This year we headed north for the holidays to show off our new baby girl to her great grandmothers.....and of course experience much cooler weather. Yes, the top of the list of thankfulness is that my kids have four great grandmothers in their lives. So this trip we got to see great grandma Wheat and great grandma Santilli.
The trip started out bright and early since we were flying and needed extra time to board the plane. The plane trip to Maryland was uneventful with the kids....thank goodness! I had been so anxious leading up to the plane ride and sometimes those are the moments I want to go back and relive because I spend so much time worrying about things that I don't get to enjoy the moment and the memories made with my family.
Did I mention how cold Maryland weather was to us? Oh my gosh! Anything under 60 degrees is cold to this Texas girl and I don't think the daytime temperature got over 50 degrees all the days we were there. The memory of the cold weather though will be that I FORGOT my jacket back in South Carolina!! See I told you my anxiety had gotten the best of me before leaving and this was my punishment.
Other than leaving my jacket back home, the trip couldn't have been anymore perfect. Everyday was filled spending time with cousins, cousins and more cousins. Grandma Wheat came over to spend the night so we got to enjoy her a little longer than we normally do when we are visiting. At one point there were a lot of people in the house and I thought Cannon would retreat to being his shy self but his cousins played with him and loved on him so much. He cried when one would have to leave. You can only imagine how much that broke my heart. We have no family where we live and to see Cannon (and Caroline) warm up to their cousins was such a great feeling.
While we were there, Grandma W. let us borrow her car and we took a four hour road trip even more north to Pittsburgh, PA. My 98 year-old grandmother is such a blessing in my life. She acts like she is 50 with all the energy she has cooking, cleaning and taking care of my two uncles but she complains like she is 100. She has the right to complain. We all should be taking care of her, cooking all the meals at holidays and cleaning her house but she insists that she does it because nobody can do it better than her. Well, she is right. Nobody I will ever meet can come close to the delicious Italian meals she cooks. All my life, she has been cooking all her own pasta, sauce, breads and Italian cookies. Aaron wishes I had her skills but this girl has none! Grandma Santilli was so happy to see us. She loved on Cannon and got a kick out of Caroline's independent personality. I think she gets it from her! Ha!
This Thanksgiving couldn't have been any sweeter. The blessings make my heart smile. Caroline is here and healthy, Cannon is a sweet little boy, Aaron is a wonderful husband and daddy and our family is so loved by the ones we love so much. It is hard being away from family but we pray they stay close in our hearts and we ask that God keep us all safe until we are together again.
Cannon got to experience sleeping in a big bed
Great-Grandma Wheat and Caroline meeting for the first time
Where Cannon goes, his books go too!
Hey Cannon....did any of the pudding make it in your mouth?
Sweet Caroline on her 1st Thanksgiving
The Wheat's - Thanksgiving 2010
Four generations of Wheat's (Aaron's dad missing)
Four generations of Santilli's (my dad is missing)
Caroline giving love to her great grandma!
Two beautiful girls!
Uncle Scott
Cousin Lindsey
Aunt Blanche
Cousin Kelly
Cousins Jake & Megan
Uncle George & Aunt Nancy
Aunt Barbara & Uncle Bruce
Cousins!!!!
Cannon having fun with the flight attendant button...opps!
This is the sweet pilot that helped us off the plane.
He said that he was missing his daughters for Thanksgiving and asked if he could hold Caroline while we gathered all our stuff. I heart nice people!
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