Another year, another trip to Tennessee to visit with family and show off a new baby. Of course it’s never that routine as it’s always a wonderful, special time to see people we wish we could see more of.
Besides our usual visit, we had a few special experiences not the least of which was introducing Sam to everyone. Of course everyone loved him – was there any question?
Clare and Hannah just bonded immediately – at the beginning of our first dinner together Clare was playing shy (I’m pretty sure Hannah has never “played shy” a day in her life) and by the time the entrees arrived they were sitting next to each other, coloring together and chatting. There is over a six year age difference, but it didn’t seem to matter. Clare followed Hannah around like a little shadow and imitated her every move. Hannah, for her part, took great care of Clare and was very sweet playing with her.
We’re fortunate to have four generations of McPhersons. Nanny is doing well and loves having another great-grandson. Of course he has to compete for attention from his Papa and Oma with Miss Clare around. She requests demands their undivided attention and usually gets it. She’s been talking about Oma, Papa, Nanny, Jayden, and the horses, fish, dogs, and Hank the Bird since we’ve been home.
Another HUGE treat on this visit was Auntie Donna the Great and Uncle Mike driving up from Alabama and Brenda and Hannah coming down into Nashville for everyone to stay together. It was a chance for Clare and I to meet Brenda and Hannah.
Clare and Hannah just bonded immediately – at the beginning of our first dinner together Clare was playing shy (I’m pretty sure Hannah has never “played shy” a day in her life) and by the time the entrees arrived they were sitting next to each other, coloring together and chatting. There is over a six year age difference, but it didn’t seem to matter. Clare followed Hannah around like a little shadow and imitated her every move. Hannah, for her part, took great care of Clare and was very sweet playing with her. 
Traveling with two kids added extra challenges (waking up two children at 5 am for an airport run, for example) but in general the whole trip was very smooth. Clare does so well in airports and on planes, and Sam as content so long as he was fed and being held. The logistics of eating, sleeping, transportation, gear, packing, etc. wears me out but, with the exception of not bringing our infant car seat, we had everything we needed. It’s nice that Sam’s so flexible at this age. In the picture above, you can see we made a bed for him in a laundry basket at Oma and Papa’s.