Over Memorial Day weekend we flew back to Pennsylvania to visit my family.  There were a lot of family members anxious to see him.  It had been almost a year since we last visited and Kevin had changed a bit since then!! Above is a picture of Kevin in our driveway ready to head to the San Francisco airport. He hauled Mom’s suitcase most of the trip. He entertained quite a few folks at baggage claim.

When we stay in PA we stay with my sister and her family because they have a big house with plenty of extra room for all of us.  My nieces had a great time getting to know their cousin again.  They put him to work out in the big backyard helping them water the plants (below)

One of the first things on the itinerary for our trip was a little triathlon in Mt Gretna on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Friday I spent the day putting my bike together and then taking a drive on the bike course with my Dad and Uncle Jim.  Uncle Jim always likes to point out places where I can cheat and cut corners.   We also fit in a visit to see my Dad at work at the volunteers’ office of the Good Samaritan hospital. He loves showing his grandson off to all the ladies in the office.

Saturday was the race and the entire family made their way out to Mt. Gretna early in the morning to spectate. I think everyone had fun watching me suffer.   I had a good time and it was a well organized event.  The bike course was pretty hilly but the run was on a railroad bed trail that Heather and I had run on in the past.  I really enjoyed that part of the race.  The results of the race are on my website.

After the race we spent lots of time with family and visiting friends.  Nanny took Kevin to visit Marshall, her horse.  The picture on the left is from our 2008 visit, the one on the right is from this year.

By far Kevin’s favorite part of the visit to the farm was playing with the pitchfork in the hay…yes we’re horrible parents for letting him play with a pitchfork…but it did make for some great pictures and he had a blast as can be seen below.

Finally we packed up and started the trip home.  We were a bit worried on the 6 hour flight home as Kevin was super hyper and very loud. We were not making many friends around us.  He had learned to “sing” at my sister’s house while playing Guitar Hero and was practicing his best Adam Lambert whiny/screeching singing voice for the first hour of the flight! Finally he lost energy and fell asleep on Heather’s lap.  I  had loaded episodes of Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street on my iPhone and that helped put him to sleep. He would sit on Heather’s lap watching, fighting to stay away, but eventually his eyelids got REALLY heavy until he fell asleep.

After a peaceful (for everyone) 2 hour nap Kevin was awake, had a snack and seemed to be enjoying himself.  20 minutes before landing in San Francisco he was sitting on my lap when all of a sudden he started vomiting like a volcano.  He was completely covered and I started feeling a wet, warm feeling soaking into my lap.  Two minutes later he was sitting in his diaper in his own seat giggling like nothing had happened. Meanwhile I’m sitting in a pile of puke and smelling wonderful.  I must officially be a Dad now because I wasn’t even phased by this…I mean, what can you do? 

Aside from the final vomit event, it was an excellent trip and Kevin was a real trooper. He adjusted well to east coast time and to the new surroundings and thoroughly entertained the family.

Enough about the airplane ride. We stayed with Dave’s sister Margot, and her family. We took a trip to the hospital on our first morning, Friday. Dave’s Dad (Papa) volunteers there several days a week and has been bragging to his coworkers about his new and only grandson. So, we had to go prove him right. That was Kevin’s first opportunity, of many, to show off all his new-found tricks. He babbled, he crawled, he pulled himself up (and sat down again) a thousand times. He ate the paperwork, he licked the door hinges, and smiled at all the old ladies. He was a hit. I think Papa was proud of his grandson.

In the afternoon, we visited Dave’s Aunt and Uncle. Again, Kevin was a big hit. Elma Jean had a small barn with doors that opened and closed. Kevin tried to eat those, along with all of Elma Jean’s magazines. People must think we don’t feed him enough. Back at Margot’s, Kevin got to spend some quality time with his cousins, Roxie and Maddie. They watched the Wonder Pets. Side note: I cannot get the Wonder Pets song out of my head. I sing it all the time. I did a triathlon this weekend and I sang that damned song for the entire race. “Linny, Tuck, and Ming Ming too….What’s it gonna take? Team work! What’s it gonna take? Team work!” Argh.

Coach Dave doesn’t let my Ironman training stop just because we’re on vacation. So, I went for a 5 mile run. Margot had the family over for dinner that night – Dave’s Mom (Nanny), Papa, and brother Clint. She made a marvelous meal and Kevin entertained us all while he attempted to eat cheerios and a biscuit in his highchair.

On Saturday, we met Nanny at the Y and did a short swim workout. Then we went to visit a childhood friend of Dave’s, Gordy. Gordy and Sherri have three young boys – very rambunctious. So Kevin had plenty of action to watch during that visit. He tried to eat their dish towels. We went to Nanny’s and Kevin got to swing in their backyard and pet his first rabbit. Margot had some neighbors over for dinner Dave kicked everybody’s tail playing pool while Kevin slept through a huge thunder and lightening storm.

Nanny and Papa took Kevin on Sunday morning while we went for a 13 mile run. There is a railroad bed converted into a nice dirt trail in Mt. Gretna, PA. It is my all-time favorite running trail. It has a canopy of leaves over the top, it is soft under your feet, the elevation is flat, and the trail goes on forever. Dave slowed his pace down considerably and ran with me the first 9 miles, then he took off. I picked up the pace best I could to finish in under 2 hours. It was a fantastic run – we saw very few people and a few horses.

