Homesick

I miss New York.

I have continued to luck out in that we have been so incredibly busy since moving to Florida, I haven't had much time to focus on it. But as things are starting to slow down, I find myself having to actively push thoughts of New York out of my mind. Because as long as I don't think about it, I can just go through with my day and ignore the nagging sadness I feel whenever my city pops into my mind. Because that's the healthy way to handle negative emotions, right? Avoidance! Hooray!

But you know what? New York is everywhere. It's on TV and in the movies. It's in the paper and my Facebook newsfeed. I still get New York events emails and follow NYC Twitter accounts and blogs (I've been meaning to clear all that out but haven't quite gotten to it yet). So ultimately, avoidance only works for so long. And every time I get a little flash of a reminder of my city, the homesickness washes over me like a tidal wave. Every now and then I'll let myself feel it for a moment until the tears come to my eyes, and then I go back to my methods of suppression and push it out of my mind.

Last night, however, I really let myself feel it. I spent some time before bed looking through old pictures. Mostly pictures of Ellie, but I couldn't help but notice where Ellie was in all of them - in our old apartment, along the waterfront, in the city, on the train. I looked at each picture and I could remember the day and where we were. Those memories sort of sat with me for a bit, seeping in as the night wore on until I couldn't ignore them anymore. And then I missed my old home so much I could barely breathe. It was just this heavy, suffocating feeling of longing to be back there. I couldn't shake it and I just felt lost.

I am completely confident in the decision we have made to leave the city and pursue this new career path for Eric and the new home that comes with it. It's not that I'm second guessing our choices. This change is absolutely what is best for our family, and I believe that whole-heartedly. And really, Eric and I have talked it through a million times: "If we stayed in New York, what would that look like?" And the answer is, a full commitment to a law career for Eric, meaning longer hours and less time at home. A bigger house for our growing family, further out into the suburbs, meaning a longer commute for Eric and less time in the city for us (for non-work reasons) anyway. None of that sounds particularly appealing, nor does it really make sense. It is just not what we envision for our family and our future.

Also, our life as we knew it in New York had ended anyway. By having a baby, we drastically changed our New York lifestyle. Sure, we still took Ellie out to do as much as we could. But gone are the days of camping out overnight for Saturday Night Live tickets, of standing for hours to watch a red carpet event, of fighting the crowds for parades and fireworks and things like that. So I know that much of what I am missing would have been gone whether or not we actually physically left the city. Our lives have simply changed.

But still, I miss it, even in its new kid-friendly form that we developed after the arrival of Ellie. I miss our apartment and our friends. I miss walks along the waterfront, the walkability of our neighborhood in general, the restaurants (and the food delivery!), the hustle and bustle, the energy. I can't let myself picture the city in any way without feeling disbelief that we really left and really aren't going back. It just makes my heart ache.

And to complicate things further, I feel guilty for feeling this way. We live near our family now, and I know how happy they all are to have us back. And we love that too, of course. It especially means so much to me to give Ellie the opportunity to form relationships with her family and get to know them so much better. My feelings about New York are, at least in my mind, a completely distinct issue, yet sometimes I feel like I should keep quiet about missing New York because it will make my family feel like we don't want to be here with them. And even more so, I don't want Eric to second-guess this path we have chosen in any way, just because I miss looking at the skyline every night. I'm so proud of him for pursuing this new life and I don't want anything to make him question my feelings about our new plan. Because despite this homesickness, I am absolutely behind him and am so excited for his new career and the positive changes it will bring to our family.

I think a big part of the problem is that we are in this sort of holding pattern before Teach for America actually gets under way. I know this is the way things need to be, and there are a ton of positive aspects of what we're doing now in the interim, but I think if we were just getting settled into our final destination, making our new home our own, getting to know our community, and adjusting to what will ultimately actually be our life, it would be easier. Instead, we're just waiting for the future to start and trying not to think about what we left behind.

I worry about sounding whiny or melodramatic. But the new direction I'm going here is to chronicle this transition and our adjustment to it, and this homesickness is part of that. It's an ugly part, yes, but that doesn't make it any less worthy of expression and documentation. I recognize that it is a step in our journey and one that I have to get through to ultimately start fresh and happy in our new home. Avoiding the issue altogether is certainly the easier route, but perhaps I do just need to let myself feel it from time to time.

