Best of 2014

Sharon's Novels

(1) Middlemarch by George Eliot (a woman!)

(2) Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

(3) American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar

(4) Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
(5) Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

David's Books

(1) Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

(2) Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

(3) Dracula by Bram Stoker

(4) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Our Favorite Movie Rentals

(1) Blue is the Warmest Color

(2) Paradise Lost Trilogy

(3) About Time
(4) West Side Story

(5) Wish I Was Here

(6) Apocalypse Now

(7) Brazil

(8) Django/Django Unchained

(9) 12 Years a Slave

(10) 20 Feet from Stardom
(11) Labor Day
(12) Waking Ned Devine

Best NYC Films @ United Palace Theatre in the Heights:

(1) The Muppets Take Manhattan - We took Alexi to see his first ever MOVIE at UPT to see this timeless, super fun kids movie

(2) Ghostbusters - This is such a classic, feel good NYC movie and it felt just as wonderful to see it in a theatre as grownups as children back in the '80's

Best NYC Film Festivals

(1) International Children's Film Festival - Sharon took Alexi to his very first NYC Film Festival to see his first animated movie Ernest and Celestine

(2) KidCinemaFest Film Festival - David took Alexi to see Anina, a beautiful animated Spanish film from Colombia they both enjoyed.  This fabulous film festival takes place in our own neighborhood of Washington Heights and includes a plethora of Spanish language films.

(3) New York Film Festival - Sharon saw the documentary "Tales of the Grim Sleeper" and was again blown away by the many injustices in the United States

Best NYC Children's Museums (we went every month to a different one with Alexi and Mateo):

January - Brooklyn Children's Museum

February - Museum of the Moving Image

March - Manhattan Children's Museum

April - Queens County Farmhouse Museum and Fair

May - Transit Museum

June - Children's Museum of Art

July - Museum of Natural History (Discovery Room!!!)

August - New York Hall of Science

September - MOMATH

October - Metropolitan Museum of Art

November - Staten Island Children's Museum

December - New York Botanical Gardens (for the Annual Train Show)

 Favorite People/Places/Publications to follow on Twitter:

1. Lisa Bonchek Adams - @adamslisa

2. Untapped Cities - @untappedcities

3. Vanessa Protass - @vanessamarie3

4. New York Magazine - @NYMag

5. Brandon Stanton - @humansofny

6. Dominique Ansel - @DominiqueAnsel

Best Art Exhibits/Museum&Gallery Shows/Public Art

(1) Dia:Beacon (particularly the amazing sculpture by Richard Serra)

(2) A Subtlety: The Marvelous Sugar Baby by Kara Walker @Domino Sugar Factory

(3) No Longer Empty-If You Build It @Sugar Hill Housing Project

(4) Jeff Koons @Whitney (final ever show UES)

(5) Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary @MOMA

(6) Robert Gober: The Heart is Not a Metaphor @MOMA

(7) In the Air by TJ Wilcox @Whitney

(8) Phoenix @St. John the Divine

(9) Touching Strangers by Richard Renaldi @Aperture

(10) Repurpose Light Graffiti under West Side Highway @125th Street

Best Broadway Musical: The Lion King

     Alexi took Sharon to see this for her birthday and it was PHENOMENAL!!!  This Broadway Show should be a part of the childhood of every kid growing up in NYC.

Best Broadway Play: A Raisin in the Sun

     Sharon and David went to see this because of Denzel Washington's presence, and we were blown away by the ensemble acting and both emotionally affected by the universal story of struggle and perseverance.

Best Off-Broadway Musical: Fortress of Solitude @Public Theater
     Sharon took David here as a surprise birthday present, since it is one of his favorite novels EVER, and we both were electrified and moved by the performance.


Best Dance Event: Hip Hop Nutcracker and set by MC Kurtis Blow @United Palace Theatre - FABULOUS!

Best Concerts:

Billy Joel LIVE @ Madison Square Garden & Moon Hooch @ Mercury Lounge (Sharon)

Harpsichord all-Rameau concert with Jory Vinikour (David)

Best TV Series: Boardwalk Empire (just finished watching Season Four on dvd)

Best Sporting Events: Yankees Game for Bat Day

Coolest NYC Event - Sleepover at the Museum of Natural History under the Giant Whale

Best Travel Destinations

(1) New Orleans, Louisiana

(2) San Felui de Guixols, Spain

(3) Coppenhagen, Denmark

(4) Ithaca, New York

(5) Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC

Best Vegetarian Restaurant: Gobo (this year marked our 20 year anniversary of vegetarianism!) {RIP Gobo; you will be greatly missed}

Best Ice Cream: Fresco Gelateria and Il Laboratorio del Gelato

Best NonVegan Pastry - THE CRONUT!!!

     Sharon was first in line one cold February morning to get the Raspberry Lychee Cronut-DELICIOUS!!!

