Caleb and I recently returned from a trip to Cleveland to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Our excuse to go was their baby shower. They are expecting their first child, a daughter, in March. However, I love to see them any time I can, and Caleb had only met them twice before this so we were looking forward to just getting to visit. As a bonus, my parents came as well so Caleb had lots of attention from loving family members.
Last week Caleb and I had to wake up frightfully early (before 3am) in order to make it to our flight. The Portland to Vegas leg was a breeze. Caleb loved looking out the window, and focused on his coloring and busy bag activities. He asked a lot of questions for the first twenty or so minutes of the flight, and enjoyed seeing the other planes before take off.
The flight from Vegas to Cleveland was not quite as smooth. He was getting pretty tired by then, having been awake for so long. We let him watch a movie, then I tried to get some food into him before a nap, but it was too late. He cried for a very long time before I was finally able to help him settle into a nap. Then he slept most of the rest of the way there.
Uncle Greg picked us up from the airport, and Caleb was excited to see snow on the ground. At the time there were only about two inches, but Caleb declared, “I’ve never seen so much snow in my life!” This was almost true…but it is definitely true in his memory.
On Friday, I took Caleb out to play in the snow, and Uncle Greg joined us for a bit. Caleb loved having snowball fights, and luckily Uncle Greg is a willing participant.
On Saturday, a huge snow storm hit Cleveland. I took Caleb out in the beginning of the storm before the baby shower. He again had a lot of fun throwing snowballs and walking around in the snow. He also made his first snow angel. It was fun for me to get so much time with Caleb.
After playing in the snow, I had to get ready for the baby shower. Auntie Shaina’s mom and aunties put a lot of hard work into the shower, and it was one of the most well done showers I’ve ever attended. Shaina looked radiant, and when Greg showed up at the end I got a picture of him as well. It’s fun to see how excited they are for their little one to arrive. One of Shaina’s aunts made a little helicopter out of baby supplies because Greg is a pilot. All of the decorations were very cute.
We made it home from the shower even with all the snow and got to relax at Greg and Shaina’s for the rest of the day. Caleb enjoyed lots of attention, and got to enjoy a cookie leftover from the shower as well.
It snowed all through Saturday night into Sunday morning, and by the time we were ready to go out and play again there was over a foot of snow and it was only 14 degrees and dropping outside. This time, all of us headed outside to play (and to shovel the driveway). Caleb had a lot of fun jumping into snow piles with Uncle Greg, and throwing the frisbee for their dog Chesney.
I feel so lucky that we got to go have this extra little trip to spend time with the Ohio Bartles. The time went so fast, and on Monday we had to make our way home. Caleb was exhausted and fell asleep shortly before we boarded our connecting flight in St. Louis.
We can’t wait to go back later this year after baby girl Bartle is born. Next time we’ll bring the whole family!
Dad and I had such a fun trip with you guys visiting Greg and Shaina. Caleb was definitely a great traveler and will know all of the ropes when we get to visit again this summer. We loved visiting for the baby shower and to see those excited parents-to-be!