MOMA: Jerome Bel dance and Starry Night

Went to drop off Nonna and Poppa to their awaiting cruiseship in Manhattan. Giant Peter Max on side of cruise ship.Then we had 3 hours in Manhattan today so Sofia suggested MOMA. Miraculously we found a parking spot a few blocks away. Felt a little like winning the lottery. Also, more good luck, it was the last day of our Cool Culture Card pass, (so we saved $50 entrance fee.) First thing we did at the museum is to take the girls to see Van Gogh's Starry Night. Sofia's loved it ever since she was coloring a coloring book version of it at the same time the painting popped up on Mr. Rogers, the secret portal painting that lead to the land of make believe. We also got to see the Frida Kahlo "family tree" painting, which was exciting because Sofia and Lucia already know it from a book they have, and then spent several minutes in the Monet Waterlilies room. Afterward we went the cafe to get coffee while the girls made art on the iPads they have there. The girls made a very Monet version of Starry Night. Then off to the MOMA kids art lab where Sofia created a halloween costume for me, an "art frame" for my mouth, made to hang off my glasses. After Art Lab we went to the theater to watch a Japanese puppet movie about a fox, and then after that we saw an incredible dance performance in the lobby by Jerome Bel company. The performance consisted of museum employees leading several other museum employees in different styles of dance. The dances ranged from tango to African to ballet to hip hop to butoh. I was impressed that the girls were able to sit so long, must've been over a dozen dances. I teared up during one of the dances, it was so good, so full of joy and the possibilities of art. Then we left the museum to go to Central Park to eat a late lunch. We found a cliff looking down on a lake below. Beautiful. Lots of fall colors in the leaves. Also, since it is Halloween tomorrow, there were people in costumes all around which was fun to watch. "Look, there's Tender Heart Care Bear!" "Look, there's a giant Pikachu." 50 or 60 people were following the Pikachu while staring at their phones. We assumed they were all playing Pokemon Go and the giant Pikachu was leading them to some rare Pokemon find. Gen looked at her phone and said, there's a 70% chance of rain at 5pm. As soon as she said it the sunny sky seemed to suddenly darken, leaves began to cascade down from the trees, thousands upon thousands swirling around in an increasingly gusty wind, which was soon followed by a heavy rain. Luckily we were parked just 2 blocks away, so we were laughing as we ran to the car. We were driving home through the slow traffic of Manhattan, watching the people caught in the rain. At one intersection we saw an old woman slip and fall back and hit her head. It was terrible, but so many people rushed to help her up in the rain that it was a touching reminder of the good.