Best View of NYC: During The Great Saunter Sharon walked the ENTIRE island of Manhattan (33 miles!) in a single day and experienced such a myriad of NYC neighborhoods.  She now considers herself a bonafide New Yorker

Top 5 Reasons to Love New York City:

(1) Manhattan - As a family we went on a New Year's Day Hike sponsored by Shorewalkers in our Upper Manhattan neighborhood: Washington Heights and Inwood.  We were so proud of Alexi for walking all 7 miles(!)  Sharon now teaches in Manhattan, at New Heights Academy, and Alexi continues to attend Castle Bridge School in Washington Heights.  We LOVE our neighborhood of Washington Heights-winter sledding in Fort Tryon Park, Spring Egg Hunt and flower planting in community parks, summer picnics in Bennett and Fort Tryon Parks and autumn volunteering at our CSA and shopping/composting at the Inwood Greenmarket.  Sharon participated in the annual Shorewalkers Great Saunter, in which she walked the entire island of Manhattan, West Side and East Side, in one day for a total of 33 miles!!!  It is just so cool to live on this island.

(2) United Palace of Cultural Arts - We love all the cultural programming happening at United Palace Theatre, and are so thankful to have our own "Symphony Space" in upper, upper Manhattan.  Sharon and David saw 3 movies there (Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life and Ghostbusters), took Alexi there to see The Muppets Take Manhattan and Sharon went there in December to see the Hip Hop Nutcracker.

(3) Cycling - We biked as a family in the Tour de Bronx, Summer Streets and along the Greenway.  David and Alexi biked 55 miles together (with Alexi in the Wee-hoo) in the NYC Century.  Sharon biked with Mateo in her green bike seat and Alexi riding his own bike to Discovery Playground in the summer.  David bike commuted several days a week to Brooklyn and Sharon bike commuted weekly (including in the winter) to Bronx Prep.

(4) Greenmarkets - As a family we committed to COMPOSTING this year.  We noticed organics made up most of our trash (as vegetarians!), so we now separate the organics and recycle them by taking them to either the Fort Washington or Inwood Greenmarkets.  We started in March recycling ALL our organics at home, and now make weekly trips to bring our organics to these Greenmarkets.

(5) Castle Bridge/El Puento del Castillo Escuela - We love Alexi's school because it truly has a community feel and is committed to progressive education, dual language, diversity, environmentalism and experiential learning.  The week begins with Community Sing with the principal playing guitar and the week ends with the students presenting a song, poem, joke or magic trick to their peers at Recital.  David is a member of the School Leadership Team and Sharon served as a class parent for Alexi's kindergarten class and volunteered in the classroom weekly. 

Baltimore and Washington DC, 2014

For our fall foliage camping trip this year we traveled down south to Maryland.  We spent one day exploring Baltimore and the next day sightseeing in Washington DC.



















First stop in Baltimore: Babe Ruth Museum.  Alexi is a HUGE baseball and New York Yankees fan, and Mateo throws a ball like a future NYY pitcher, so this was the perfect place for our family.  It was fascinating to see the room where Babe Ruth was born - his mother had a home birth.













Of course we had to visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  Sharon went there with her family during her first year in high school and David had never been.  Mateo absolutely adores animals now (check out that duckies sweater) so he was thrilled to visit.  They have some really cool exhibits, like the jellyfish pictured above.













These sea creatures definitely have personalities.  Alexi and Mateo loved seeing "Nemo", especially after watching the movie "Finding Nemo" in Spanish in Spain this summer.














Bubbles AND the color blue: Mateo's two favorite things in the world!  And a family at lunch is a happy family indeed...we are a total foodie family!

Our children love camping just as much as we do!!!











We spent the second day of our fall foliage trip in Washington DC.  It was Alexi and Mateo's first time visiting our nation's capital.  Here we are standing at the Mall-first in front of the Washington Monument and then at the WWII Memorial.

















Alexi enjoyed exploring Washington DC (while Mateo napped through our whole time there).  He gravitated toward his home state and walked away with one huge Benjamin!!!

While in DC we got to visit with my wonderful childhood friend Sharon and her beautiful and sweet children Andrew and Brendan.  Sharon and I grew up together in New Jersey and lived just 6 houses apart from each other. We spent so much time hanging out at each other's houses and playing in the street (back when children could safely do that kind of thing) and I have very fond Girl Scout memories (Sharon's mom was our Troop Leader!). Sharon and her sons gave us New Yorkers an excellent and memorable tour.

