Virginia Trip Pictures

Benjamin and I flew to Virginia to visit family a couple of weeks ago. We had a wonderful time and Benjamin got a chance to get to know his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins a lot better.
The first Saturday, we headed downtown with all of Paul's family except for his mom and of course Paul. Paul's sister Katie marched in the Cherry Blossom Parade with Timpview's marching band. We got rained on throughout the day, but we had a lot of fun. Later in the day, we headed over to the new stadium to watch the Nationals get slaughtered by the Atlanta Braves. Benjamin really enjoyed clapping and cheering (mainly for the Braves) and waving his little Nationals flag. After missing his nap and thoroughly wearing himself out, he was anxious to get to his cousin Andrew's house and wind down a little.

My parents, who have been working around the clock to get our house ready to sell, enjoyed some down time with their favorite (only) grandson. He loved their toys, and especially loved his aunt Michelle and uncles Nathan and David who were always anxious to play with him.

Later in the week, Benjamin and I got together with Paul's sister Katie, my sister-in-law Alexandra and her two boys. Andrew is about 8 months older than Benjamin, and Will is about a year and four months younger. Benjamin loved having a cousin to play with him at the playground, on the trampoline and in the bamboo at my parent's house. It was a fun reunion for all of us. A few days later, I joined Paul's other sister Abby, my mom, and my brother Nathan for a session at the Washington DC Temple. Benjamin hung out with Andrew, aunt Katie, and uncle Mike at the visitor's center. He had a great time. I was so glad to be able to go, as it was my first time inside the DC Temple (not doing baptisms). So beautiful, and so peaceful!

Towards the end of our stay, my sister Rachel and her two girls came for a visit. Natalie is one year older than Benjamin and Lucy is about 8 months younger than him. I think Benjamin especially enjoyed Lucy's company, assuming a cute big-brother role. I guess inevitably, he also became a lot more possessive and aggressive (than I've ever seen him) with cousins constantly around to play with. I realize now that all of his interactions are generally with kids older than him, or about his age. So he's always been non-aggressive, and backs away from a toy if he senses another kid coming for it. It should be interesting to see what he'll be like as a big brother. I think he'll be really sweet, but he really has no idea what he's in for!

The last couple of days, Benjamin got a pretty high fever. Luckily with a good dose of ibuprofen, he was great on the flight home, and slept it off that night. Oh, so I was kind of nervous about the flights, but they were fine. The first plane we were on was tiny (two seats on one side, one seat on the other) and completely full, so we shared a seat. He did great though. He didn't even want to get off the plane when we got there! The flight home was even better. It was a much bigger plane, and there were a lot of empty seats. Everyone was so helpful, letting us switch seats around until we eventually had a whole row of three seats to ourselves. Benjamin got a little nap on that flight, but was much too excited to watch the clouds and the landscape below as it came closer and closer into view. Can't really complain with a two-hour, non-stop direct flight, either! It was a wonderful trip, but we were sure glad to come home to Paul!