Jennifer Woodbury

The last time the entire Woodbury clan was together was over two years ago. We tried to organize reunions in both 2011 and 2012, but could never quite decide on a location or date that worked for everyone. A few e-mails had been bounced back and forth trying to get something on the calendar for 2013, but nobody had committed to anything. And then at the end of last summer, the stars aligned. Matt’s younger sister and her family were moving to the East Coast after living abroad for the past several years. His brother in New Jersey offered up his house as a place to stay for anybody willing to make the trip East. And before we knew it, Matt’s parents plus the remaining two Woodbury siblings and their families had booked airline tickets and the countdown to a 2012 Thanksgiving reunion had begun.  Here’s how reunion week went down:

Sunday: The day after everybody arrived, we headed north to Newport, Rhode Island. We broke up the drive by stopping in Mystic, CT for lunch. I thought Mystic Pizza would just be a tourist trap (there are TVs on almost every wall playing the movie on repeat), but it turns out that the pizza is actually really good.

Here’s what a hotel room full of 17 cousins looks like (we were short two cousins who were asleep in their own room at the time):

Among the under-10 crowd (on the left), it was mass chaos, while the teenagers (on the right) were engrossed in their media devices.

Monday: We spent the day touring the Newport mansions. The last time Matt and I did this was over 12 years ago, when we spent a weekend in Rhode Island for our first wedding anniversary. It was fun to go back, especially now that we have become Downton Abbey fans (along with the rest of the world). Yes, I realize that these Newport mansions are located on a completely different continent, but they still reminded me of the show. And considering the contents of the gifts shops in these houses, I am not the only one who thinks so. Our first stop was The Breakers:

After The Breakers we headed into town for lunch and a stop at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. We decided not to pay the admission fee to get into the museum and tour the grounds. Instead we wreaked havoc in the gift shop (I don’t think the employees knew what hit them… it was a lot of people in a very small space) and posed for a photo in front of the main grass court:

Next up was The Elms:

And our final tour of the day was Marble House:

Tuesday: This was a rest day. It was the one day that I decided to send Ella and Claire to school. Ella’s class put on a short Thanksgiving play in which Ella played a pilgrim. She was not excited about her role because she thought she would have to wear a skirt. Thankfully she was able to perform in pants, and she was over the moon excited that her cousins from Utah stopped by to watch her.

Wednesday: On the day before Thanksgiving, we headed into NYC to watch the balloons get inflated for the parade. We went early to try to avoid the biggest crowds and were worried that we wouldn’t be able to see much, but were pleasantly surprised that most of the balloons were already blown up.

Claire was enamored with the Hello Kitty balloon, which led off the parade this year, and was adamant that I properly document it.

Here is a view of what the balloons and crowds looked like from a distance:

After seeing the balloons, we walked around the city.

Pictures on the steps of a stranger’s brownstone (always one of our favorite photo opportunities).

Britney and Lucy. It was so fortuitous that we ended up having this reunion when we did, because Britney (the oldest of the cousins) will be leaving on an 18-month long church mission to Argentina in February. We wouldn’t have had another opportunity to all get together until 2014.

The ubiquitous Times Square shot.

Katie, Britney, and Ella in front of Radio City.

Cousins sitting on a curb in Rockefeller Center waiting to eat the Magnolia cupcakes we just purchased. This picture was taken about 20 seconds before we were asked not to sit on the curb.

Once we relocated to the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, everyone was finally able to chow down.

Thursday: On Thanksgiving, Matt’s brother Thomas and his wife Melissa were gracious enough to host all 31 of us for dinner. Did I mention we all spent the night at their house that night as well? I’m not sure if they fully realized what they were getting themselves into, but we were grateful for the chance to be together under one roof.

The adult table.

The kids’ table.

Loading up the plates.

Grandma Kathy’s layered Jello.

Notice how all of their plates consist mostly of rolls and Jello.

Saturday: We made one more trip into the city to see The Lion King on Broadway. It was Claire’s first show and she was thrilled to get a Lion King charm bracelet as a souvenir.

Sunday: (This was technically part of Week 48, but I wanted to keep all the reunion photos together.) This was our last day together, and of course it wasn’t until the very end that Lucy and her 3-year-old cousin Emalee discovered each other.

