Lions and Tigers and Monkeys and Dragons.

Excitement has been the order of the day for Chinese New Years. First, with some news. Our girls will be starting up a twice-weekly preschool, Preschool By The Park, down the street from our place. Amy has her new job starting up the first week of March at Stamford American. Ben is still busy, off to Jakarta this week for a few days. And we have a new helper living here in our apartment, Lorena, who is working out really well.

And, today, we were really pleased to see a family of macaques walking by our place:






We took our two little monkeys out to a real Chinese New Year's family gathering last night, which they got all dressed up for.






They had a great time playing games and meeting friends.





And today, to top it all off, we got to see a lion and dragon dance, just down the block!

Harper was curious to see how these puppet heads were going to turn into lions.



And then, there they were!





By the time the dragon showed up, the girls were feeling brave.





Needless to say, it was an early bed time tonight. Happy New Year of the Tiger, everyone!

Orangutan Breakfast

After the first snowfall in DC, we were nostalgic for cold weather. After Snowpocalypse two, not so much.

This is what Ida Jane puts together as a winter outfit:



This is how Harper stays warm:



And fixing the scooter is the equivalent of putting on snow tires.



Yesterday, we got geared up for Chinese new year, checking out Chinatown and getting some new outfits for the girls.





Ida Jane got a good view of the craziness, and had her picture taken a ton. Everyone loved the red haired girl swinging her newly purchased stuffed tiger around (the coming year is the year of the tiger).






And today, we had a great trip to the zoo. The girls had fun riding a crocodile while dad got the tickets. Little did they know they would be interacting with much more active animals in a very short time.



Then we had the fabled Singapore Zoo Orangutan breakfast. Despite the name, you get more than Orangutans. You get to feed the elephants, which everyone enjoyed.











There was also a boa constrictor, which Harper loved (future herpetologist?). Of course, the show did belong to our primate friends, the Orangs. They climb down from the tree tops to grab some free fruit and get their pictures taken.





I guess the zoo has about 15 or so Orangs, and whoever feels like showing up for the breakfast just swings on by. It was pretty awesome. Hope these pictures bring a little warmth to family and friends in colder climes!