East Coast Thanksgiving

We enjoyed being able to get back to Delaware for Thanksgiving, with a day trip to Princeton on the side. We sucked oxygen and absorbed moisture as fully as we could, while catching up with family and friends.

One of the highlights of the week for Edith was our trip to Princeton, during which she got to reunite with best friend Torrey. Torrey's mother took him out of school for the afternoon, and he joined us all around town. Not one to be left out of Edith's activities these days, Alice insisted on being between Torrey and Edith, holding their hands, wherever we walked. As one of the biggest fans of "Baby Alice" back in the day, Torrey kindly obliged.

A partial reunion of Edith's pre-K class on the old seminary housing playground, which was still intact despite bulldozers transforming the landscape around it. (Note to former Loetscher Drive residents: Your apartments are all gone.) The kids were really happy to see each other again.

Ruth insisted on a just-the-girls picture.

We also spent part of the day at the girls' former school, hanging out with the teachers and kids. I was relieved that everything seemed much the same--the same teachers all there, the older kids practicing their Christmas and Hannukah and Kwanzaa songs for the holiday program. Everyone else from Alice's infant class was across the way in the Young Toddler room, looking a bit bigger and steadier on their feet, with more hair, but otherwise recognizable. You could see the wheels turning in Alice's head as she tried to make sense of where we were. After about half an hour, she settled back into a seat in Ms. Betsy's room and had a snack with the babies. Ms. Betsy seemed so happy to see her...while Edith followed Ms. Neelam around helping with snacks and projects for the preschool and pre-K kids.
 

No offense, Colorado, but this is what we mean by "fall color." It was good to get a dose of it this season, even if most trees were past peak.

Alice was good as gold while having her second professional haircut at her daddy's old family barber shop, one of those rare places where nothing ever changes.

We later learned that Ralph, who cut Alice's hair, had recently made a house call to give Alice's great-grandfather his last haircut a few weeks before he passed away.

We also got a dose of beach to tide us over the land-locked months.

Playing games with the seagulls

The rest of the week was dedicated to pumpkin pie, golf, and good time with family:

With Mom-mom

With Pop-pop

With Great-Aunt Eleanor

With first cousins Maggie and Santiago, icing cupcakes....

...and second cousins Emma and Danny (the same ages as E. and A.), jumping on a trampoline.

We had a little early birthday celebration for Alice, too.

At last, her own markers and coloring book! And the wedding may be over, but Edith and Jenna are still dressing alike...

The trip home was long but uneventful. On arrival we discovered that our neighbors had transformed the place in our absence. The lousy pictures don't do it justice, but welcome to mighty kitschy Manitou...

 

 

(A countdown-to-Christmas clock)

 Actually I love the lights, if not the inflatable snowglobes and Grinches. Edith and Alice love those, too. It does set a high bar for decorating, though!

Incidentally, this is the first year this blog doesn't feature the pilgrimage to a certain, ahem, November football classic. We couldn't make it to the East Coast in time for The Game, but we found a decent alternative:

 

We were very happy that another illustrious Yale team came to us during November, playing Colorado College at the World Arena. Strictly on the competitive merits, their 5-1 whupping of the home team was rather more satisfying than The Game has been in recent years.

Happy Hannukah to all those celebrating!