We were finally able to meet our new nephew last week! I’ve been on-call since April and unable to leave town save for a few weekend camping trips squeezed in between my summer clients. So when I realized that I had a bit of a lull in October, I decided to block the month off so that we could head down to California for a week.
Although both boys got sick on the trip, the week was still pretty grand. We got to meet Peter, help my oldest niece work on her dance moves for the school play, go trick-or-treating, eat obscene amounts of ice creams with my parents every night, see some of our extended family and just enjoy being together.
Here’s a look at the week in photos…
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Here he is! The most jolly kid I have ever known. He was like this the entire week.
Mary working on her skills.Hanging out with some of my cousins and other extended familyPracticing with PapaNick, JK and Jason helping Gryffin hone those batting skills.My uncle John showing Gryffin his 9 fingers. Well, technically he’s only got 8 and 3/4!
Getting a closer lookMy sister waiting for Peter to come down the slide.Isn’t he the sweetest?Isaiah spent nearly the entire time that day out on the field with the soccer ball.Emily taught Isaiah some of the basics of the game.John & AimeeMy cousins, Nick and Jake talking shopMy aunt, Rita, who organized the day with the extended family, looking on with my brother-in-law, Steve, as Mary keeps rocking those monkey bars.G taking his turn on the slide.Here’s the gang on Halloween. Hannah made her own tinker bell costume (sewed the skirt and everything) and an outfit for Peter to go as Peter Pan. Peter was not too sure about this whole costume thing. He was definitely a little confused! And he out and out refused to wear the hat Hannah had made. Emily was a pioneer girl and Mary was… an unspecified fancy person?Whatever she was, she looked great!EmyJason fashioned himself a Rudolf costume out of some actual deer antlers from my dad’s collection in the garage. It was kind of… disturbing. Some of the the neighbors flat out ignored him and wouldn’t make eye contact.Gryffin was a soccer player and RIGHT after this photo, Jason poked Gryff in the face with those antlers and Gryffin wouldn’t go near him for the rest of the night!Poor Bups was sick on Halloween and it took a lot of effort for him to rally enough to go trick-or-treating. He was a “football man” and he got to sport Steve’s jersey from high school (quite an honor).
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All in all, it was a great week with family, despite the boys being sick for a portion of the visit. I wish I had remembered to get a few pictures of myself with my family. I’ll have to work on that next time. When you’re the one with the camera, it’s hard to remember sometimes. The highlight was definitely meeting Peter. What a wonderful boy he is and my sister’s family announced that they are going to do it one more time. They have just started the adoption process again (a daunting prospect, to be sure) so who knows who we’ll be meeting next year? I can’t wait to find out.