Nanny is really into horses. She has one horse, Marshall, stabled nearby. After our run, we met Nanny and Kevin and Marshall. Kevin was so excited about the horse! He poked at his eyeball, stuck his finger up his nostril, and scratched at his mane. Dave took him for a short walk around the farm and Kevin grinned from ear to ear. Kevin tried to eat Marshall’s carrots.

Here is a short video of Kevin and the horse

That afternoon we visited another childhood friend of Dave’s, Amy. Kevin pet his first guinea pig and watched their hyperactive dog run around in circles chasing his tail. Kevin tried to eat Amy’s bracelet.

That evening, most of the family met at Nanny’s for dinner. Nanny got the Haviland china out for the occasion! Kevin got to swing in the backyard again.

On our final day, we visited Nanny at Royer’s Flowers. Kevin was enamored with the electric carts hauling loads and loads of boxed flowers. Dave’s friend Joan came by to meet Kevin and give us a yummy bowl of peanut butter balls.

Given our long trip out east, we decided to “upgrade” our tickets home to a non-stop flight straight to San Francisco. We had lunch with everyone before we headed to the airport. Kevin slept all the way there, partied at the Philly airport, then slept for the first half of the flight home. He made a lot of friends the second half of the flight, flirting with the ladies. One flight attendant brought a steaming cup of dry ice for Kevin to watch. He tried to eat that too.

We were home by 10pm and in bed by quarter after. Kevin converted to west coast time overnight – he was back on track.

Throughout the trip, we wondered what Kevin was thinking. He was so excited about meeting his first horse. What did he think it was? A big, hairy person with a long face, oversized nostrils, and big teeth? He traveled 3000 miles, spent 5 days at someone else’s house, and flew 3000 miles home. An 8 month old probably just thinks he’s going to a new part of his own house, where different people live. Weird.

Next was the Christmas day get together at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandma bought Kevin a Santa Claus sleepsack and Kevin modeled his new outfit for everyone. Nanny also bought Kevin a holiday outfit that might not cause Kevin quite as much embarrassment if he wears it in public.

Finally on New Years Day, we had a few folks over for a little football watching party and Kevin borrowed a friend’s tiara to be the Prince of New Years for the day.

We all went to the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose the first day. They have an amazing body exhibit – real human bodies plasticized for your viewing pleasure. They have hundreds of bodies sliced, diced, and on display in many variations so that you can see the muscles, organs, skin, fat, nerves, and everything else! It isn’t gruesome, albeit a little eerie. Now when all our athlete friends talk about their sore IT bands or their pinches sciatic nerve, I know exactly what and where they are talking about. We also went to the IMAX movie on the human body. It was quite timely for Dave and I – a lot about how the human body is formed in the womb and lots of good stuff about babies. Kevin slept through the whole thing, aside from one outcry. We were amazed, since those IMAX movies are loud enough to make your tummy rumble and your teeth chatter. We highly recommend a trip to the Tech Museum before this exhibit goes away in January 2008.

My parents had us all over for dinner that evening – all the grandparents together in one room fighting over who could hold little Kevin.
Kevin has started to smile somewhat regularly now, so within 5 minutes of arriving, we were all huddled around him lying on the family room carpet, making goofy faces to get him to smile. No pressure! But gosh, that smile sure is cute! It makes us completely forget the last 8 weeks of crying!

The next day we took a little road trip to the coast, taking many of our favorite cycling roads to get there and back – Skyline, 84, Highway 1, and others. It was a beautiful day – very little wind, warm, and sunny. We went to Duarte’s in Pescadero for artichoke soup (although, to be a real insider, you must order the “Half and Half;” which is half artichoke soup with Cream of Green Chili soup swirled in). We bought our share of Olallieberry Jam, something else Duarte’s is famous for. Kevin threw a mini-fit during lunch because he was hungry too. If Mommy eats, I get to eat too!

Other than a quick trip to the Golden Gate Bridge at the time of our wedding, Bill hasn’t seen the Pacific Ocean in 46 years. It was quite a treat for him to take a look-see on such a nice day.

Judy works for a major flower distributor in Pennsylvania, so she enjoyed seeing all the flower distributors near Pescadero.

We took the third day a little easier and spent some time around the house. Dave and his Mom planted a few flowers in the front yard and fertilized the existing plants. Apparently, when Dave was young, he was always climbing up _______ (fill in the blank – a tree, on the roof, on large rocks). So, while his mother was working like a slave in the yard, he was getting to know our live oak tree a little better.

I took apart and scrubbed our trash compactor (something I’ve been dying to do since we moved in a year and a half ago). Kevin got plenty of tummy time practice in – he’s holding his head up for minutes at a time now, gawking at everything in site.

Kevin even rolled over for the first time! I’ll admit, I gave his foot a tiny nudge to get him started, but he did most of it on his own. Shhhh, we won’t tell. Dave and Nanny gave him one of many baths and Papa spent some quality time getting to know his new grandson.

We took a short trip to the NASA Ames Research Center. Bill is intrigued by matters of space, so we wandered around an interesting museum, learning about the various Apollo missions and potential life on Mars.

We had a relaxing dinner together in our over-the-top dining room. And Kevin had a major breakthrough night – he went 8 hours between feedings for the second night in a row. That makes me, his food source, super duper happy because I only have to get up once in the middle of the night! Woo-hoo! We think it must be due to his Nanny and Papa being in town (either that, or we’ve been running him ragged with outings, so he’s completely exhausted!).

For all the pictures from Nanny and Papa’s visit, click here.

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