Hoda Kotb has no regrets about trading in the hustle and bustle of city life for the calmness of the suburbs.
“Everything changed like that. I have a whole new town and a whole new school and all the new things,” Kotb said of her and her daughters’ recent move on the Wednesday, September 4, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “We went for our first day of school, I carried a coffee and I had sneakers [on], and I walked my kids to school like normal people. It was awesome.”
Walking Haley, 7, and Hope, 5 — who she shares with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman — to school is something Kotb called a “privilege,” as not all working parents get the opportunity to do so.
“I just thought, ‘You know what? Sometimes chapters change and you miss things.’ And I was like, ‘I’m gonna do it,’” she explained. “It was, like, a train of 10, 12 kids walking to school in a neighborhood.”
Kotb returned Today on Wednesday after taking over a week off to enjoy the end of summer with her kids. “Summer photo dump❤️☀️wait, is summer over?” she captioned a Tuesday, September 3, Instagram slideshow featuring photos from her family’s summer adventures, including trips to the beach, hanging out with friends and attending the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kotb used her final vacation day to take her kids to their new school. She revealed back in March that she, Haley and Hope were moving to a different area of New York.
“It’s interesting because think about how many times you’ve moved in your life,” she told her cohost, Jenna Bush Hager, at the time. “Every time I moved in my life, and you moved in yours, it was like, all of a sudden, it was a huge adjustment. But the stories I tell about growing in my life come from those.”
While discussing the move during a June episode of Hoda & Jenna, Kotb got emotional while reflecting on her daughters’ early days. “I remember them trying to crawl up the stairs and I remember, now, how they race up and down,” she said of her former NYC residence. “And I was thinking about the very first time we brought them home and carried them up those stairs in that car seat and placed them in a little thing and all the things that happened there.”
She continued: “And I was looking through old videos of them, when they were so little, and it’s like you want to hold onto things and you want to let go. And when I saw these videos of them when they were kids, little babies, I can’t believe I have a 7 and a 5-year-old. And I can’t believe all those memories. … There were so many things that we have built there.”
Kotb recently celebrated her milestone 60th birthday in her new house with friends and family, including Schiffman. “Thx for all of the wonderful bday wishes!!!! My party was perfect! —Minus my sis being home sick 🤧 we missed you Hala—❤️❤️❤️,” she captioned Instagram snaps from her at-home gathering on August 10.
