Last week we visited family back East, completing a whirlwind tour to see all four households of our parents. Lots of great things happened and lots of photos were taken. Here are just a few moments I want to capture in writing.
The Good...
F
amily Reunion - We attended our big family reunion that is held once every two years. The reunion is down at the local park where many of us played while young. It's also the park where Brian and I got married. The elders of the reunion are the six brothers and their wives / significant others...then their kids...and their kids' kids...and their kids' kids' kids. Did you get that? Yep, I got to see some of my 3rd cousins :-) In all, ages ranged from 85 (I think) down to 3months (Jude was the youngest). The afternoon consisted of everyone catching up with everyone else, eating tons of food, white elephant auction full of garage sale finds, games for the kids, and playing with a miniature pet pig! Tam had fun playing with cousin-to-be Ciearra and other wee ones. They played the run-around-screaming game, hula-hoops, and plastic ducks in a bucket of water. Jude was held by several relatives, including his grandpa Ralph. He was even fed a bottle from cousin Jeff...who was completely shocked that I let him hold a baby that small since he has little experience with such tiny humans. (They were fine together). At some point during the shin-dig, we did manage to get EVERYONE together for a huge group photo :-)
Lots of holding of Jude by grandparents - Jude is such a snugly baby. He really likes to be held and to be where all the action is. Then, when he is ready to conk out, he is perfectly content to sleep snuggled up on someone's chest keeping warm and happy. This led to many relatives taking a turn at holding the baby. Nana held him while Tam played with cars around her feet. Papa Dale held him while watching TV. Papa Ralph held him while he slept. Grandma Margie held him for feeding and love. Papa Jon held him while we got ready for walks outside. Papa Jim held him for photos, but Tamlin climbed into his lap more frequently. Jude is also a lucky-duck in that he has 2 great-grandmothers who also took turns giving the little guy hugs. So much love!
Old Matchbox Cars - When visiting my dad, Papa Ralph to the kids, he brought a big box of matchbox cars...mine and Shelly's old cars. This just made me smile as I saw the familiar vehicles come pouring out of the box as Tamlin pawed through them.
County Fair - While visiting Ohio, we went to our county fair. Ah, lots of memories came back to me of going to fair with dates back during my high-school years. Sigh. This was a great day to spend as a family out in the warm sunshine and amid the farm animals. Tam ran along besides me and Brian, but I carried Tam in the front carrier (that I love). Tam, as before, was fine with all the animals that were about his size, but kind of freaked out by animals larger than him (horses and cows). He really liked the goats, or at least liked the girls minding their goats who let him pet them. After the animals, we saw the farm equipment...which meant climbing on the tractors! We ate greasy fair food, including fresh cut fries and elephant ears (yummy). Plus, we stayed long enough to see the rides open in the early afternoon. Brian and I thought Tam was big enough to ride some of the kiddy rides for the first time at this event. Tamlin was so excited! He adored going down the giant slide. He very seriously drove the truck around the track. He burned off some sugar-rush energy jumping in the bouncy-house. He surprised me by riding the kiddy-Ferris wheel. And he loved, LOVED, riding the mini-roller coaster shaped like a dragon. Jude slept the entire time :-)
Sister's Wedding Shower - Another chance to see many of the female relatives as we celebrated my sister's up-coming wedding. It was a good time filled with silly games, good fruit and yummy cake, and "showering" sis with gifts. I loved getting some of our younger cousins involved by letting them help Shelly with the opening of the gifts. Jude came with me and I was very grateful to let several aunts and cousins hold him while I was helping out. Overall everyone had a great time.
The Bad...
6 hours of Jude crying in the car - yep, Jude cried nearly the entire trip back to our home. He was fed, burped, changed, loved, and still cried...and cried...and cried. We stopped quite frequently to appease him to no avail. In fact, for the last 90minutes, we just let him cry because we were so close to home. To counter the wailing, we tried having the windows down at times or just turning the music up really loud. Brian ended up physically ill to his stomach because of the stress and my boobies leaked like mad in sympathy. Tam slept through the cries sometimes, but near the end he started to cry too because "Jude's sad." We aren't really sure what was wrong but we have a couple of guesses...he hates sleeping on his back and the car seat is fairly reclined, his reflux was troubling him, the car seat is miserably uncomfortable, he couldn't see anyone and he really wants to. Hopefully he travels better by October when we make the same trek East for my sister's wedding.
Attack of the fleas - One of stops led to an infestation of fleas. Poor Tamlin in shorts had his legs bit up pretty badly. We are really hoping none of them traveled homeward with us.
"Special moments" by spastic relatives - luckily these were few. I have found that imbibing adult beverages helps me to deal with these outbursts.
Sunburn - dumb me forgot sunscreen and got burned while at the county fair. I was also the only one of us four that didn't have a hat on to protect my head. dumb, dumb, dumb.
The Funny...
Tamlin's current favorite phrase (besides "go outside?") is "2 minutes." As in, Tam it's time for bed and replies "2 minutes."
After riding the mini-roller coaster at the fair for the first time, Tam exclaimed "do it again" very loudly. The attendant obligingly let him remain seated for another go. Because of this friendliness, Tam decided that he had a new friend for life. As the coaster passed the attendant on every circulation, Tamlin exclaimed "I love you" to the attendant, which made us all smile.
