A bit of culture

We had great intentions of going to see the Chinese New Year celebrations in China Town but in the end nothing could make us go out into the pouring rain. Instead we went for a new year's dinner at China Boulevard, and it really was a feast, the food just kept coming and coming. We also had a Chinese themed feast the day before with our friends in the country. Claire is an excellent cook, and she is always full of good ideas for arts and crafts things to do with the kids. We came home with yummy tummies and snakes (because it's the year of the snake this year) and lanterns (because they are fun and pretty). We also made some paper art (in red to chase away demons) and made lion masks (inspired by a show at the Polka Theatre).  So although not exactly what I had in mind it all turned out perfect anyway!

Inspired by Chinese New Year we went to watch Why The Lion Danced at the Polka Theatre.  It was a lovely little play and it gave a great idea about the traditions surrounding Chinese New Year.  A few weeks earlier we went to see Wind in the Willows at the same theatre.  It was a brilliant show that told the old traditional story in a memorable way.  We haven't been to the theatre in ages so it was a nice change!

We also had one of our usual outings to the National Gallery followed by a Mini Maestro concert at St Martin in the Fields.  The theme for this one was Vivaldi's Four Seasons so most enjoyable for us.  The way they format the whole thing is great as it really gets the kids' imagination going.  I forgot my camera that day so no photos.  February's FUNharmonics concert had the rather unusual theme of The Roaring Twenties.  We really enjoyed the concert even though we didn't know much of the music.  This time the boys chose to queue for the brass instruments and they each got a go on the tuba.  Amazingly they got some loud sounds out of it!

You may know that Nicholas absolutely loves the How to Train Your Dragon books and movie.  So when we saw a presentation by Cressida Cowell at the Imagine Children's Festival we knew it was something we had to do.  She was so inspiring and it was fascinating gaining some insight into her life and how she became an author and, most importantly, how she comes up with her ideas for the series.  She even made me want to start writing ... because anyone can do it!

As you know, a trip to a museum is obligatory for us during the holidays.  This time we took one of Nick's buddies, Francesco, with us and they wanted to go to ... surprise surprise ... see the dinosaurs!  So off to the Natural History Museum we went.  After the mezzanine level and the dinosaurs we spent the rest of the time in the Investigate Centre, something new for us, and most enjoyable since it had a lot of hands-on action.  The highlight was definitely a show on Animal Vision which provided the inspiration for Nicholas' latest show and tell!