Holidays in Virginia

We are back from Virginia. We flew to Norfolk on Monday before Christmas. Gabe was a handful on the plane, but did well. He squirmed in my arms, talked up a storm, and did not sleep a wink. But he was happy. At the airport in Norfolk, we were greeted by my dad, Nana Rhonda, ciocia Patrycja and wujek Eric. It was great to have such a warm welcome. We made our way to dad's and Rhonda's house and spend the next couple of hours catching up. The next day, it was time to start cooking for Christmas Eve Wigilia. Everyone pitched in. We had a great Wigilia and a wonderful time playing games afterwards.

We played family feud: the girls (Kathleen, Rhonda, Patrycja, and I) v. the boys (dad, Eric, Tom, Dave, and Kohl). The girls kicked the boys "you know whats"! Then we opened our presents. Everyone got something good ... especially Gabe who scored big time.

This was his second gift opening session, as we already celebrated Christmas with Dave's family on Saturday, December 20. The next day was Christmas day and we continued the celebration with more gifts and Christmas dinner at dad and Rhonda's. Sebastian, Kathleen, and Marissa were celebrating Christmas with Kathleen's family, but everyone else made it to Christmas dinner at dad and Rhonda's - Kain and Kohl, Tom, Jakub, Patrycja and Eric, Elis, Jackie, and little Adrian (he is 15 months), and of course Dave, me and Gabe.

Friday was Sebastian's birthday. We celebrated with pizza, beer, wine, and a game of bonco at Sebastian's in Hampton. Then it was time to play "rock star." Even I got into it and did a-ok playing base. Marissa did great on guitar and Kathleen did most of the singing.

Saturday was a beautiful day (in the 60's), so we decided to go to Virgina Beach boardwalk and ride bikes. The wind from the ocean was a lot colder than we expected, but we braved the cold and rode bikes and strolled the boardwalk anyway.

Dave rented a four person cart that we had to pedal like a bicycle. It was heavy and the chain kept falling off, but it was still fun riding it. After we got back home, Patrycja and I went to get a pedicure (thank you to Rhonda who gave us both gift certificates) and then we had a steak dinner.

We flew back to SLC on Sunday. Jojo and Gypsie were very glad to see us and Gabe was very happy to get a bath in his little tub and laughed and cooed when he got to play with his familiar toys. I was surprised that he recognized the house and his room. Also, while we were in Virgina, he didn't want to leave my side and whenever I walked away or he saw me across the room he would cry and want me to hold him. When we got home, however, he was fine. It is amazing to me how fast he is growing and changing.