Frolicking in the aftermath of Snowmageddon

Ok, this post is long overdue and we actually thought about back-dating it.  But that seems kind of like the blogger's form of cheating.  The fact is that we had a wonderful President's Day week on the East Coast and we were just too busy to write it all down.  So, here's a snapshot of our first stop in New York.

We spent four fantastic snowy days with Aunt Dee in NYC.  Really, really snowy.  We imagine that after being dumped on for the first half of February, New Yorkers were probably pretty sick of it.  But not us.  We like to watch it, walk in it, feel it land on our noses, roll it into snowballs and hear it splat solidly on Daddy's back.  Here's a video of our high tea experience and a view of the white doughnut of Columbus Circle.
 

The girls are at that magical age where they can really appreciate New York.  We were all agog at the view of the Empire State Building when we drove into Manhattan (this is probably because we've read so many Percy Jackson books that we really do believe Mt. Olympus is on the 600th Floor).  We sang along to Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden (yes, we know all the words to ABBA's greatest hits, thank you very much).  To see the real New York, we also visited with Dad's friend, Anthony, and his family (mmmm, home-cooked lasagna!) and later spent hours in Anthony's magical bead shop, Metalliferous.  Well-supplied, the girls made beautiful necklaces and bracelets (Differing aesthetics: Sophie likes to make things in randomized sequences of complementary colors.  Anna likes a strict pattern embellished with a dramatic central piece).

In the middle of the Big City, we discovered wild life (that was no longer wild or live) at the Natural History Museum (see Sophie's "safari" photos here).  Anna celebrated her 7th birthday in high style at Cookshop in Chelsea.  In accordance with the new dessert rules, it was the Birthday Girl's prerogative to have dessert before dinner, but she decided to have her main meal first and savor Cookshop's yummy handmade candybar as her last taste.  Happy Birthday Anna Banana!