So today, I miss New York.

Our Last Night

I can't believe I'm about to write my very last recap of a fun NYC outing. That is blowing my mind.

Before we get to that, in case you're wondering how Florida life is progressing, our belongings arrived last Friday and we've been working hard to get unpacked and settled. A word (or two) to the wise: I do not recommend moving 1) at Christmas time, and/or 2) with a baby. Both things really complicate your life.

It's nice having our things here, but we have yet to establish a routine, something that I'm sure will finally happen after the holidays. We have just been so busy I feel like I've barely had a moment to come up for air. It has been a non-stop mad dash of car registrations, new driver licenses, unpacking, visiting family, working, trying to do some kind of Christmas preparation, etc., etc. I haven't read a blog or responded to email in a timely manner or had a night to just sit and aimlessly watch TV in weeks. The silver lining there is that being so busy has kept me from dwelling on all the Christmas in New York Fun I'm missing out on, but the flip side is that I'm sure the homesickness is going to hit like a ton of bricks after the holiday craziness. Every now and then I'll get a passing moment of "oh crap, we're really not going back," but for now, that thought really hasn't been allowed much space in my brain. Check in with me again mid-January.

And it is very strange to think that this post will conclude my NYC-related recaps. It's all Florida from here on out. I hope you're ready for the change, my friends. I plan to share more about what exactly we're doing here shortly after the New Year, so stay tuned for that.

Our last night in New York was a perfect one. We took the ferry from Hoboken into midtown, which gave us great dusk views of the skyline as we approached the city. I made sure to point out all the notable buildings to Ellie.

On the ferry

Look, Ellie! The Empire State Building!

We then walked east, through our old neighborhood and over to Times Square. Ellie made this a bit taxing by doing her "lean as far backwards in the carrier as I possibly can" thing. At least she was having fun?

She's a weirdo.

Even though we had already taken Ellie there the week prior, we made our way back to Rockefeller Center to take in the tree one more time.

In front of the tree

On the Promenade

Eric's friend Dave met us by the tree to meet Ellie, and kindly snapped a few family photos for us.

That girl loves to pinch.

Our NY family

We also paused on the Promenade to recreate one of my most favorite pictures of us from our time in New York: us in front of the old Saks snowflakes in 2009.

Left: Christmas 2009, after seeing the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Right: Christmas 2012, with our baby in tow, bidding farewell to our city.

We then walked back over to Sixth Avenue to take in the large ornaments and Christmas lights once more.

Eric and Ellie and giant Christmas lights

Then it was over to Times Square, just because well, it's Times Square. It just seemed fitting to end our time in the city with a pass through Times Square. Once again, we stopped to recreate an old photo, this time one we took while Eric was a summer associate in the city, before we even moved there. We had just seen a Broadway show and were enjoying our night out in the big city. We weren't even married yet at that point. Five years of marriage, four years of New York life and one baby later, we tried to recreate the magic on our last night in the city.

Same spot, 2007 and 2012

And with that, we decided to call it a night and close out our city life. We walked back to the PATH train and I couldn't help but shed a few tears as I looked back at what we were leaving behind. I felt brokenhearted and unable to imagine not walking those streets every day. Frankly, I still can't imagine it.

We took the train back to Newport and walked from there back to Hoboken along the waterfront. I spent the whole walk trying to memorize every last detail of the skyline, every peak of every building and every glittering light. I don't ever want to forget exactly what it looked like.

For dinner that night we ordered in Italian from a favorite local place and drank a good amount of wine, trying to both reminisce about our New York life and prepare for the next day and all the change it would bring with it. That was our last real moment to reflect before the madness that was the day of our travel to Florida.

That night was a perfect way to say good-bye to the city: just roaming around midtown, through our old neighborhood and past these major NYC sights that used to be a part of our daily lives. I've said it before, and I'll be saying it for the rest of my life: we were so blessed to have the opportunity to live in that great city, and our time there will be remembered often and fondly. I love that city.

