Family Fun

Tomorrow is International Puzzle Day.  To celebrate, why don’t you and your family work on a puzzle together?  There are puzzles to fit about any interest, from Disney characters, cute cats and beautiful landscapes to famous landmarks, oceans, candy and books.  You can even take a favorite photo and have it made into a puzzle!  Our family has recently taken to buying puzzles that we really love the picture of and want to showcase.  Not only is it something pretty to look at, but it’s a memory of the time we spent as a family putting it together.  We start puzzles on a large white board that sits on our dining room table.  If we are having company over and need to clear the table off before the puzzle is finished, we can easily slide the board under a sofa.  When we finish a puzzle that we want to frame we first seal it with Modge Podge puzzle glue (which can be found in any craft store like Michaels, A.C. Moore, etc.)  and then buy a frame for it.  The Marvel puzzle pictured above was our most recent completed family puzzle.  We still need to buy a frame for it and then it will hang it in our son’s bedroom.

There are puzzles available for all ages.  If you have toddlers, Melissa & Doug make a variety of puzzles perfect for this age.  They have puzzles for ages 1+ with large knobs for easy grasping to puzzles for ages 2+ that make sound when you put the piece in (these were a favorite with my kids when they were younger!).   As kids get older, there are a lot more puzzles available, ranging in size and pieces.  For adults, the choices are limitless!  If you really like a challenge, I’ve seen puzzles all in one color (though that doesn’t seem like much fun!).  There are also 3-D puzzles, which we’ve never tried, but offer more of a challenge.

My son received the 500 piece White Mountain “What’s For Breakfast?” puzzle below as a Christmas present one year.  This is a great family puzzle since the pieces come in three sizes.  Younger kids can work on the larger pieces, older kids can work on the medium-sized pieces and the adults can focus on putting the smaller pieces together.  Everyone was able to work on the puzzle with little frustration.

So, you say you’re not a puzzle person?  Have you tried working on one recently?  There are many positive benefits to working on puzzles.  According to Social Psychiatry Blog working on jigsaw puzzles has many benefits including improving brain function and sharpening your memory.   Teach.com also has a blog post describing the physical, cognitive and emotional skills that children can benefit from while working on puzzles.

For our family, working on puzzles together is a fun bonding activity.  It’s especially nice when we want to unplug and take a break from the television and video games.  I find that working on puzzles is also calming.  After a long day of work, I will sometimes sit and work on a puzzle for just fifteen minutes.  The concentration and quietness of working on a puzzle helps calm and distress me.

Celebrate International Puzzle Day tomorrow by spending some time working on a puzzle!

Do you have a family member who loves trains?  Do you live in the New York City area?  If so, then I highly recommend visiting the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Holiday Train Show.  You can still see the show through January 18th.

My father is a train enthusiast and collects model trains. Since we are very much into experiences, rather than things, we bought tickets for my parents as part of their Christmas present.  Our family had never been to the train show and we thought it would be a fun experience for the kids to enjoy with their grandparents.

If you arrive at the NYBG by car, you must pay $15 to park on site…welcome to The Bronx!  Another transportation option is the Metro North (Harlem line) train station directly across from the NYBG. Ticket prices for the train show during the weekend are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors and $18 for children ages 2-12.  Tickets are cheaper prior to the peak holiday week/weekends.  Definitely a little pricey, but the ticket price includes access to all the gardens, including the children’s garden.  However, depending on how cold it is, you many not want to wander through the outdoor gardens.  In the middle of winter, there’s not really much to see.

When you purchase tickets you need to select a time to enter the exhibit, which is held in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.  The exhibit entry times are in 15 minute increments from 9 AM to 5:30 PM weekends and 10 AM to 5 PM weekdays.  We chose an 11 AM entry time but arrived at the NYBG around 10 AM.  Luckily, the weather was pretty mild and we were able to walk through the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden prior to seeing the train exhibit.

The 30 minutes we spent in the children’s garden area wasn’t enough time to enjoy everything there.  There are several outside, interactive displays as well as inside activities led by educators that the kids, due to lack of time, unfortunately, didn’t get a chance to participate in.