Emalee, Britney, and Lucy.

Little monkeys.

Emalee told her mom, “I made a new friend!” Lucy said (of Emalee), “She’s pretty cute.”

Matt had reunion shirts made for everyone similar to the ones he created for our last reunion to the Outer Banks. This time they were long-sleeved and said “NYC ’12” on the front and “Giving Thanks, Woodbury Style” on the back. We all gathered for one last picture in our shirts before heading our separate ways.

Who’s ready to start planning the next reunion?

So remember that election we had (doesn’t it seem like a million years ago now)? These pictures are from that week and the following week.

November 6th was Election Day, but I was so excited for it that it sort of felt a little bit like Christmas. I love politics. I hate the divisiveness and the negativity that inevitably tends to dominate the political landscape (and try really hard to steer clear of it), but I am passionate about many of the issues… and probably listen to and read far more political commentary than is considered healthy.

I had many discussions with the girls about the political process leading up to Election Day, and we read a lot of books on the subject. My favorite was Grace for President, which I especially recommend for those with daughters. Be warned that I did cry at the end. After all that talk, I promised Ella and Claire they could stay up later than usual to watch some of the results come in.

Of course, electoral map coloring pages were involved and the girls were really into it. Every time a projected winner was announced it was a mad dash to color in the correct state and write the number of electoral votes in the appropriate column. Unfortunately they only got to finish a small percentage of the map before heading to bed (one of the downfalls of living in the Eastern time zone).

This was also the week things started getting back to normal after Hurricane Sandy. School was back in session, but on a delayed start Monday and Tuesday, which meant that Ella got to attend ballet class with Lucy. Ella was not terribly excited at the prospect, and was planning to just sit on the sidelines with a book, but she just couldn’t help herself…

Town trick-or-treating had originally been rescheduled for the Wednesday after Sandy (Nov 7th), but due to another impending storm – this time a snow-bearing Nor’easter – it was canceled for a second time. Many neighborhoods took matters into their own hands and scheduled their own trick-or-treating for alternate dates. Our preferred trick-or-treating neighborhood (around the corner from us) had their festivities on Tuesday night, so we headed out into the freezing cold on Election Night to collect treats.

Claire and Lucy gave up after
only a few houses and stayed bundled up in the double stroller. Claire declared, “I am DONE. I have enough candy.” Thank goodness for Ella’s Halloween spirit (she would never allow such words to leave her lips). She literally sprinted from house to house without so much as a coat on, warmed solely by the thought of all that sugar piling up in her bag. The only time Lucy and Claire braved the cold was when Ella found a house that was giving out full-sized packs of Swedish Fish (smart girls).

We did end up getting some snow on Wednesday night. It wasn’t enough to cancel school on Thursday (which was quite a relief after already having had an entire week prior off for Sandy), but it was enough for a decent snowman. Claire and I built this guy together after she got home from school on Thursday.

Ella helped put on the finishing touches after she got off the bus.

A few other random photos:

Sister dogpile.

Visiting day at Claire’s preschool. I love getting a glimpse of how she spends her days.

“Chocolate toast” (Nutella + toast) face.

His and hers hurricane prep: In anticipation of Sandy’s arrival Matt stocked up on non-perishables like beef jerky, while my main concern was making sure every device in the house was fully charged.

This was hurricane week. We spent Sunday making last minute storm preparations, Monday at home waiting for the worst of the storm to hit, and Tuesday and beyond dealing with the aftermath and storm clean up. School was canceled for the entire week, and we were actually one of the only towns in the area that was able to open up schools the following Monday.

I will admit that it was nice to all be home together with nowhere to go for a few days. Lucy took advantage of some extra cuddle time with Matt.

When your four-year-old starts drawing pictures of a person in the middle of a hurricane, it’s probably a sign that you’re watching a bit too much news coverage. Cute and a little disturbing all at the same time.

In all honesty though, the storm did cause some anxiety for the kids, especially Ella. Our town periodically made “Code Red” telephone calls to residents to update us on the storm, which I would put on speakerphone so both Matt and I could hear. I didn’t think anything of it until I started noticing that Ella would cover her ears whenever we got one of those calls.

