Last week we posted ideas for hosting a kids' Winter Olympics party at home that showed how to use plastic toy figurines to play your own Olympic Games. The post inspired me to think of some more ways to create Olympic play, especially using Lego mini-figs to actually recreate the Olympic sports competitions. We had so much fun with this: first building our Olympic arenas and athletes out of Lego, then competing in our own Olympic games. If you don't have Legos you can do this with other types of toys. Read on to find out how we did it and then add your own ideas.

Move over, Manhattan. There are hundreds of places in Westchester County that serve hot chocolate, however there are a handful of spots that inspire such fierce loyalty in their customers that entire families are willing to bundle up, brave the cold and make a veritable pilgrimage “over the ground so white” to their favorite cocoa shop.

Last week told you about our favorite coffee shops in the Rivertowns, now we're focusing on our top picks for the best hot cocoa in Westchester County. These are shops where the hot chocolate tastes more like a melted candy bar than that watery powder-based stuff that dribbles out of office vending machines; shops where chocolatiers, baristas and servers routinely go out of their way to create drinkable confections.

If there is one thing that is universally true about NYC parents, it’s that we care about our children’s education. A lot. Meanwhile, the world is changing fast. Technology and a more global outlook means rethinking the very core of our educational systems. One of the upshots of these changes is a multitude of new learning options. One of the schools that is rocking the educational boat is our sponsor, BASIS Independent School, opening in Red Hook this coming fall.

BASIS was founded by a mother (and educator) and her economist husband in Arizona with the goal of creating U.S. schools that are more on par with the high expectations and substance of the best educational institutions in the world. BASIS.ed now manages 12 schools in Arizona, Texas and Washington D.C., which consistently rank among the best not just in the country, but world over.

BASIS Independent Brooklyn will be a unique offering on the NYC education scene with a STEM-focused curriculum and a model that is somewhere between a charter school and a private school. We interviewed Jill McConnell, the founding Head of School, to find out more about BASIS and STEM education.

I’ve always enjoyed live theatrical performances as a child, and am so grateful my parents took the time to take me to various productions—from the circus to community theater. Now, as an adult and a mom, I’m excited to share the power of performance with my daughter—seeing family-friendly shows is a great way for loved ones to bond over the arts. Here’s a list of February 2014 live shows the family can appreciate and enjoy these next few weeks. See you in March!

Flushing, Queens is famous for its Chinese restaurants—it's got as many dim sum houses as Manhattan's Chinatown. As Queens residents, this is where my family goes for dumplings and bubble tea. But while there are certainly a slew of Chinese eateries in Flushing, many other Asian and other ethnic cuisines are represented in the diverse neighborhood. Large Asian shopping centers like New World Mall and Golden Shopping Mall contain food courts jam-packed with pan-Asian vendors, and you'll find Malaysian, Korean, Indian and even pizza in the nabe's commercial center. Here are our top 12 places to eat with kids in Flushing.

Had enough already? Unlike the last couple of years, when we were thankful for even a few inches of the fluffy white stuff, the winter of 2014 has shaped up to be one of the more memorable in terms of snow. Which means it's been a memorable winter for cross country skiing, too.

The first time we took our kids cross country skiing was in child carrier sleds that we strapped around our waists and pulled behind us - great fun for them, and a great workout for us. While they’ve since grown too big for those carriers and now prefer the speed of downhill, they are still willing to spend some family time together cross-country skiing. We usually go to a local forest to ski, although we also go to Great Brook, Farm State Park, in Carlisle. Great Brook is dependent on natural snow coverage, but when it’s good, the groomed trails are fun. For near-guaranteed coverage, Weston Ski Track has snowmaking on a 2K, lighted loop as well as additional groomed trails when the weather cooperates.

Read on for the details about these and other places to ski. (Looking for downhill ski areas? You can find details on three close-by mountains here.)

If you’re anything like me, it often feels as if that there is just too much blood in your caffeine system. This is especially true when I am trying to get from Point A to Point B with a bored, cranky, uncomfortable preschooler howling at me from the confines of her ridiculously plush and ergonomic car seat. Luckily, the stretch of Rivertowns between the Tappan Zee Bridge and the Bear Mountain Bridge are home to a variety of cafés and coffee houses that provide more than just a quick pick-me-up. These spots are particularly kid-friendly (one even welcomes pets!) and offer delicious and divinely caffeinated beverages (or decaf, if that's your thing).

So if you need to recharge while you're out and about around town, check out one of our favorite kid-friendly coffee shops and cafés from Tarrytown to Peekskill.

With the February school break looming on the horizon, you may be considering a winter family getaway.  East Coast families don’t have to go far to have fun, and it doesn’t have to cost a bundle. There are deals in Boston, Providence, Baltimore, Cape Cod, Vermont, upstate New York and coastal Connecticut.  If you’ve had it up to here with chilly scenes of winter, we have several deals in Florida, including a contest that may just send you and your family to sunny Kissimmee for free.