterworks, solar system, ocean floor, and time of the dinosaurs.

On MLK Jr. Day  (1/15), the kids had off from school, so we went to an event at the Bruce museum in Connecticut.  There were art projects and a musical performance with songs about inclusion and kindness.  It was another lovely visit to this tiny museum.

We also stopped at the awesome playground next door before heading back home for lunch at Walter’s.

We got a beautiful day on 1/20, so we took a family trip to the Rye Nature Center for a little hike and some playground time.

That evening we went to the family music concert featuring Matty Kapatty at the Larchmont Temple.

Once I mentally gave up on Sarah’s nap, she convinced me to let her try her own swimming lessons.  Here she is in the pool for her first lesson ever, on 1/27.  She loves it!

Also on 1/27, we went to the 3rd annual Larchmont Bonfire on the beach.  It was an amazing blaze when the Christmas trees initially went up in flames.  We also got some hot chocolate, and many songs with some reference to fire.

On 1/28, the kids enjoyed painting puffy paint on the bottoms of their socks (supposed to make them nonslip).

It was a pretty rainy Sunday, so later that day we tried out the “glow-in-the-dark” miniature golf course at FunFuzion in New Rochelle.  It was a visual overload of neon carpet and black lights!  Here’s Blaine doing his Peter Fonda impression at the arcade next door.

On 1/31, Sarah had off from school for a teacher training day and so she helped me pick out a new pair of warm walking shoes (Clarks!  I am very happy) at REI, and then we had lunch at a burger place.

As soon as we got back to Larchmont after Christmas, Blaine got to work on his lego police station.  I think the set included 11 bags!

On 12/29 we took a break from the legos to go to the kids’ first movie theater experience, Ferdinand at the New Roc City theater.  I was amazed at how cushy a standard movie theater has become.

By 12/31, with only a little bit of help, Blaine had finished the police station!

We spent Christmas in PA with the Mahoneys.  We drove down on the 23rd and the kids got to work helping Uncle Fran set the table for a family dinner with Mom-Mom, Aunt Molly, Uncle Fran, Uncle Tim, Aunt Liz, and Josie, plus our four.  We were so sad to find out that Aunt Jane was sick, and wasn’t able to make it up for Christmas this year.

It did not take long for the kids to discover that Mom-Mom had the old pinball machine repaired – “Rock”, from 1985 I believe?  I think this was the kids’ first pinball experience.

Later, Uncle Fran read “The Night Before Christmas” to his nieces and nephew.

And Sarah played with Uncle Tim, with the California Raisins playing in the background.  A holiday classic.

That night we also took the Christmas card photo and decorated the tree.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and all the Mahoney relatives gathered for the traditional bowling, luncheon, and gift grab.  In addition to those already listed, we were joined by the Hank Mahoneys (Hank, Jean, Kate, Jesse, and new 2nd cousin Gus, Sean, Clare, and Moira), and the Peter Mahoneys (Peter, Jane, and Daniel).  Aunt Jane was sorely missed.

Daddy left bowling early to go back to Ingeborg Road and prepare a delicious lunch of filet mignon with mushroom risotto.  He also prepared a delicious Bernaise sauce for the first time ever!

After lunch we were joined by Gus, who’d woken up from a 3-hour nap!  And we had the Mahoney gift grab.  Blaine insisted on helping open almost every gift.

Then it was time for dessert.

The next morning the kids slept in reasonably late and then hurried downstairs to see if Santa had found them.  He had!

Sarah was confused about her present from Santa, until she remembered that she had, in fact, requested a “stuffed triceratops.”

Blaine was pretty excited about his remote control fire truck.

We had some yummy quiche that Daddy made, and then tore through the rest of the presents!