And now, with this closure of the New York chapter, let our Florida life commence.

Great Grandma L.

One of our top priorities before leaving New York City was to get Ellie out to Denville, NJ to meet her Great Grandma L., Eric's paternal grandmother. Ellie is lucky enough to have four great-grandparents in her life, and Great Grandma L. was the only one she had yet to meet. We made plans to head out to her place the Saturday following Thanksgiving, and Eric's Uncle Alan, Aunt Lynn and cousin Kristen met us there for lunch. It was so great to introduce Ellie to this branch of her family tree!

We took the train from Hoboken, and Ellie did surprisingly well despite being a bit tired. She even passed some time by biting my face, although I prefer to interpret it as kissing.

My loves waiting in the Hoboken Train Station

Off to Denville!

Chomp!

When we arrived in Denville, Uncle Alan retrieved us from the train station and took us to Grandma L.'s place. As we walked through the halls of her building, all the residents were preparing to head off to lunch so everyone was out and about. This allowed for much showing-off of the great-grandbaby, and everyone just ooh-ed and aaah-ed over little Ellie. She was quite a sensation, and I think her Great Grandma was very proud!

Eric, Ellie and Great Grandma L.

We had a lovely lunch and a great visit with everyone. They all seemed to love Ellie (but really, how could they not?) and she was really on her best behavior all afternoon. She just happily ate her Puffs (God bless the inventor of Puffs) and gnoshed on some banana in her mesh feeder while we dined and talked. Then she made the rounds and was held by all the women, and it was so nice to see her bonding with more new family members.

Four generations! (Uncle Alan is standing in for Eric's dad, of course.)

Aunt Lynn, Kristen, Ellie and me

Ellie and her Great Aunt Lynn

Kristen was accessorized to Ellie's liking

Kristen was kind enough to give us a ride back to Hoboken at the end of our visit, which was much appreciated. Ellie was so sleepy by then, and she did manage to pass out in the car for a bit, but awoke with a vengeance just as we arrived in Hoboken and then fully melted down. We were very grateful not to have had that happen on a long train trip! Thanks, Kristen!

It's probably a bad sign if she's pouting while sleeping.

It was such a nice visit with the NJ W. family. Hope to see you all again soon!

Adjusting

Well my friends, we are in Florida. The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind and the craziness hasn't slowed down just yet. We just have a lot going on.

We spent our last couple of weeks in New York doing as much sightseeing as we possibly could, and I'll be telling you all about that starting this week. Of course, thanks to Hurricane Sandy, this required much more effort on our part than it should have, because the Hoboken PATH train station is still inoperative. That meant that every time we wanted to go into the city we had two options: 1) walk over a mile and a half to the next nearest train station, or 2) hope our timing worked out to take the rush hour ferry from Hoboken (offered only between 8:00-10:00 a.m. and 4:00-8:00 p.m.) for $10 roundtrip. Our timing almost never worked out for the ferry, so I guess you could say we got our exercise that week. But, we were devoted New York sightsee-ers, so it had to be done.

To add to all the craziness, I accepted some jury work during our last week and Ellie started teething. As for me, the work was much appreciated but the timing was obviously less than desirable. As for Ellie, let's just say she hasn't exactly been handling this growing teeth thing gracefully. The poor thing has been miserable. She decided to sprout her bottom two teeth at once and it has not been a fun time for anyone involved.

Poor Ellie is showing you where it hurts.

Is she not just the most dramatic little thing?

We also spent a lot of time packing, obviously. Poor Eric turned 30 years old with no fanfare, not even so much as a dinner out (not on his birthday proper, anyway, but we did have some final Grimaldi's with friends the following day, which was nice!). Instead, we packed from about 7:00 in the morning until 10:30 at night on his birthday. Happy birthday to Eric! We did, however, celebrate a bit the night before, after his last day of work. His firm threw him a going away party and gifted him an autographed David Price baseball, and then back at home we drank some champagne and reflected on both his 20s and his time at the firm ending on he same day. It's time for a fresh start.

Eric in his now-empty office for the last time!

But when we weren't sightseeing, or dealing with devil teeth, or working, we were creating this mound of boxes...

