Hello 2025! We started off the year with some lucky new year’s soup.

And I spotted the festive train one night going into the city for dinner with Andrew.

We went to an escape room in New Rochelle, Hour to Exit, and managed to escape! Though it might have taken a bit more than an hour… and a few hints.

We had a delicious king cake from Estelle Gourmet on Epiphany. Andrew was the king this year!

On 1/19 we went into the city to see an off-broadway show, Dungeons and Dragons the Twenty-sided Tavern. It was a hit with the kids! But first we had some delicious pizza at a small restaurant tucked away near the Port Authority called Capizzi.

Then we walked around the corner to the theaer!

The show was a lot of fun with interactive segments where the audience voted on our phones. It seemed like the audience was mainly adult D&D fans, many of whom were there for repeat visits.

On the following weekend on Jan 25 Sarah’s robotics team competed in a local First Lego League Tournament. It was amazing! Her team did so well, getting more points on each of the robot runs. I didn’t get to see the team presentation (because Sarah said I would make her nervous) but the other parents said they did a great job! So proud of Sarah. Here she is at a prep session at Hommocks:

And here are some photos from the competition– making some last minute changes:

Opening ceremony:

The robot!

Getting ready for the presentation to the judges:

The final robot run:

A video of the final run:

The team worked really hard all fall and winter to get ready and though they were disappointed not to move on to the regional round, everyone was impressed with what they accomplished! Especially since they were an elementary age team competing against middle schoolers! After the competition ended some high school volunteers demonstrated the next level of robotics, beyond legos…

Also in January Sarah played percussion in her school band’s winter concert.

Here’s a clip of one song (the Banana Boat song I think it’s called) where you can really hear Sarah on the snare drum.

Sarah also had her basketball league going on this whole winter! One day Blaine and I took a quiet hike at the Marshlands during Sarah’s basketball practice.

Looking back this was a particularly busy January!