I don’t know I managed to miss taking any other photos from Christmas Day dinner, but there were 32 place settings, I believe.  Let’s see… Mom, Mol, our 4, Tim, Liz, Josie, Fran, Alexis, Uncle Peter (12).  Then Uncle Tom, Aunt Sue, Aunt Mary K, Uncle John, Megan, Ed, Uncle Rich, Aunt Betsy, Stephen, James, Kathleen, Pete, Paul, Theresa, Kevin.  Only gets me to 27!  I know we were missing Aunt Jane and Brian.  We did get Maureen, Anthony, Rafe, and Maren for dessert so maybe that rounds it out.   Andrew made a turkey and Uncle Tom made another turkey and everyone brought many delicious sides and desserts.

The next day, Andrew took an early train back to NY for work.  Tim and Liz had off, so we hung out at Ingeborg Road in the morning and spent some brief time in the yard (it was cold!).

We had a really peaceful evening eating leftovers and playing the freshly tuned piano.  I was pleased to discover my meager two years of lessons have not entirely left me.

The next day was a bit of a fiasco… we tried to go to the Franklin Institute (to see the giant heart!  Blaine is a magic schoolbus fan) but the parking lot was full, and it was freezing, and there was no street parking nearby.  So, we abandoned that plan, much to Blaine’s chagrin.  We started driving in the general direction of all the historical sites, and ended up settling on the Benjamin Franklin Museum.  I recalled being there years ago with Andrew, and in particular a hilariously cheesy room where you could talk to historical figures on various phones.  Alas, the park ranger told us that was long defunct and the museum had been totally revamped only a few years prior.  It was pretty neat, with lots of screens for the kids to enjoy and even one phone-like exhibit that they were glued to.  It was small, contained, warm, and not crowded.  So, not a bad result after all.

We did feel bad about dragging Molly along, so we went out for lunch.

Then we all relaxed for the afternoon, and then we went out for dinner at Aronimink!  Thanks, Mom!

Thursday morning we headed back to NY.  Thanks so much to Mom and Mol for a wonderful Christmas!

Here are all the photos from December leading up to Christmas.  Sarah got an awesome new pair of panda earmuffs from our friend Elizabeth.

We also had a lot of developments on the home decor front — our new (red!) couch arrived for the living room, and we finally got the downstairs painted.

After the painting was finished we went out to get our Christmas tree, in the middle of the first snowfall of the season.  Sarah decided she needed to use the bathroom, which meant that Daddy and Blaine took over on picking the tree.

Later that day, during Sarah’s nap, Blaine and I built a mini-snowman which Blaine decided was a “Snow Baby”.

Sarah enjoyed dressing up in Blaine’s old Halloween costume and flying around the house.

The next day, the 10th, we decorated!  Sarah helped me put up the Christmas lights and garland on the front of the house.

Daddy got the tree all set up and the kids helped to decorate.

Here’s Blaine filling the advent calendar train from Gram with some adorable little stamps.  I’m also including it because it shows off our new paint colors — a taupe color called “cedar key” in the living room, and a deep blue called “phillipsburg blue” in the dining room and the stairs.  We used a light grey/pewter color for the kitchen/family room.

Later that week, more hot chocolate!

I went out for drinks one night with some friends, and upon returning home that night spotted what appeared to be a lone, young looking coyote, run down our street and then down our driveway.  The next morning I took pics of some tracks in some undisturbed snow beside the garage.  I have no idea – maybe it was a stray dog or something – but there have been coyote sightings nearby.

Sarah was invited to a 4th birthday party with music and dancing, even a limbo competition (though Sarah declined to participate).  I’m recalling now that as of this party Sarah was on a 5-day no-napping streak.  She’s since gone back and forth, napping some days and not on others.  I’m very, very sad to see the nap starting to go.

The kids both adored opening their Lindt advent calendars each day.  Thanks, Gram!

Lastly, here’s a pic from a holiday party in Blaine’s Kindergarten class, celebrating literacy.  Blaine made a really cool book about things we like to do as a family, and did all the writing and illustrating.