Ugh. This used to be our dining room.

...with a few others scattered around, too. Basically, we could barely walk through the apartment and we gave up letting Ellie play on the floor at all because, well, what floor?!

More ugh.

We also made Achilles a bit nervous.

"Take me with you, guys? Please?"

The movers came for our belongings on Monday, December 3rd. They showed up 20 minutes early, which would have been great had we been ready, but what can you do? (Seriously, when are people ever early?) They got right to work clearing the boxes out of our apartment.

Ellie amongst the boxes

Our stuff moved out into the hallway, ready for a trip down the elevator and onto the moving truck

Eric and Achilles hung out in the kitchen to stay out of the way, but Ellie and I got clear out of town and went into the city for some shopping at Bryant Park and a visit to my old office.

Sweet girl out on the town

We returned to a very empty apartment.

Well that's just sad.

Eric had already made a little temporary "home" for us, including a "living room" of terribly uncomfortable folding chairs and a stepstool coffee table, and a bedroom outfitted with Ellie's Pack 'N Play, and a bed for us made of old memory foam and cheap blankets. Luxury!

The kids were excited to have lots of room to move, at least, and Ellie immediately took to chasing Achilles around the living room.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

We had planned to spend Tuesday cleaning, but given the fact that I had work to do and we wanted to be able to go into the city on our last night, we decided to splurge on a cleaning service. It was much more reasonably priced than we expected, and the hours of scrubbing it saved us were priceless. Best decision ever. (I'll tell you more about our last day in the city a bit later.)

Wednesday, December 5th was officially Leaving Day, and it was a whirlwind. We had a lot of trouble returning our cable box, which kept poor Eric occupied most of the morning while I finished up packing everything we would be flying home with us. Then I took the kids for a nice long walk around Hoboken, in the hopes of getting Ellie an extra nap in the carrier and tiring out Achilles before our flight. (For the record, Ellie did nap and Achilles just does not tire.) We walked our usual loop around the waterfront, up through the Stevens Campus to Castle Point, down and over to Washington Street and back to our apartment. It was a nice way to say goodbye to Hoboken and that beautiful city across the river.

Farewell, Hoboken

Farewell, you beautiful skyline

Meanwhile, Eric did the move-out walk-through with maintenance, brought down our luggage and loaded it into the car service van that we took to the airport.

We travel light, right?

We got to the airport and through security really with no troubles at all, which was quite a feat considering we had to check three bags and a car seat, then get through security with three laptops in tow, a baby and a dog. But we did it and even had a few minutes to grab a quick lunch at our gate and enjoy our very last New York Celebrity Sighting: Gilbert Gottfried was on our flight! What a way to end it all, am I right?

The flight itself was...well, it could have been worse, although Jason Segel's "THIS IS MY NIGHTMARE!" line from I Love You, Man kept running through my head on repeat. Ellie started off the flight fine:

She's excited to get to Florida!

But at the end of the day, a flight with a teething, overtired, squirmy baby is just not going to be a good time. I nursed her a lot just because every so often she would lose her mind and that was the only way to calm her. Well, that and Puffs. The girl loves her some Puffs. We ate Puffs for like an hour and a half straight.

This is me praying she'll fall asleep like this for a bit. Spoiler alert: she won't. Don't be crazy.

She also enjoyed looking out the window for a few brief moments.

Checking out the clouds

We were lucky that nobody had booked the middle seat in our row, so we had all three seats to spread out. Thank goodness, because Ellie spent an awful lot of time climbing back and forth between us in that empty seat. Had we been crammed into two seats, it would have been that much worse.

As for Achilles, well, he didn't bark for the entire three hours, so by comparison to past flights with him, it was a success. He did whine for most of it though, sometimes louder than others, and there was some occasional barking. Suffice it to say, our neighbors were not our biggest fans.

Ellie laughing at Achilles on the plane

But we made it, and so did all of our luggage. My dad picked us up at the airport and brought us back to his house, our new home for the next few months, and Ellie promptly crashed. Well, until we actually put her in bed. And then she screamed. And then got up and played. And then she crashed again.

