Family Love

I’ve fallen farther behind on posts than I expected to, what with juggling two little girls, social events with Chris’ bosses, and making our house livable.  There’s a million and one things I want to share, but once again I am only finding the time to type later than planned.  It’s funny how we moved all the way across the country, to a place where I know no one and have no obligations, and yet I still find myself wishing for more hours in the day.

My goal next week is to catch this blog up on what has happened since our arrival in Wyoming, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share the best part of our move-turned-road trip first: our stay in my hometown.  One of the downsides to the six years we lived in New England was that we didn’t get to spend much time with our families.  The cost of travel and our very tight budget meant that I hadn’t been back to Cedar Rapids in 4-5 years, so I was excited to be able to take a few days off from the road and spend them with my dad, step-mom, grandmother and one of my brothers.

We arrived late after the Chicago Auto Show on the 18th and immediately, Nora and Zara fell in love with their great grandma,
who is not only great at reading books, but also very clearly has not lost her magical touch with babies. The next day, we headed over to my dad’s for a quick visit before taking him up on his offer to babysit so we could run all the errands we can’t do in our little Wyoming town.Nora had a blast hanging out with her Papa while we got new cell phones with local Wyoming numbers, shopped for new clothes, and looked at cars.  I’m still getting used to living in “America” again with chain restaurants, strip malls, and super stores, and Cedar Rapids was a speedy reminder of both what we were and were not missing on Nantucket.

Regardless of how we might feel about leaving our sandy piece of paradise, one thing is for sure: we are closer to family now (if only by one less day’s drive) and that is a very good thing.

I loved watching the girls interact with everyone and look forward to visits more often than once every two years.

I was especially amazed at how easily Nora glommed onto my little brother.
She had a great time playing with him and was heartbroken to leave him (there were actual tears).  So long as Uncle R.J. was around, we knew exactly where Nora was and what she was doing.

I can’t wait to get this house put together so we can start accepting visitors and see everyone again!