The girls had a sleepover in the living room on Monday night because we didn’t want them sleeping upstairs near the windows or in the potential path of falling trees.

We thought it was inevitable that our power would go out for an extended period of time, considering we lost power for two days during Tropical Storm Irene last year and Sandy was a much stronger storm. At the height of the storm the winds were quite frightening, and as the evening wore on our lights did flicker off and on several times. Each time we thought the power was out for good, but then it would come right back on again.

The lights were still on, but Lucy was out for the night.

We were amazed to wake up on Tuesday morning with power, even more so after we checked online and saw that 92% of our town had no power. Then when we started seeing pictures of the devastation throughout the tri-state area, we honestly felt a little silly for escaping the storm unscathed. We were extremely grateful of course, but it honestly felt a bit ridiculous that so many people lost everything and yet we didn’t even have to deal with the inconvenience of a cold shower.

I will say that I am always really impressed with the way our town comes together in circumstances like these (sadly, since March 2010 this is the fourth instance of widespread and extended power outages and tree damage, although this was by far the worst). Our library was amazing, staying open late for device charging, offering movie marathons for the kids, and even organizing a potluck so those without power could enjoy a warm meal. Our YMCA opened up to the public for hot showers, and everybody who was lucky enough to have power was looking for a way to help those without it.

We were happy that Matt’s sister and family let us feel useful by providing them with dinner, baths and showers, and cousins to entertain their kids while they were out of power for several days. We just wished we could have done more for Matt’s brother and family down in New Jersey who were without power for thirteen days.

Although the coastal areas of our town experienced significant flooding, downed trees were the cause of most of the damage in our area. Enormous root beds like these from trees just toppling over were an extremely common sight all over.

Utility trucks were another common sight. Utility and tree crews from all over the country came to help out with storm clean up (those trucks above came from Indiana).

For me the most surprising – and frightening –  effect of Hurricane Sandy was the shortage of gas. Things were especially bad in harder hit areas of New York and New Jersey, but the shortage eventually reached us up here in Connecticut as well. Matt and I even saw New York City taxi cabs that had made the 45 minute drive here just to fill up. By the end of the week all the gas stations in town were out of gas. It definitely made me think hard about how much we rely on gas, and how quickly things dissolve into mayhem when there isn’t enough to go around.

With the kids out of school for the week and trick-or-treating canceled (it honestly didn’t even feel like Halloween on October 31st), I had to find creative ways to keep the kids entertained. Heading to Target and letting them each pick out a costume from the 70% off clearance rack seemed like as good an idea as any. Ella chose a pirate, Lucy picked a fairy, and that’s Claire above all decked out as a Southern belle.

In all seriousness however, we ended this week extremely grateful for the very basics: our home, heat, hot water, electricity, and most importantly our safety during the storm.

This was the week where I tried to cram in all the Halloween I could before October 31st, because I had the sneaking suspicion that a storm named Sandy might just cancel trick-or-treating for us this year (by the way, my suspicion turned out to be spot on).

On Friday I took Lucy to the town Halloween parade to trick-or-treat (see previous Halloween parades here: 2007, 2008, 2009). She was stubborn and preferred sitting in the stroller to collecting candy at the local shops. Sound anything like a recent pumpkin patch outing? The parade always ends at a park where the magician “Amazing Andy” performs. I think I have his whole routine memorized at this point, but it still manages to be pretty funny. It took a little while for Lucy to warm up, but eventually she sat down and seemed entertained by the show.

Having her best buddy (and cousin) Will there helped.

On Saturday, everyone put on their costumes for a trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot, and I took that opportunity to take pictures. Year after year, pictures of the girls in their costumes end up being some of my very favorites:

I had very little input on what everyone chose to dress up as for Halloween this year. Ella knew from the start that she wanted to be a Yankee player:

Claire was adamant about being Tinker Bell, even though I don’t think she has ever seen Peter Pan and has only watched this Tinker Bell movie once or twice:

I couldn’t find an actual Tinker Bell costume that I liked, but Claire approved of this Tinker Bell-inspired fairy outfit that I put together… except for the shoes. I thought she could just wear her silver ballet flats but was informed that no, Tinker Bell wears “green shoes with white balls on top.” Sure enough, when I Googled Tinker Bell, there she was wearing green shoes with white pom poms. So I ended up having to buy the official Disney light-up Tinker Bell shoes, which Claire wore nonstop around the house for weeks even though I accidentally bought them a size too small.

