Halloween- Part 1

In our neighborhood, it is customary to Trick-Or-Treat at the businesses in the area instead of door-to-door on the street or in an apartment building. This morning, Lexi and Aiden Smith headed out to Broadway to get some treats. They had a great time running from store to store and did well with the magic phrase "Trick Or Treat". Lexi even said "Thank you" to most! After each store, she came bounding out and looked up at me and asked, "We get more candy at another store?" The thing that most shocked me was the *generosity* of the store owners... we're talking not just one or two measly pieces of candy but a HANDFUL!! By the time we had gone 4 blocks, Lexi's candy bag was so heavy she couldn't even carry it anymore!

Halloween Party

A couple of shots of Lexi in full Butterfly uniform. Thanks to Nanny Susan for supplying the wings & colorful tutu & boa!

Halloween Celebrations

Today, Kristy Smith hosted a cupcake-making extravaganza at her home! Lexi & Aiden had fun decorating the cupcakes with oreo spiders, licorice legs & M&M eyes (although they probably ate more than they decorated!) I failed to get a photo of the finished product, but you can see the idea by clicking here.

Lexi Riding Her Trike

This is an old video from back in August, but I never posted it for your viewing pleasure. And I especially wanted Grandma & Grandpa Elliott to see that Lexi loves her tricycle!

The Little Red Lighthouse (Again!)

Today, the Little Red Lighthouse was open for the general public to explore, so we took a trip down with Grandma & Aunt Allie (the budding photographer). It was a cool and windy day, so much so that once Lexi got out on top of the lighthouse, she wanted to climb right back inside! It's a bit of a climb up the circular staircase to the landing where the bulb sits. Then, you have to climb through this little door- more like a cubby hole!- practically on your hands and knees to get out onto the surrounding balcony. It was a gorgeous fall day and we had a fun time exploring the LITTLE red lighthouse.

One of the park rangers said it is still *lightable*, although she was unsure if they actually do still light it and what the schedule would be.

 

Thanks, Nanny & Pop-pop!

Great-Grandpa & Great-Grandma Elliott took a trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to visit the historic Mormon town and temple. They picked up a little bonnet for Lexi- and she really likes it!


I have many fond memories of reading "The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge" with my grandmother. She sent a copy of the book to Lexi. Lexi was so happy to read about the little lighthouse and the big bridge that she has visited several times!

Piano Players

A couple of weeks ago, Lexi's friend Jonathan moved with his family to New Jersey. Sad! This week, we had the use of my mother's car while she was on a business trip, so we took a trip out to NJ to visit. Here are the little maestros pounding away! It's hard to hear, but Lexi is singing "I Am A Child of God" and Jonny is singing "BINGO".

152 Avenue C New York, NY

I recently started attending the Family History class during Sunday School at church. Both of my grandmothers have done substantial work on family history, leaving me unsure where I could spend my effort. After looking at the family tree I was given, I realized that my maternal grandfather's line has some work to do. I have begun trying to find my great-great-great grandparents (parents of Catharine Dodd Elliott). While researching Catharine & her husband, Brett Elliott, I found them on the 1880 census in New York City. I know that I have a lot of family history here as my mother's ancestors all settled here after immigrating from Ireland & Germany. Anyway, I got their address from the census and we took at trip down to the Lower East Side to see if the building was still there. Unfortunately, it was not. It has since been replaced by a community garden, but I took a picture of buildings across the street as I imagine they are similar in style. The Elliotts were part of the large Irish population that lived in the tenement buildings. I hope to take a walking tour of Irish New York on the Lower East Side, too, to learn more about what life was like for them. 

 

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge

Today we attended the Little Red Lighthouse Festival at the foot of the George Washington Bridge.

The Little Red Lighthouse stands proudly beneath the George Washington Bridge on the New York shore. She reminds us that all things big or small have a significant place in our world. The children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift taught this lesson well. The Little Red Lighthouse served as a navigational aid before and after the bridge was built.

When the lighthouse was commissioned in 1921 she served the Hudson River mariners, always keeping a good light until the USCG deactivated it in 1947. Swift's book played a major role in saving the lighthouse, for it was the millions of children who loved The Little Red Lighthouse story who spoke out when the USCG wanted to sell and dismantle the light. The children won-and today all of us can enjoy its beauty.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to actually go in the lighthouse. We arrived too late to get tickets, but the park ranger told us to come back on October 21st... so watch for us there on that day.

