After the news of Grandpa's passing, we quickly planned a trip out east. York, PA is where most of Chris's extended family lives (grandparents, great-grandma, aunts/uncles, cousins). So it was a no-brainer that we should be there, as a source of support for the family, and for Chris to be able to say goodbye to "Gramps".
We hit the road the next day (Sunday), because I only had 3 vacation days available, and we figured it would be easier on Amelia to do the trip in 4 days than 3. I'm impressed with our packing --- we got up at 8, started pulling stuff together, and hit the road by 10!
When we do the OH-PA trip, we usually plan for a longer lunch stop, to allow Amelia to stretch and eat and stuff. She had her first kid's meal ever, at Bob Evans -- pancakes and applesauce! She loved it.
Grams seemed to really appreciate us coming out. She hugged and kissed Amelia all day long, every day. She even got down and crawled with her!
Amelia was quite the trooper on this trip. She took 2 good naps in the car in both directions and slept well in Aunt Leanne's crib. She even took good naps in the crib and in the pack-in-play at Gram's house! She played hard and loved hard, but when she was done, she was DONE! She was always very ready for bed - getting majorly cranky as soon as we were away from everyone else (good girl).
The funeral was beautiful. Gramps was much loved in his community. As a retired firefighter, he stayed involved at the firehouse, and was known there as "Pap". He had 300+ show up for one viewing alone, including the men from the firehouse.
A firetruck led the funeral processional to the grave site. When we passed Gramps' old firehouse, the men that were manning it were out to salute "Pap" as he went by. It was very touching.
After the funeral was a reception, so we changed Amelia into play clothes, so she could crawl around. She loved playing with her cousins. The little boys especially were great about including her.
And, of course, we had to get a picture of Amelia in the fire truck.
And the trip wouldn't be complete without a couple of stops to see her other great-grandparents (Gramma D's parents):
All tuckered out from all the loving, this is how we caught Amelia (having pulled off one shoe and sock) on the way home to Ohio:
1 comment:
it's such a terrible reason for a visit but a treat for all Amelia's grandparents & especially helpful to June, i'm sure.
thanks for all that. it was a real treat -a feast for me:)
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