I was originally planning to have Lucy wear the bee costume Ella wore when she was two years old, but when I tried it on Lucy a few weeks before Halloween it was clear that she wanted nothing to do with it no matter how hard I tried talking it up. She loves dressing up like a “prin-sense” so I found this witch costume at Target and told her she was going to be a “princess witch.” She loved it. The best part about this costume was when you asked her if she was a good witch or a bad witch. She always answered definitively: “a BAD witch!”

And now, an illustration of what you can accomplish when you waste an entire evening in Photoshop:

I don’t normally do stuff like this in Photoshop, but this photo was practically begging for it. Here’s a before and after to give you a better idea of the work I had to do:

Aside from all the Halloween activities, Matt also spent Saturday
cleaning out the gutters in preparation for Sandy…

A quiet week. Just a few pictures and even fewer words.

It’s looking a lot like fall.

Most nights after the girls go to bed, I will hear the faint sound of rustling pages and when I go to inspect I will see this at the top of the stairs. I purchased Ella a reading light so she could read in bed, but for some reason she prefers to sit on the hardwood floor in the hall outside her doorway. I always tell her not to stay up too late, but I secretly love it when she does this.

Bagel love. A bagel with cream cheese is pretty much all Ella and Claire will eat for lunch, so Lucy and I are always stocking up at Costco.

On Columbus Day, the kids had the day off school so I convinced Matt to take the day off work as well so we could all do something fun together. We headed into New York to try something new: walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. How Matt and I lived in Manhattan for two years and have now been back in the Northeast for almost six years and yet we have never done this before, I have no idea. It definitely goes on my list of top things to do in the city. It’s easy, offers amazing views of the city, and it’s free (which makes it even better than my recommendation to ride an MTA bus around Manhattan for a cheap tour of the city).

Not only was this my first time walking across the bridge, but it was also my first time in Brooklyn (I know, I am a disgrace to all who claim to love New York), so once we crossed over we had to hit the hot spots. First was the famous Grimaldi’s for pizza…

… followed by dessert at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

Notice Lucy above, standing at arms length from Ella because she was insistent that Ella *not* put her arm around her. I say it all the time but it’s a good thing Lucy is so adorable because she’s a little stinker, that one.

There was a lot of this…

… and a little of this too.

After running around the Fulton Ferry Pier and enjoying the views of Manhattan for a bit, we opted to walk back across the bridge rather than take a subway or ferry. That’s a whole lot of walking without any complaints from my kids (although Lucy and Claire did take turns in the stroller). I think they really are part New Yorkers at heart.

We had wanted to take a ride on Jane’s Carousel while we were in Brooklyn, but we ran out of time and patience (see above photo). It was a bit alarming to see the carousel surrounded by water
at the height of Hurricane Sandy (as I am writing this our area is just starting to recover from the storm… more on that in a future post), but it sounds like it will be up and running again sometime in the near future. And when it is, we’ll definitely be back!

P.S. A tip for Brooklyn Bridge pedestrians. Don’t cross that thick white line over into the bike lane because those cyclists will run you over. It’s a difficult thing to explain to a very opinionated and obstinate two-year-old. We’re just glad everybody made it to the other side in one piece.

A couple of everyday shots from the week:

Claire and her cardboard violin. She worked so hard this week in the hopes of finally getting to open up her real violin, which arrived at our house this week. Trust me, you have never seen a little girl quite so excited for her next violin lesson.

New signs hanging up on Ella and Claire’s bedroom door. The top one was created by Claire and requires you to tell her how you are feeling (the choices are sad, mad, and silly) before you can enter. The bottom one created by Ella forbids anybody except friends from entering. Thankfully, she appears to count her family members as friends.

On Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch with the Shontz cousins.

Ella and Claire had a blast picking out pumpkins and then trying to push that wheelbarrow full of pumpkins back towards the car.

Lucy, on the other hand, preferred to relax with cousin Lily in the double stroller.

She was none too pleased when we made her get out to take a family photo. Just a little bit of real life to end the week. Apparently it’s not always easy being two.