Lexi also had her face painted for the first time.  

 

Cookie Monster!

One of our favorite places for treats is a chocolate shop owned by french chocolatier Jaques Torres (aka. Mr. Chocolate). Lexi and I stopped in for a cookie today. 

5 Years

Today we visited a flag memorial in Inwood Hill Park (on the northern tip of Manhattan) dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. 3000 flags were set up in a large field- one for each life lost. It was a breezy and beautiful day, probably much like the day in 2001. A touching memorial.

Part of me wishes we had been here in 2001, because I think that no one can really understand what the city went through in the days and weeks following without having actually lived here at that time. I want to know how people felt, how they coped, and how they continued to live their lives. At the same time, I am so grateful that I wasn't here, and that no one I love was directly impacted.

Some video footage of the memorial can be seen here.
 

Observations by Lexi

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Natural History to pass a very rainy afternoon. While gazing at the diorama of the ostriches, we talked about the eggs- some of which had hatched, and some of which were still *unopened*. I talked to Lexi about the babies that had come out of the eggs and she said, referring to the unhatched babies, "Those babies are still taking a nap?"


After watching this commercial for iTunes, featuring Bob Dylan, (which entranced her, by the way) Lexi remarked, "That man is a farmer man." Daddy was very proud, since Bob Dylan is one of his favorite musicians.


After waking up from a nap in which she had been sleeping on her arm, Lexi said, "My hand has polka dots." Presumably referring to the pins-and-needles she was feeling.

Ms. Cope

Matt's students return to school on Tuesday, so Lexi & I went down to his school to help him set up his classroom. Lexi helped hang borders on the bulletin boards and put some books on shelves as well as clean up some of the mess we left in our wake by sweeping.

She is a remarkable little helper and really wants to help with anything and everything. She is becoming a superstar at making a smoothie and helps make the salad for dinner. She loads the dishwasher and puts away the silverware when it's clean. Sometimes it's a trial of patience for me, but she really is much happier when she helps, which makes it much better for all of us. How does that primary song go? "When we're helping we're happy and we sing as we go..." 

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

One of the downsides to living in Manhattan is that not many of our friends are planning on staying here for too long (including us, I suppose- though there are no plans to leave at this point). This past year I took care of Jett while his mom worked 2 days a week. Lexi came to love him like a brother. Today, they packed up their car and headed out of the city to *greener pastures* west of New York. We love the whole MacDonald family and wish them all the best! We'll miss you!!  

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Since returning from California, our days have been very rainy. Last Friday morning was particularly gloomy. We even had a tornado watch in effect for Northern Manhattan! So what better way to prepare for a possible tornado, than by sitting at an open window? In any event, it was actually quite enjoyable to just sit and watch the rain and the people dodging puddles below. 

While riding the Staten Island Ferry, Lexi spent some time with the Great-Aunt Barbara pointing out all the buoys in the water. That's the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the background. 

The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee

My cousins were down in the city to see some sights and were very generous to take us to see a Broadway show. We got tickets to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A cute show! And a good NPR report here.

We spent Saturday with them as well- eating pizza in Brooklyn, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge (a favorite activity), seeing Ground Zero, riding the Staten Island Ferry and then up to China Town for some delicious dumplings at the Dumpling House.

Hope I was a satisfactory tour guide!

Back in NY

We made it back to New York with no major issues. It has taken me a few days to unpack and resettle into the idea that we have no car and have to schlep our groceries home in a *granny cart*. But we are happy to be home- although we much prefer to sleep in the waveless waterbed at Matt's parent's home as opposed to our bed, which is slowly turning into a *taco bed*. (We finally "rotated" the mattress the other day and I am sleeping much better now).

Unfortunately, during our trip we ran out of memory card on our digital camera, so we downloaded all our pictures to the computer at Matt's parent's home. I guess when I burned the photos to a CD to take home with us, I somehow missed all the pictures from our last week there. So for now, you can see the majority of photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kendracope/CaliforniaAug2006