Happy New Year!

We headed to our local "downtown" to stroll around by the river and walk in and out of the various shops, boutiques, and cafes. Many places hosted activities such as: live harp music, face painting, balloon animals, petting reptiles, and ... the favorite for our kids ... a roaming magician.

Elliott's awed face was priceless after the magician made this bird appear from behind Elliott's ear.

The magician also wrote Elliott's name on a playing card (see above - he's holding it) and made one of the regular cards turn in to Elliott's magic card. Elliott carried the card around the rest of the day, trying to make it do "magic" and finally becoming frustrated when the card would not do anything "Magic".

After roaming for a while, we made our way to the carillon tower.  Our town does a "countdown" at 6pm, specifically for families and kids. Alina attempted to coach the kids all day about counting backwards from 10, which was a little bit shocking to our kids. (Mental note: incorporate more countdowns in everyday life).  Free hot chocolate (messy!), noisemakers and glow necklaces rounded out the festivities.

All the fresh air and walking tired everyone out just enough that everyone was tucked into bed without much fuss. Alina and Steve didn't make it awake until midnight, either. Yet, we still had an excellent day, spending time together as a family and enjoying the local activities.

Here's to 2012 - hopefully we'll have a better year than ever before!