Anniversaries of the Heart

We all have dates on the calendar that mean more than just another day. Today is one of those for me. My grandma has been gone for 10 years today. In some ways it feels like much less. In other ways it feels like more.

She loved Braylen. I'm convinced she would love Kaleb and Aaron too, if she were still here. And she'd be delighted with her new great-grandson, Will. Strangely, I remember the most insignificant things about that day 10 years ago. Like what I made for supper. Tonight we'll have the same thing, because that's how I am. Memories wrapped up in my mind and heart show up in my cooking.

Today I'll end with a funny. Grandma would like that. :) Aaron came home from church yesterday, plopped himself on the floor to untie his shoes, and said this to no one in particular:
"Sometimes I just talk when I don't know what I'm going to say!"

That boy...  :)

Virginia {Days 4 & 5}

On Sunday we drove to Colonial Williamsburg. I'm so glad we included this in our trip. Kaleb is our history buff, after all. :) On our way, we drove through lots of traffic and saw an accident happen behind us. I'm so thankful my dad stopped our car in time, the car behind us stopped in time, and we weren't the ones to hit the Porsche, which was 2 cars behind us. The day turned out to be a perfect fall day, and even the rain stopped when we arrived. To reach Williamsburg we needed to cross the Hampton Roads Bridge/Tunnel. We thought that was pretty cool. One minute we're driving on a long bridge, and the next we're entering a tunnel to drive beneath the water. Then we pop back out on the bridge, and eventually reach land.

Before our trip, I found this website for Kaleb to explore. It helped him understand a little bit about Williamsburg. Our boys have had more fun with this website! You can find it here.

Williamsburg was not crowded at all, making it even more enjoyable for us. We toured the capitol, governor's palace, ammo magazine, and many other buildings. We walked a lot! I think I'll let my pictures tell the rest of the story.

getting a good look at the capitol building

standing beneath a 200+ year old oak tree

a view of Duke of Gloucester Street

Grammy & Kaleb are locked in and not too happy about it :)

my turn to be locked in with Kaleb

Kaleb & Grampy check out the fire engine. I'm sure my dad's glad he never had to use an "engine" like this one.

The Governor's Palace from the front...

...and from the back

pathway leading from the palace to a canal...I love it when the treetops intersect

All in all, we had a really fun time in Williamsburg. Because of our late breakfast, we skipped lunch. We were pretty hungry by 5:00! We walked to the merchant's market and found Kaleb a place that serves macaroni & cheese. I wanted another Carolina pulled pork BBQ sandwich, and was happy to see this restaurant--Stephano's Pizza & Subs--had it on their menu. :) We were all happy to sit down and rest our tired feet!

Of course we couldn't leave Williamsburg without dessert. Lattes for the adults and ice cream for Kaleb. Mmmm. :)

Day 5 means it's time to go home. After such a fun and full trip, we felt like we had been gone for a week!

ready to leave for the airport and say goodbye to our car

I knew our first plane ride would be fun--Grammy and Grampy were with us. Saying goodbye in Chicago was hard. Mom bought us lunch and 2 cookies for the plane, and then she and dad left. Kaleb and I had one more flight, so we used our time on that flight to do his homework. Our travels went smoothly, and we arrived home earlier than expected. Braylen didn't greet us with hugs. Instead, he blurted out, "Mom, you're home early! I haven't had time to vacuum yet!" Hmm, Daddy gave Braylen a job to do after school. I finally got my hug when he finished vacuuming. :)

I'm very thankful for our trip. I'm blessed with parents who see the importance of building memories with their grandsons. (and daughter!) :) Mom and Dad, where do you think we should take Aaron when he is 9 years old?

Virginia {Day 3}

Grammy & Kaleb playing peek-a-boo at the museum

Anyone who knows me and my side of the family knows that we like to take our time in the morning. We sleep in. We take our time at breakfast. We're not in any rush. :) Which is why our first stop on day 3 began at noon. The Norfolk History Museum opens at noon. Perfect. I don't think the museum staff is used to visitors lining up waiting for the doors to open, because the staff didn't show up until 12:15. We used the extra 15 minutes to walk through the garden and take a few pictures.

Today is the day we met up with my cousin, Nicholas. He and his wife followed their jobs and moved across the country 3 years ago to settle in the eastern shores of Maryland. I love Nicholas. Our lives couldn't be more different--but we're cousins and we've always been close. He drove for almost 4 hours to meet us in Norfolk, and I was so excited to see him again! While waiting for him to arrive, we walked around the MacArthur Center. This mall is huge. Of course Kaleb liked all the escalators. I did my best to steer him away from the "Bra-ha-ha" event going on. (an event showcasing all different types of bras--yikes!) We had lunch at Johnny Rocket's and finished just in time to meet Nicholas.

can you see Kaleb?

 If you ask Kaleb what the best part of his trip was, he'll tell you it was this part: touring the USS Wisconsin. Nicholas is the one who suggested this tour, so it was great to have him join us!

