NOT a Ski Weekend.



I mean, it's probably not the most woke way to celebrate the remarkable contributions of a black civil rights crusader. But due to seasonal considerations, participation in the whitest sport imaginable (fine, with the exception of curling) has always seemed like the way to celebrate the MLK long weekend.

Until we had kids. Who are so. much. fun. but real downers in subzero temps. Last week when I dragged them outside with me to shovel the driveway and they fled shrieking inside in approximately 2.4 seconds, I decided that skiing should maybe wait another year.

So my sacred ski weekend involved way more fish than one usually finds on the menu at après happy hours. But Ford was thrilled at the trip to the (heated) Norwalk Aquarium.

Finley wore her finest princess outfit and loved that there were real dragons.

And we were all reminded of the magic of jellyfish. Which is not quite the same as fresh powder magic, but we adapted.

Even though Seth and I were a little miffed that the kids' favorite part of the aquarium turned out to be the bathroom hand dryer. Jerks.

Because the weekend highs were in the teens, we hit up all the indoor attractions, including our reliable winter standby, the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum

and a new brewery up the street. Which, it turns out, has ice cream sundaes. So even terrible eater Ford was happy.

We did a lot of laundry, a necessary evil of long weekends at home, and finally found time to move around furniture. The kids now share a room and have a fabulous new playroom. Jury's still out on whether they'll actually stay in their new beds but they seem to like them.

We got to catch up with old friends (who have hoverboards, which are real craziness and should probably be illegal)

and attend impromptu birthday parties.

I shared my longstanding solo tradition of risotto night with the kids,

and was rewarded with this incredible dance party.

And the kids got long-overdue haircuts

and Ford got a new basketball. Which he sleeps with, he loves it so much.

All in all, it was a lovely weekend at home, and I only got a little itchy for snowy weekends away. Although I did look up Adirondack cross country ski resorts after my friend Kelly swore her two year old loved the pull-behind kid sled, and that's officially on the weekend menu one of these arctic days.

The photos of the week make the small sacrifices worth it. These three:

 and the discovery of a hot dog restaurant. Which, gag me, but F+F were in heaven.