Copenhagen Summer 2014

Denmark this year was named the world's happiest country, and we totally found this to be true during our vacation in Copenhagen.	A restaurant in Copenhagen with outdoor seating and blankets to stay warm totally brought a smile to Sharon's face.
Alexi's happiness comes from reading books.	Mateo's happiness comes from going to restaurants.
The best way to go sightseeing in Copenhagen is by going on a canal tour.	This is the boat we took on our canal cruise.
Mateo served as our very own tour guide on our boat cruise.	Alexi is wondering what to expect on our tour.
Swans are such a beautiful sight - and we enjoyed seeing this family of swans on our canal cruise.	The Little Mermaid is Copenhagen's most famous landmark.  She is based on a character in a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen.
One of the reason we chose Copenhagen as this summer's travel destination was to go to Bakken, the oldest amusement park in the entire world.  Its origins can be traced back to 1583 as the site of natural springs that attracted crowds due to the poor quality of water at the time.	On the walk through the forest to Bakken, Mateo and Sharon loved seeing the horses and carriages.  It felt like we were going back in time.
At Bakken Mateo and Sharon rode on a carousel horse.	Alexi and Sharon loved riding the flume and getting wet(!)
Mateo's favorite ride at amusement parks are always vehicles he can drive (here it is the #5 train).	One of Alexi's favorite rides at Bakken was the bumper cars.
The absolute best ride at Bakken were the Swan Ride.  They are 100% human powered; you pedal with your feet to move along the track.	Wish they had cool human-powered rides like this at American amusement parks.  The best part of Bakken???  Absolutely FREE!!!
After our afternoon at Bakken we headed to My Fro Yo Cup.  This is novel for us since sadly there are no Fro Yo Places by our NYC apartment.	Alexi had so much fun choosing his toppings (can you tell which one belongs to Alexi???!!!).
Alexi is sooooo excited to eat his fro yo!	My boyz love their fro yo desserts Denmark style!
Pictured here is the Nyhavn River.  Those are some REALLY big swans in the river.	Mateo enjoyed seeing and making "quacking" sounds with the ducks in the Nyhavn River.
We rented bikes in Copenhagen and got to see the city by bike.  Mateo and Alexi enjoyed their front row seat in David's bike (bike seats for kids in the USA are in the back of bikes).	Seeing Copenhagen by bike opened our eyes to the city on a whole different level.  We noticed details we would otherwise miss.  It was wonderful to bike on the cobblestone streets of Denmark.
Kids enjoy free stuff the best.  We biked by this fountain and the kids wanted to join in the fun when they saw other children wading in the fountain.	Exploration in new places is the best part of childhood.
Alexi enjoyed standing around and splashing in the fountain.	Playing in a fountain was a new experience for Mateo with so much to discover.
Whenever we travel abroad we seek out the changing of the guard.	Pictured here is guards exchanging places.
Next stop on our self-guided bike tour was the Round Tower, built in the 17th century as an astronomical tower.	Alexi is framed by this little door inside the Round Tower.
Where did all the people go?!  Where is Sharon?!	There she is...hiding from Alexi and Mateo.
The view from the top of Round Tower of Copenhagen is really incredible.	Alexi enjoyed checking out the view of Copenhagen.
Tivoli is an amusement park that is the second oldest amusement park in the world, opening in 1843.  It is said to have been the inspiration to Walt Disney when he created his Disneyworld and Disneyland theme parks.	Alexi standing in front of a beautiful pleasure garden in Tivoli.  He was beside himself with excitement when he heard we would be spending the day at an amusement part with so many rides for him to go on.
David and Alexi have a blast flying a plane in Tivoli.	Alexi and Sharon enjoy a boat ride in real water.
Alexi LOVES driving ANYTHING at amusement parks...this was a super classy antique car at Tivoli.	Our family really loved how the rides in Tivoli and Bakken were totally hands-on and human-powered.
Mateo enjoyed riding his very own horsie at Tivoli.	This carousel had a variety of animals, including elephants and giraffes!  Mateo and Alexi had fun riding together on the carousel on this camel.
One of the coolest parts of Tivoli was the little parks within the amusement park.  This one had a musical instrument theme.  Alexi enjoyed making his own tunes.	Mateo really enjoyed banging on the glockenspiel and creating music.
We spent a morning together as a family at the Copenhagen Zoo.	Alexi may be tall, though not as tall as this polar bear(!)
We got to see real polar bears at the Copenhagen Zoo playing with their toys.	Mateo LOVES animals, and he had so many things to point to at the Copenhagen Zoo.
We got to see unusual animals you do not normally see at American zoos at the Copenhagen Zoo, including this reindeer.	Another unusual sighting...is it an anteater or an aardvark???
One of our favorite animals at the Copenhagen Zoo was this elephant and her baby.	First Alexi and Mateo got to RIDE a camel on the carousel yesterday, and today they got to see real live camels.
We always go to see the penguins first at the Central Park Zoo...look who greeted us in Copenhagen!	Cows are Mateo and Sharon's FAVORITE animal, so we were happy to see these cows keeping cool together.
Alexi and Mateo's favorite part of the zoo was visiting the children's playground.	Mateo takes on a green glow in this tunnel...watch out!
A highlight for our kids was going to the Lego Store.  It is way more than a store - it has a cool play & design area for kids in the back.	Mateo enjoyed building this tall Lego tower with David.
At the age of one Mateo has traveled to more countries combined than Sharon had by the time she was a teenager.	Mateo's #1 travel companion is his yellow blankie, hand croqueted for him by his grandmother.
Our trip to Copenhagen was filled with lots of new experiences and also lots of happiness.	People in Copenhagen truly are the happiest in the world...including these native New Yorkers.