While garage sale-ing with my Aunt Brenda, we saw a deluxe bassinet for sale. This fancy-schmancy thing had a built in music box and swaying mechanism. Aunt Brenda pipes up saying that all they did was but the crib at the foot of the bed and kick it when the baby fussed. I turned to her and exclaimed that's what we do too! Great family minds think alike.
While at Grandpa Ralph's, Tamlin got to play with all those old cars of mine. He immediately wanted to run them between some of Grandpa's antique silver set that was sitting on a low table :-) This just made me grin madly to see this funny juxtaposition between old and new toys of these boys. Luckily, Grandpa Ralph thought it was a hoot too.
My Uncle Bill stopped by to say hello while we were in town. Uncle Bill used to live in Texas...and still dresses the part with a big cowboy hat, belt buckle, and boots. Tamlin greeted him as he came into the house with an enthusiastic "Hi, Cowboy!" This made our Uncle smile pretty broadly :-)
And here's a snapshot of all the stuff that Tamlin sleeps with in his bed.
amily Reunion - We attended our big family reunion that is held once every two years. The reunion is down at the local park where many of us played while young. It's also the park where Brian and I got married. The elders of the reunion are the six brothers and their wives / significant others...then their kids...and their kids' kids...and their kids' kids' kids. Did you get that? Yep, I got to see some of my 3rd cousins :-) In all, ages ranged from 85 (I think) down to 3months (Jude was the youngest). The afternoon consisted of everyone catching up with everyone else, eating tons of food, white elephant auction full of garage sale finds, games for the kids, and playing with a miniature pet pig! Tam had fun playing with cousin-to-be Ciearra and other wee ones. They played the run-around-screaming game, hula-hoops, and plastic ducks in a bucket of water. Jude was held by several relatives, including his grandpa Ralph. He was even fed a bottle from cousin Jeff...who was completely shocked that I let him hold a baby that small since he has little experience with such tiny humans. (They were fine together). At some point during the shin-dig, we did manage to get EVERYONE together for a huge group photo :-)
Lots of holding of Jude by grandparents - Jude is such a snugly baby. He really likes to be held and to be where all the action is. Then, when he is ready to conk out, he is perfectly content to sleep snuggled up on someone's chest keeping warm and happy. This led to many relatives taking a turn at holding the baby. Nana held him while Tam played with cars around her feet. Papa Dale held him while watching TV. Papa Ralph held him while he slept. Grandma Margie held him for feeding and love. Papa Jon held him while we got ready for walks outside. Papa Jim held him for photos, but Tamlin climbed into his lap more frequently. Jude is also a lucky-duck in that he has 2 great-grandmothers who also took turns giving the little guy hugs. So much love!
County Fair - While visiting Ohio, we went to our county fair. Ah, lots of memories came back to me of going to fair with dates back during my high-school years. Sigh. This was a great day to spend as a family out in the warm sunshine and amid the farm animals. Tam ran along besides me and Brian, but I carried Tam in the front carrier (that I love). Tam, as before, was fine with all the animals that were about his size, but kind of freaked out by animals larger than him (horses and cows). He really liked the goats, or at least liked the girls minding their goats who let him pet them. After the animals, we saw the farm equipment...which meant climbing on the tractors! We ate greasy fair food, including fresh cut fries and elephant ears (yummy). Plus, we stayed long enough to see the rides open in the early afternoon. Brian and I thought Tam was big enough to ride some of the kiddy rides for the first time at this event. Tamlin was so excited! He adored going down the giant slide. He very seriously drove the truck around the track. He burned off some sugar-rush energy jumping in the bouncy-house. He surprised me by riding the kiddy-Ferris wheel. And he loved, LOVED, riding the mini-roller coaster shaped like a dragon. Jude slept the entire time :-)
6 hours of Jude crying in the car - yep, Jude cried nearly the entire trip back to our home. He was fed, burped, changed, loved, and still cried...and cried...and cried. We stopped quite frequently to appease him to no avail. In fact, for the last 90minutes, we just let him cry because we were so close to home. To counter the wailing, we tried having the windows down at times or just turning the music up really loud. Brian ended up physically ill to his stomach because of the stress and my boobies leaked like mad in sympathy. Tam slept through the cries sometimes, but near the end he started to cry too because "Jude's sad." We aren't really sure what was wrong but we have a couple of guesses...he hates sleeping on his back and the car seat is fairly reclined, his reflux was troubling him, the car seat is miserably uncomfortable, he couldn't see anyone and he really wants to. Hopefully he travels better by October when we make the same trek East for my sister's wedding.
After riding the mini-roller coaster at the fair for the first time, Tam exclaimed "do it again" very loudly. The attendant obligingly let him remain seated for another go. Because of this friendliness, Tam decided that he had a new friend for life. As the coaster passed the attendant on every circulation, Tamlin exclaimed "I love you" to the attendant, which made us all smile.
While at Grandpa Ralph's, Tamlin got to play with all those old cars of mine. He immediately wanted to run them between some of Grandpa's antique silver set that was sitting on a low table :-) This just made me grin madly to see this funny juxtaposition between old and new toys of these boys. Luckily, Grandpa Ralph thought it was a hoot too.
My Uncle Bill stopped by to say hello while we were in town. Uncle Bill used to live in Texas...and still dresses the part with a big cowboy hat, belt buckle, and boots. Tamlin greeted him as he came into the house with an enthusiastic "Hi, Cowboy!" This made our Uncle smile pretty broadly :-)
