Dear Family and Friends,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a great 2011. We have been crazy busy like all of you this past year. Here is the run down on the Cohens’ 2011 year.
We left off the year with our adding a new and surprise addition to the family.....our pet Poosh (Poodle and Shitzu combination), Buddy. We love having him as part of the family, and it has been terrific. He has more than quadrupled in size since we got him, but considering he was only 2 pounds then, that's not saying much!
Then it was off to the Gray family trip to the Caribbean islands via a cruise. Lots of fun and laughter as we entertained 7 kids and 8 adults, there was always something to do and someone to do it with. This February, we are off to Costa Rica. Stay tuned for that adventure next year.
The rest of the spring we spent going to work and school. Brian started a new job in May at HSBC as the branch manager in Huntington. It’s been wonderful having him back on Long Island and working so close to home. It helps a lot with driving the kids to school and the extra activities they do.
We hosted our friends the Hoares’ from Switzerland for Easter along with the rest of the Gray clan. We had other adventures this spring as well. Camping with the Lapidus’ family in Connecticut. Then I was off to Montauk for a long weekend with my friends.
As summer arrived, our friends the Hoares’ came back to visit. They stayed at the house while we went to go (mostly) cross-country. We called this adventure the "American Trip" because that’s what we did. I have such wonderful memories of my first trip out west with my troop leader (and family friend) Connie Drew, I wanted Amanda and Rebecca to see and do things and appreciate the wonderfulness of this country. I hope in years to come that they will remember this trip as fondly as I do. Our trip began as we left NY and headed to Washington, DC for an amazing tour of our country and capital. Then Brian flew home and the girls and I headed out west on our own. Our destination was Wyoming, as we had to drop off Amanda for a week at the Teton Science School. She won a scholarship through Girl Scouts to attend the camp for a week. From Washington, DC we went to West Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Utah just to name a few states. While on our adventure some of the highlights included: The Arches, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Salt Lake City, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago. While on this trip we went white water rafting in Colorado and Wyoming, in addition to horse back riding and trying other new adventures. Brian flew out to Utah to help us drive home. We also visited with cousins, aunts, uncles and friends along the way. It was so wonderful to see everyone and I got a different feel for the area because we were with people who live there. As Brian puts it four weeks later and over 6,000 miles on my minivan, it was "quite the American Trip". It’s a beautiful country and vastly diverse, and I am so glad the girls were able to experience this adventure.
Amanda had a wonderful time at camp and is still in touch with the girls she met there.
Following our adventure, in August the girls were off to sleep-away camp on Shelter Island. My cousin Jackie and her husband Lachlan with their new beautiful baby Ella flew in from Australia. At the end of the month we were hit by Hurricane Irene, which wasn’t bad at all, although we did lose electricity for a week. After the first couple of days it got old. However, we definitely reconnected with our neighbors as we shared Colony Court evenings at each other homes to use up all our food, that part was really fun. We were glad when the lights went back on as I could finally blow dry my hair again!
September started with me back to work as a speech therapist in Hauppauge. Amanda is now in 10th grade and remains busy with tennis and Girl Scouts. Rebecca is in 7th grade and played softball this fall, in addition to dance and music lessons (flute and piano). Brian continues to learn the ropes at HSBC.
In October, much to our surprise and dismay, my Uncle Wesley passed away (my mom’s brother). Mom, Dad, myself, and both of my sisters flew to Florida for the services. It was a sad occasion, though I was happy to see all my cousins again so soon after the summer. It was also fun just being with my sisters, mom and dad. I can’t remember the last time it was just the five of us.
Now, to the present. New Years Eve we went into NYC to see a show and made the girls walk to Times Square to see where the ball was going to drop in a few hours. They closed many streets surrounding it. It gave us the opportunity to stroll down the middle of 7th Ave, where we made a pyramid with our friends the Lapidus’, and started the trend of jumping in the air, and taking pictures of it. Before long, we noticed many other groups of people doing the same thing! To say the least we laughed and laughed as did many tourists and New Yorkers. So we wish you all lots of laughter and fun in the New Year and many new adventures!!
Love,
Debbie, Brian, Amanda, and Rebecca
