Thanksgiving Trip

Our new cousin/niece Madison was born in September and it is long past due for our visit to meet her. We packed-up again (just after returning from the cruise) and headed for Norfolk,VA to visit my sister Karen, Mark and baby Madison. Grandma Myra would join us with the much more daunting mission of being Madison’s primary baby-sitter for at least the next month. Grandpa David, still on his long post retirement road-trip would meet us there as well.

Flew into Newport News just outside of Norfolk and drove immediately too the Madison’s. As expected (if not a little planned), we all made a mad dash out of the car (before it stopped moving) to be the first to hold Madison (people were hurt, dogs were scared, and Madison would not learn to trust us until later in the trip). She is of course all that was advertised. Cute, chubby, mostly easy going and just the ticket for a couple of parents falling off various sides of the third baby fence.

Madison is only 2.5 months old and knows little of the world and its wild ways...much less of the Chapman’s and their ways. We would continue to overwhelm Madison to points of unconsolable hysteria. We like to think this is good for her and she is growing from it (hopefully not growing to mistrust the outside world).

Anywho, the trip in-store for us this round would be a solid week of some touring, beaching, visiting, and baby, baby, baby. Thanks to Grandma Myra and Grandpa David, we would do it in style. We got a rental house right on the beach (and occasionally right in the ocean). The weather in Norfolk this time of year was nothing to be excited about...BUT, it surprised us. After a few days of stormy weather, we enjoyed some beautiful days with sun and sand.

Some of the highlights on this trip were visiting the zoo, the Virginia Living Museum, lots of holiday lights at the botanical gardens and Virginia Beach boardwalk, the aquarium, and of course lots of visits with our family, Some hi-highlights were doing the jet-ski with Uncle Mark and Caden catching his first fish (documented in another post).

Then of course there was Thanksgiving. With a group effort, we pulled together a great meal at the beach house and ate our faces off (again and again). Our favortist cousin (daddy’s cousin...sorry Trina, it was all you at your wedding), joined us from Richmond.

So a side story to all this (though quite an important one) was what is the Dias family going to do now? They got a baby, and they got all their family living in Colorado (the cool family anyway). Turns out, the long discussions about what they should or should not do were all short-circuited by Mark when he announced he got a job in Denver, starting Feb 1. So there it is. After many years of my little sister being thousands of miles away, her and her family will be living close to us once again in the very near future. We are, of-course, over the moon about this. Our kids having their new cousin so close to grow-up with is priceless. We have seen the beauty of that in Katy’s family, but our kids were always a generation behind. But, we understand all to well that this is not an easy move/decision for Karen and Mark. Mark was born of the ocean and the land lockedness of CO is not going to be a welcome change. Karen is also not anxious to drop everything and upset her life to be out here. They are moving because of family and we are honored by that. Hopefully with time they will learn to love Colorado like we do and make a nice little life of their own out here.

The second parallel story to all of this is that we have to leave Grandma behind. With the news of the big move in late January and Karen having to return to work on Dec 1, grandma will be Madison’s daycare for the duration. That is a hard task. Madison is very young and hasn’t been without her mommy for more than an hour. And now mommy is back at work and Madison and Grandma are on their own. It was heartbreaking to watch Karen have to separate from her baby. And it was almost as hard seeing grandma figuring out how to get through 8 hours with a baby upset by this recent development and un-willing to use a bottle. We have confidence that all three generations will survive in good form. Little Maddie will get the hang of it, Grandma will get a routine, and Karen will find a place in CO that gives her lots of time with her baby while working a job that supports that.

A solid vacation and visit with the family with lots of tears, good news, and good discussions. We loved out beach house and enjoyed the sites and sounds of a crying baby. Did I mention the one stormy day when the ocean was actually in contact with our house?! Going to miss visiting this area. Some lovely pictures from the week here (click)

Those are some good looking grand kids