Plumb tuckered out

Since our arrival in the Sunshine State, we've been quite busy. We have been working on getting driver licenses and car registration squared away (we got a car from my grandma). I've been working. Eric has started working. We've been visiting friends and family as much as we can manage.

And, we've just been trying to adjust. It's strange being back. I knew the weather would be warmer here, but I wasn't prepared for it to be as warm as it is. We're getting used to driving everywhere again. We went to the grocery store and were so shocked and the comparatively low prices (to NYC) that we bought pretty much everything. It has all been a bit weird.

The weirdest part, though, are those moments when we remember that we're not going back. Because our belongings haven't arrived yet (hopefully they'll be here by Saturday), it still just feels like we're visiting. And when we actually left, there was so much craziness going on with juggling all our luggage, and handling the baby and the dog, that we really couldn't even take a second to reflect on the fact that we were really leaving. In a way that was good, because I would have just been too sad if I had been able to really be present in the moment and dwelling on what was happening as that plane took off. But now, every now and then, it will hit me. A silly example: we bought ice cream at the grocery store. I thought, "oh, we should be sure to hurry up and finish the ice cream before we go back home." And then I remembered, nope, this is home now. It's not just vacation. While it is so nice to be back with our families, I still just can't really let myself think about that too much or else I get pretty bummed. I know that will fade in time but for now, it's just too fresh.

So, we'll just keep focusing on settling in and getting adjusted. Ellie loves having a big house to crawl around and explore, and Achilles is beside himself with all the squirrels to chase in the big back yard. When our stuff arrives, hopefully having our own furniture will help us feel a bit more settled, and once the holidays pass we should be able to get into a good routine. The next few weeks will continue to be crazy, but I'm sure we'll get there.

In the meantime, I'll be sharing all the fun of our last weeks in New York with you. We really lived it up the best we could in our final days and we loved every second of it. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Farewell, New York

This is it. The day has come. All my whining and griping and lamenting will come to an end, because today is the day we leave this city.

I can hardly believe the day has actually come. It still feels like only yesterday that we stepped off that plane at JFK and grabbed a cab to our new apartment in New York for the first time. Our first order of business? Pizza, obviously. We were just so excited.

Now we're leaving and my heart is heavy. I have loved this city more than any other place I have called home, and I think this is the place that has felt the most like home to me in a very long time. Over the past couple of weeks, I have tried to get out to walk along the waterfront in the evenings whenever possible, just to soak up every last glimpse of that beautiful skyline. Before Eric's last day of work, Ellie, Achilles and I would walk along the water to meet him at the ferry station when he came home. As we walked, I would stare at the city lights, alternating between thanking and praising God for having given me the opportunity to live in this extraordinary place, and fighting back tears at the very thought of leaving it behind.

I have wanted to live in New York since I first visited the city during spring break my sophomore year of college. I can't even verbalize what it was about the city that drew me in, but suffice it to say that something spoke to me, something got into my blood, and I just got the itch. I made plans to come here for graduate school that didn't pan out as I expected, and I ended up in D.C. for three years instead, but my sights remained set on New York. When the time came for Eric to look for a firm job, we both knew that New York was our goal. Thanks to Eric's job, my dream of living in the Big Apple finally came true, and it was so, so much better than anything I had ever imagined.

Through my countdown of favorite memories over the past two weeks, I have tried to put into writing some of the things that have made New York so unforgettable for us. But that countdown is only a sampling of the memories that we have made here, only the tip of the iceberg. There were also museums, walking tours, celebrity encounters, many more parades, concerts like Broadway on Broadway, divine restaurants, charming neighborhoods, wonderful people. There were unexpected experiences like Eric's role as an extra in a major motion picture, or my Shorty Award nomination. Living in New York also afforded us the opportunity to travel easily to surrounding areas, including Niagara Falls, Boston, and Philadelphia. And all that only covers the New York-specific events of the past four years, and says nothing about those other great life-changers like four of our first five years of marriage and the birth of our first baby. What an era!