The famous 16 inch guns; I say famous because I learned in Hawaii that 16 inches refers to their diameter, not their length. :)

pretending to fire the 5 inch guns

Nicholas with Kaleb and me at the stern

Kaleb needed a boost, and Nicholas was right there for him

Mom and Dad with the city in the background

You can't tell from my picture, but I was beginning to feel awful at this point in our day. Living in denial and hiding how I felt only made things worse. What a terrible, awful, horrible time for a migraine...I've only had two in my whole life and they're separated by years. Why did number 3 have to come on this day? Riding in Nicholas's car on our way to Logan's Roadhouse for supper, I thought the worst was about to happen. Finally confessing how bad I felt, he told me I needed to get back to the hotel and go to bed. I agreed, although I wanted to cry. He drove all this way for this? I flew across the country for this? And now I might be sick in his car? I felt so awful...

Back at the hotel, I crashed in the dark bedroom. Nicholas stayed and visited with my parents and Kaleb in the living room. Every now and then I'd hear them laugh, but mostly I just slept. Eventually Kaleb came in to tell me Nicholas was leaving. I made myself get up and tell him goodbye. He told me not to feel bad about this happening...it was okay...but I was so sad. :( I had so much I wanted to ask him, so many things to talk about and share with him, but it didn't work out the way I'd hoped and planned. He didn't even get anything to eat for supper.

I wanted a do-over for this day. I still do. And that's day 3.

Virginia {Days 1 & 2}

Three years ago, 9 year old Braylen flew with me to Monterey, CA. You can read about it here. We met my mom there, and spent a long weekend with family attending my cousin's wedding. Mom and I realized how much fun that was, so we thought--what can we do with Kaleb when he's 9? We decided on 3 requirements our location must meet in order for this to be a parallel--yet different--experience for Kaleb. First: there must be an ocean. Second: it should be reasonably close to another family member, so Kaleb can meet more of his relatives. Third: it needs to have fun places to visit. :)

We decided on Norfolk, Virginia! We also decided to include my dad this time. What a TREAT! I wish my parents lived close to us and could share our everyday moments. But since they can't--this is how we've chosen to strengthen our family ties and create memories that will last. I feel so blessed to go along on these trips!

Kaleb and I flew out on Thursday, connected with my parents in Chicago, and flew together to Norfolk. Oh, how much fun we had! Kaleb doesn't remember flying when he was 1 and 3, so this was all brand new to him. Some things he said on that first plane ride:
"Do we have a game trail yet?" (He meant to say "contrail.")
"We're climbing in altitude!"
"Absolutely amazing!"

We rented a maroon Nissan Altima, which Kaleb started for my dad every single time. The push-button start was a huge hit with him. :) We let Kaleb choose our supper that first night. If you know Kaleb well, you'll know what he picked. Pancakes! We found an IHOP close to our hotel, and he was in heaven. I thought the hot tub back at the hotel felt heavenly.

our first night, checking out downtown Norfolk and the USS Wisconsin

Day 2 of our trip took us to Norfolk Botanical Gardens. For 3 years we've been watching an eagle nest online. Wouldn't you know, the nest is located in these gardens? (one of the many reasons why we chose Norfolk.) Kaleb LOVES eagles. He always has. This past spring, the female eagle in this nest we like to watch was hit and killed by a plane. :( It was so sad, especially since she left 3 young eaglets behind. While touring the gardens on Friday, we found the tree with THE nest in it. How cool to see it with our own eyes, after watching it online for 3 years! The male eagle has been recently spotted with a new female, so maybe there will be eggs in the nest next year after all.

the eagle nest

Mom & Dad at the base of the tree

Kaleb and me standing at the eagle's tree

We saw much more than the nest. Crepe Myrtle trees, flowers, fountains, sculptures, waterfowl, and even some palm trees. I didn't know Virginia has palm trees? We rode a boat and a tram, but mostly we walked. And walked. :)



Kaleb and Grampy on the tram

some trees were beginning to turn colors

We had the best sandwich ever...Carolina BBQ pulled pork and slaw. It was so good it didn't even come with sauce.

here's one of those palm trees

my mom and me standing by some pink azaleas :)

Kaleb, deep in thought

After the gardens, we drove to Virginia Beach for Kaleb's ocean experience! He loves playing in waves, so I was pretty sure he'd love the ocean. He loved it all right! We planned on wading, since I thought the water would be too cold to swim in. Well...Kaleb had other ideas. He loved splashing in the waves so much that I let him take his shirt off and swim in his shorts! If we knew it would be that warm on Friday we would've brought our suits! Oh well. When he was done, Mom bought him a towel and a pair of shorts. Ironically, they were swim shorts. :)

Feeling good in his dry clothes, we had supper at the boardwalk and then went back to our hotel. Kaleb went swimming in his new suit and the rest of us soaked in the hot tub. It felt like our own personal pool room, since nobody else ever used it when we were there. We all agreed that if we were able to order the events of our day, we would have ordered them to be just as they were. It was a perfect day.

And that's all for now. Days 3, 4, and 5 will be for my next post.