If this is Manhattan, it must be Chinese New Year...

...or at least Kristen's birthday. We traveled to New York to celebrate Kristen's birthday and could not resist visiting Chinatown on the eve of Chinese New Years. (OK, OK, so we're late in posting.) The streets were packed, not only with tourists, but with the locals intent on really whooping it up and welcoming in the year of the dog.

(If you look carefully, you can find the birthday girl herself in the photo above).

One of the more interesting things we noticed were the giant "party poppers" that were being sold on the streets. (Alex, if you're reading this they were HUGE--you'd love 'em). As kids, we both loved the "poppers" that shot confetti. They were small (about the size of a shot glass) and were designed to be used indoors. The giant ones we saw were about the size of a telescope (~3 feet long and 2-3"wide) and launched shiny confetti 50-60 feet into the air! (sounded a bit like gun fire...but looked better) Have a look at the picture on the right.

We met Kristen's mom in New York and had a great time exploring Chinatown, visiting museums, and spending time with dear family friends.

We'll post more about the museums later, but for now, we'll close with a couple of picutres of the folks we celebrated Kristen's birthday with. Thanks to Mike, Carol and all of our friends and family as you help us pass the time!