I want to be sure, too, that Hoboken does not get lost in all of this New York love. Hoboken has been a wonderful place to live, and I am so happy that this is where Ellie was born. It is such a great family community, with so many great resources for new moms. I'm not sure how I would have made it through my early days as a mother without the groups I have found in Hoboken. So I am sad to leave Hoboken, too. I'm sad to leave the waterfront where I pushed Ellie's stroller for miles and miles as I tried to get her to sleep in her early days. I'm sad to leave the beautiful parks and the parades and activities and small town feel. I'm sad to leave the beautiful views and wonderful sense of community. I'm sad to leave Ellie's first home.

But New York City in general has just stolen my heart and I can hardly imagine not living here day to day. Of course, in my head I know that we are doing a very good thing for our family. Our next steps will be exciting ones and I'm sure that once we actually get to Florida and start to settle in, the happy anticipation for our next chapter will really kick in. But no matter how rational my head may be, my heart is still breaking. For now, I can't focus on the next step. All I can do is say my sad good-byes to the city I love so dearly.

New York, thank you. This experience has been one I will never forget. This will be one of my most cherished times in my life, and I know that wherever life leads me from here, I will always look back on my time in this city with fondness and love. Thank you, New York, for letting me call you home for these years and for giving me such priceless memories.

I ♥ New York.

VIDEO: A look back at over four wonderful years of New York life

I'm Joe Biden, and I Approve This Baby

Yesterday Ellie had a celebrity encounter, and it was a doozy!

Let's start at the beginning. We heard on Saturday that Vice President Joe Biden would be in Hoboken on Sunday, to check out the damage from Hurricane Sandy. We figured there was no way we would be able to figure out when/where he would be and deal with the crowds to catch sight of him. (We saw him leaving NBC Studios back in 2010, but that involved big crowds, a long wait and a view from a considerable distance. Still cool, but not super fun, and certainly not something I'd enjoy doing with a baby in tow.)

We decided to walk out to the mall yesterday, and on our way through the Hoboken Train Terminal, we noticed an increased police presence. Odd, we thought, but we didn't connect the dots.

On the way home from the mall, Ellie and I went on ahead (she was due for a nap) while Eric stopped at Target for a couple of things. As soon as Ellie and I got back to the Train Terminal, I saw a crowd up ahead. And then it clicked. I walked up to the gathering as quickly as I could and sure enough, there was Joe Biden in the thick of things.

There he is, in the middle of the crowd, right in front of the ATM!

I snapped that quick picture and then stepped back to call Eric to tell him to hurry up so he could see him, too!

Ellie and I stayed put, hoping Eric would get there in time before Biden moved on. And move on he did, just a few minutes later. He started making his way into the station waiting room, shaking hands with transit employees and construction workers as he walked. I was snapping pictures with my iPhone as fast as my fingers could move, waiting for him to get closer to me for the best possible picture for our Celebrity Sightings List. He was getting so close to me and then, he stopped. He spotted Ellie! He held out his hand towards her, and to me, and smiled, encouraging us to come over closer.

Joe Biden sees Ellie

We walked up to the barricade and he said hello, then started leaning down to talk to Ellie. I wish I could remember what he was saying to her, but he was drowned out by my brain spazzing out: "Oh my goodness. The Vice President is talking to Ellie. Ellie and the Vice President are having a moment. Can I take a picture of this? I have to take a picture of this. Can you just take a picture of the Vice President?" 

So I asked him, "Do you mind if I take her picture with you?" 

"Not at all," he said. "Turn her around so you can see both of our faces."

OKAY.

Ellie hanging out with the Vice President of the United States

Then he asked, "Is she riding the PATH today?"

"She wishes!" I said, and Biden laughed. (I made Biden laugh!)

Then he asked my name. I told him, and I introduced Ellie.

"Nice to meet you, Meghan. Take good care of Ellie," he said as he shook my hand. And then he continued inside.

I stood there all, "did that really just happen?!" for a minute, and a Secret Service agent said to me, "That was a very nice moment!" And I was all, DUH.

Eric finally made it just as Biden got inside the terminal. He was able to see him, but he missed all the action. He could hardly believe my story. Good thing I had pictures to prove it!

And that was Ellie's celebrity encounter.

Ragamuffins

As you know, Hurricane Sandy hit us just two days before Halloween. On Halloween proper, we were still without power and parts of Hoboken were still underwater. Needless to say, Halloween did not happen on October 31 for the children of Hoboken.

