Succos Activities

I have been a bit derelict in posting. 3 day yom tov will do that to you.
We had a nice but loooong 3 days. It was hard to keep everyone entertained and happy, especially because it was raining a lot of the time. We were lucky that the rain did not coincide with our meals, so we were able to eat in the sukkah for all our yomtov meals.
Today was the only day of Chol Hamoed where everyone was home, so we really wanted to do something fun and memorable with them. A. was lobbying hard to go to Brooklyn. We toyed with the idea. I thought it would be nice for the kids to see all the sukkahs that have been put up and to feel the holiday a bit more. In Manhattan, succos is a bit under the radar because of the difficulty of putting up sukkot.
Ultimately, we decided that it was too far and it would be too crowded and overwhelming for the kids. Any fair or concert would probably be sensory overload for Y and chances are, my husband and I would spend a lot of the time chasing the boys who would be taking off in opposite directions. It seemed like a recipe for stress and frustration rather than fun.
It is hard at times, to balance the needs of the kids and the different developmental stages they are at. But it is also important to understand their level, so that we don't expect too much of them and end up frustrated.
So we took the kids for pizza in midtown and ate in the mobile succah that Chabad had set up outside J2 (pictures to follow). We also checked out the big sukkah that was set up in Bryant Park. Then we headed to an overpriced but cute playspace in Chelsea. The kids had a lot of fun there, especially Y. who spent a long time at the child sized basketball hoop. We came home tired but happy. And most importantly, my husband and I were not frazzled or stressed.
I feel a little badly that A. missed out because of her brothers, but Monday and Tuesday morning she is the only one off from school, so I will try to do some fun activities with her that we don't do when her brothers are around, such as the neighborhood pottery store.
I will try to post some pics tomorrow- when I am not busy food shopping, cooking or spending quality time with A....so I am not making any promises :)