The NYBG is very efficient in lining up visitors for the train show.  A clock notes the ticket boarding time that they are admitting.  We arrived on line at 10:45 for our 11 AM entry and were ushered right onto line. Strollers are not permitted in the exhibit and must be parked in the designated area.  You first enter a small tent and watch a short video describing the exhibits and the work that goes into making each piece.  You then enter the exhibit.  I am not going to post a lot of pics of the train exhibit, because it is something that should be seen in person.  G-scale model trains ride through displays of over 150 famous New York sights including historical houses, the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Each exhibit piece is made from natural materials including parts from flowers, trees and plants.   Every year they add  new pieces to the exhibit.

We visited the train show the day after Christmas.  My only criticism is that the exhibit was super crowded, even with the staggered entry times.  It was hard to get good looks at the exhibits without being pushed, jostled or cut in front of.  I highly recommend not going during the week after Christmas!

After seeing the trains we walked through the rest of the conservatory to see some of the other plants and flowers on display.  This is where we saw this staghorn fern, one of several different plants hanging from the ceiling!

We spent about 35 minutes in the train exhibit and another twenty minutes walking through the rest of the conservatory.  By that time we were ready for lunch.  Food was available at the Gingerbread Café.  However, we decided to head back up to northern Westchester to get some lunch.  Before leaving, we stopped at the NYBG Shop and picked up an ornament for our tree to remember our trip.   Overall, we had a great time and our son has already noted that he wants to go back again next year!  We will definitely be making a return trip sometime in the Spring or Summer, when the gardens are in bloom.  There are 250-acres at the New York Botanical Gardens, which we only saw a fraction of. Hopefully we will report back on some lush gardens in a few months!

My family recently had the pleasure of attending the Big Apple Circus in New York City.  I won the tickets from Kerri @ Raising Three Savvy Ladies and we saw the circus last Thursday.  My son was super excited, as this was his first trip to the circus.  Our last circus trip was to see the Big Apple Circus at the Palisades Center, when our almost ten year-old daughter was only two years old.  So she was as excited, since she didn’t remember the trip.  My husband was already working down in the city, so I took the train with the two kids and he met us at Grand Central Station.  With a quick subway trip on the 7 and then the local 1 uptown to 66th St./Lincoln Center we were there.  (We all got to enjoy the “lovely” experience of being jam-packed in the subway car during rush hour.)  By the time we got into the city and arrived at Lincoln Center it was close to 5:30 PM.  We wanted to eat dinner before we saw the show.  While the Lincoln Center area has plenty of restaurants, most of them seemed pretty fancy (aka- pricey), not family-friendly, and unlikely that we’d sit down, eat and be out in time for the show.

While walking down a side street, we noticed BONMi.  This is a fast-casual Vietnamese restaurant that was a perfect dining option for us!  They have customizable menu options and are reasonably priced.  Our family shared an 18-hour Beef Bahn-Mi sandwich (which the kids even ate and enjoyed with spicy mayo and chili garlic sauce!) and a Pork Belly Hot Noodle Bowl with BONMi sauce.

The food was super tasty, the staff friendly, and as a parent, I have to note the nice, clean, spacious restroom!  If you are seeing the Big Apple Circus in NYC, I highly recommend dining at BONMi.  It is located directly across the street from the circus.

Now, on to the circus!  The Big Apple Circus is performing at Lincoln Center until January 10th.  The theme of the circus is “The Grand Tour,” set in the 1920’s, complete with costumes and tent decorations to fit the theme.  When you first enter the tent there is a quick bag inspection.  They also have a free stroller check.

As you make your way to the show tent, the “Grand Tour” theme is carried throughout all of the tents with props and posters that provide many photo opportunities.

Before entering the show tent there is a food concession tent that sells hot dogs and the circus requisite cotton candy and popcorn, among other things.  There is also a merchandise stand where you can purchase souvenirs including t-shirts.  We had great amazing seats and were only 4 rows from the ring.  However, the tent is small enough that even the last row of seats isn’t more than 50 feet away from the ring.

The show is accompanied by a live band and begins with a number that includes the whole cast.  In between acts, the ring master and clowns Brent and Joel entertain the crowd.  There is plenty of audience participation as well.

In this circus show you will see lots of acts including hula hoops, acrobatics and juggling.  One of our family’s favorite acts was The Wheel of Wonder.  After the show, children up to 65 pounds can ride a pony for $10.  My son was able to enjoy one of these rides.

We don’t want to give away all the surprises though and highly recommend that you go see the Big Apple Circus for yourself!  Like I mentioned, the circus is at Lincoln Center until January 10, 2016.  It then moves to Bridgewater, New Jersey, Boston, Massachusetts and then to Queens, New York.