However, not wanting to deprive the kids of their Halloween fun, Hoboken rescheduled its celebration. It actually took a couple of tries to get the date nailed down, thanks to our snowstorm that came right on Sandy's heels. Ultimately, however, it was decided that Hoboken Halloween would take place on Monday, November 12.

So, on Monday, I dressed Ellie up in her little Halloween outfit, including festive leggings made by yours truly (and I had matching socks for myself, too!). We didn't get to wear our festive attire on actual Halloween, of course, because it was too chilly for cute outfits. We needed layers and fleece pajamas. But on Monday, it was a rather warm day, and regardless, we had heat at our disposal.

My Halloween baby, including the cutest ruffled butt to ever stick up into the air

Sock twins!

That afternoon, in addition to trick-or-treating, Hoboken held its annual Ragamuffin Parade, in which all the children parade down Washington Street in their costumed finery. The parade concludes at the Little League field right by our apartment where they hold a costume contest. We had so much fun (and contest success!) at the Baby Parade in May, so we figured this kids' parade would also be a great time. Ellie and I got all costumed-up and Eric left work early to meet us at the starting line uptown.

Snow White and the Evil Queen, ready to march!

The parade got started shortly before 4:00, and was led by crazy cars, a clown band, and the high school marching band. After that, the children of Hoboken just filed in and paraded on down the street.

Here comes the Ragamuffin Parade!

Clown band

Crazy car (it even spits water!)

High school marching band

Watching the start of the parade

Ragamuffins marching down Washington Street!

It was really great fun. There were children of all ages, and some of the costumes were great. Particularly notable were the Wizard of Oz family, the astronaut complete with space ship, the Pirate family with strollers and wagons decked out to look like pirate ships, and all the adorable babies in general (and ours in particular, of course).

When we got to the Little League field, they had us line up by age group or by family costume. We were in the family costume category, of course. One by one, each group took turns parading around in front of the judges' table, and then the emcee, Polka Dot, handed out the wide variety of prizes in each category. 

Unfortunately, Family Group was the last one to have their turn, so we had some time to kill. Ellie was a good sport about it, though!

Pictures while we wait!

Ellie and her daddy, killing time

She passed some of the time by eating her sleeves.

At long last, it was our turn to strut our stuff for the judges. We all paraded around for a few laps, and then lined up to hear the results.

Parading!

They had many prizes to hand out in each category, although they weren't prizes named for anything in particular (so no "Prettiest Costume" or "Scariest Costume" or anything like that), just general prizes with goodies donated by local business. To our delight, our number was the second number called for a prize in our category! And, not only did we win a super fancy medal, but also a $25 gift certificate to Grimaldi's Pizza. Hooray!

Ellie is super excited about her new medal.

The sweet taste of victory!

I'm pretty pleased that my adorable baby won something at both Hoboken parades she has marched in so far: the "Best Dressed" trophy at the Baby Parade, and a medal/gift certificate at the Ragamuffin Parade. I mean, can somebody just get the girl a modeling contract already? Am I right?

After we collected our winnings, we posed for a couple of quick photos with the Halloween paraphernalia they had adorning the field. And of course, given that it is a baseball field, Ellie had to get her first taste of what it feels like to stand at home plate. I think her daddy was very proud.

Ellie and Eric amongst the Halloween

Posing with Pooh Bear (of course) and standing at home plate!

I couldn't help but think as we took part in this parade that last year, Eric stopped by the Little League Field to check out the ragamuffins while my tired, pregnant self probably sat lazily on the couch while chowing down on carbs. As of Halloween last year, we didn't yet know if our little ragamuffin would be a boy or a girl. Now, a year later, our sweet baby participated in that parade, dressed as the fairest Snow White I personally have ever seen. I couldn't help but feel so grateful for all the blessings of this past year.

Of course, as are most things these days as we head into our last three weeks here, I was also a bit sad. Hoboken is such a fun place to be a young family with a baby, and this community is so wonderful. It's going to be hard to say good-bye. But for now, we'll just enjoy every last second!

Happy belated Halloween, everyone!