Team Cohen: Freedom to the Land of Driftwood

After staying home on "Corona Break" for a few weeks, we decided to take our pod to Driftwood for Passover as originally planned. We were sad to miss half of the family who usually joins us but grateful that we could still be with family (and grateful for the extended stay helping me avoid cleaning my kitchen). When we arrived, we were excited to set up camp with Nana, Zayde, and Team Gilden! Realizing we had less than 12 hours to eat chametz, we got busy right away.

popsicles on the porch

sugar cereal picnic in the pantry

At night, it was time for bedikat chametz, the annual game of "find bread all over the house the night before you're supposed to have zero bread in the house."

Ethan and Joey give love to Aunt Syssa and baby cousin!

The next morning, it was time for biur chametz, that time that we burn all the bread collected the night before, representing ALLLL that leavened goodness we won't eat for the next 8 days.

safety first

Passover is a holiday full of questions; the most well-known of which is "Mah nishtanah halilah hazeh mikol haleylot?" - "What makes tonight different from all other nights?" And Passover 2020 included a brand new question, "What makes this year different from all other years?" With 4 laptops, 2 iPads, and a smart phone or two, we connected with Boston and Houston for our first ever Zoom seder.

Family portrait 2020:

We prepared some old favorites and some new goodies.

Gabi learned a new tune for Mah Nishtanah this year.

Ethan rehearsed the classic Mah Nishtanah tune.

Avadim Hayinu - rehearsed from last year

Baruch HaMakom - a new song learned for this year

Apparently, Uncle Jon is known for his "marror face."

The Zoom seder proved more engaging than many anticipated, and we made the best of "being together," even while spanning different time zones. The last crew remaining at the end:

When the morning starts with snuggles and an adultless table full of kids, you know it's gonna be a good day!

The rules were, "Only put your feet in the water because the water is way too cold to go in."

Any true blog stalker who actually wastes enough time to read through this (and other) entire blog post, you'll notice the toddler love affair was thriving as always. Shayna and Spencer were left alone to raise themselves throughout most of the 10 days in Driftwood, and it was a winning situation for everyone.

The Toddler Show, Passover 2020, Episode 1:

Before the 2nd seder began, the kiddos got treated to an Aunt Debbie mani-pedi.

Fun fact: After figuring out the super-technology of Zoom seder for night 1, we lost power for several hours before night 2. We weren't sure if we'd have a flashlight-lit seder, cold food, and another unique evening. We began with candle lighting because that seemed like the right thing to do.

The electricity returned just in time to start the seder, a Passover miracle! With less devices on the table and a smaller audience to serve, we enjoyed a smooth-sailing, tot-friendly seder for night 2, hitting all the high points in just a short amount of time.

Kadesh - blessing over grape juice/wine

Urchatz - washing the hands

dramatic interpretation of the Exodus story

Some seder smiles:

Joey and Aunt Syssa

Daddy and Spencer

The Toddler Show, Passover 2020, Episode 2: The toddlers stayed perfectly happy as long as Uncle Jon kept feeding them matzah. All. Night. Long. So. Much. Matzah.

Aunt Debbie led a "What's on the seder plate?" interactive session. 30-year-old placemats certainly came in handy!

Of course, singing happened:

Avadim Hayinu/Baruch Hamakom

a whole lot of Mah Nishtanah by a whole lot of kiddos

We removed sweetness from our glasses in honor of the 10 plagues inflicted on the Egyptians.

Zayde left the table to wash his hands for "Rachtza" and left the afikoman unattended. The children swooped in and knew exactly what to do.

S'more seder smiles:

Typically, Elijah visits each seder after little kid bedtime, but he was able to accommodate our shorter, tot-friendly seder this year.

If I could caption this picture accurately, that would mean an adult was paying
any attention to this moment (or most moments between them for 10 days).

After a stressful search, the afikoman was found, and the seder could be completed.

For the reminder of our time together at any given time, we had adults trying to work remotely, kids staying entertained, and food and meals being prepared. Rinse and repeat.

We got the kiddos outside as often as we could. Pajamas were optional.

Gabi takes Joey on a ride.

Spencer does a happy dance.

Nana and Zayde hosted the lot of us for quite some time. It was good that we like spending time with them!

One of the great perks of staying in the same house for a while was morning snuggles!

Sometimes, we came up with clever, creative activities for them to do. Here, we built Passover scenes using Lego Duplos.

crossing the Red Sea
(Moses stands guard up top.)

Baby Moses floats down the Nile River in a
basket to Pharoah's daughter. Note sister
Miriam watching from behind the bush.

Egyptian taskmasters forcing slaves to build pyramids

Moses talking to God at the Burning Bush

all 10 plagues

the creative process behind the scenes

(I believe the following was the photography of a budding child artist...)

For afikoman presents, Nana gifted the children craft projects, knowing we'd have extra time to work on them together. We were ready to start adding paint to our butterfly wind chimes.

Super Spenceman got a cape-shirt upgrade from Aunt Sandi and debuted it in Driftwood on Passover!

On rare occasions, the adults got leisure time without children. (Check out that baby cousin bump with just a few more weeks to cook!)

April 12 was a big deal. Joseph Reuben turned 4.5 and big girl Shayna Miriam was just 2 days away from the big 2.5! The occasion called for fun celebrations all day, starting with Passover donuts and "ice cream."

Happy 4.5 to Joey, and happy 2.5 to Shayna!!!

What's a half birthday party without the pool? (Most adults were willing to find out - except for Uncle Craig who braved the arctic waters.)

While April 12 was winding down, we had Family Game Night:

Joey's last request for family fun on his half-birthday was to stay up and watch the sunset together.

The (recorded) Toddler Show, Passover Edition continued when an adult was close enough to pay attention:

There were many times when the children entertained themselves:

There were SOME times when the adults guided minds-on activities. Here, the kiddos went on a scavenger hunt throughout the house finding small objects beginning with each letter of the alphabet: