Vacation

The Beach!

Sorry this is a bit late but we have been busy!! Last weekend we got back from vacation. Ava and I left four days early to go see my brother and his family in Virginia Beach. It was particularly exciting as Ava had not met her almost-three year old cousin, Madison. The flight out was uneventful but still exhausting. Traveling 8 hours with a very active baby by yourself is madness.

Ava LOVED uncle Shawn right away. She was also pretty excited about Madison but the feeling was not really reciprocated. Ava plays a bit too physical for Madison's liking. Plus, it was hard for Madison to share toys, her space, and her daddy. Despite all the adjustments, she was a good girl. Madison particularly liked to help feed and bath Ava.

Cousin Love

Hard to believe there are TWO years difference here!

Aunt Miriam and Ava on the carousel.

Madison was ready for Ava to be gone by this point!

On Saturday, Chris flew into Norfolk and we headed down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for the annual Cancro family reunion. It was great to see everyone and be on the beach again. Last year we missed it because I was enormously pregnant and Chris has just started residency. All seven cousins loved Ava and vied for her attention. She took all the pulling and manhandling like a champ but it was a bit overwhelming at first so we had to take quite a few breaks. With 20 people staying in the same house, it was easy for her to get overwhelmed. As a result, it took her a long time to get used to everyone. Plus, she had a cold/cough that kept her up at night so she was just a bit off. By the second half of the week, she was loving everyone though.

As for me, it wasn't really a vacation in many ways. The traveling wore me out. Plus, staying up with Ava at night while she was coughing was thoroughly exhausting. I was a bit of a zombie during the day. Despite all of this, I was able to enjoy the family, ride some waves, get some shopping in and finish three books. (Chris, George, Debbie and myself were all ridiculously addicted to the Twilight Series.)

While we were in OBX, my brother had an emergency appendectomy. He's fine now but it's still scary. I was tempted to drive back to Virginia Beach to take care of him when Miriam wasn't there but her family is amazing. They brought over so much food and stayed with him the entire time. He's slowly on the mend and back to work.

We spent one more evening with Shawn and Miriam before our flight left on Sunday. We had a mini photo shoot in the backyard trying to get a good picture of the girls. Pointless. We did get a lot of pictures but Ava was just not cooperating. Plus the bugs and humidity were awful. Shortly thereafter we had to leave to go home. Let me tell you, I was so thankful to have Chris with me on the way home. The flight from Norfolk to Atlanta was miserable as Ava was whining and wiggling the whole time. Then we got delayed for three hours in Atlanta. While sitting on the tarmac waiting for the thunderstorm to pass, Ava thought it would be fun to scream the whole time. She wasn't crying but screaming and yelling to get attention. She would scream, look over my shoulder, see who was laughing, flirt with everyone and then do it all over again. It's cute for the first 10 minutes but then it gets very old. Everyone knew who Ava was by the time we got off the plane. Thankfully, she did sleep for most of the actual flight home. We got back to our apartment around 1:00 am and just dropped.

The Photoshoot

This past week we've been recovering and trying to get back into our normal routine. There is more to tell but I'll do that in a separate post. Enjoy the pictures and video below.

With Daddy in the pool.

Ava loved cousin Maia.

And cousin Dan.

Getting love from Cousins Nina and Violet.