Well, the holidays are over & we have some fun stories to tell. You'll find a special present of many pictures embedded within our first blog entry of 2008!
Colin, Ba, and Mama have survived our first Heberlig Holiday season! And let me tell you, the Di Man is mean, lean, package unwrapping machine. Our holiday hijinks began at the home of T's mother (code name "Mawmaw" to differentiate her from E's mom, code name "Grandma"). As you can tell from the picture below (taken at Mawmaw's house), Colin was quite enthralled with finding surprises inside the presents he received (better than a Cracker Jack box, believe you me).
One of the main surprises at Mawmaw's came about when we discovered that Colin may become a good ol' Southern boy after all. At dinner that evening, Colin chowed down on a heapin' pile of breaded fried okra (egad, don't even think Mama is going to fix these at home).
Instead of leaving on a jet plane, Ba, Mama, and Colin packed up T's car to the brim and ventured north. Our first stop was Laurel, MD, where we were able to meet Miri (Colin's best buddy from the VL orphanage who was adopted by the V's in July). OMG is she just too cute for words, or what? After taking a bit of time to bypass the "toddler syndrome" (and those of you who have or have had toddlers in your life know what I'm talking about), Colin and Miri had a fun time playing together (at least until Miri's two older brothers & friend decided to come upstairs and play...Colin and Miri wanted to play w/ the big boys).
Another car ride found us arriving to stay overnight w/ Uncle Joe and Aunt Helen. Although this picture was taken at home before our travels, Colin has quite diversified his dining experience. Anyone who has had the pleasure of eating Helen's cooking can certainly understand why Colin was not a fussy eater.
The next day, Colin had the opportunity to meet his Great-Grandmother. After a bit of toddler shyness, Colin turned on the charm & like the gentleman he is, took Great-Grandma for a ride.
We arrived to Grandpa and Grandma's house. As with our first meeting back at Thanksgiving, Grandpa was an instant hit w/ Colin. And, of course, Grandma's cooking was a hit, especially sweet potatoes (I have never seen a little guy put down that much food...whoa). One day during playtime, Grandma came across E's old hats, including his Mickey ears. Mama decided it would be fun to have Colin wear the hats...let's just say I was fortunate to snap this picture quickly enough before he decided to make a game of tipping his head forward to watch the hat fall off his head.
Christmas morning arrived and, oh the lessons one learns from experience (you know, that 20/20 hindsight thing). Colin had quite a few presents to open. Yes, he had fun ripping the paper but our little guy wanted to open each present and proceed to play with the toy or look at the book (note the look of excitement below upon seeing the doggie). Seeing we had to travel at lunch to visit the "Fay Clan," we hurried Colin to the next present, rather than allowing him time to enjoy each present. So, lesson learned...next Christmas he opens a few presents & we save the rest for other days...a good way to really celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas (without all the bird poop from those silly calling birds, French hens, turtle doves, etc.).
When we arrived at lunch, Mama decided to give Colin an opportunity to wear one of the Ao Dai's she purchased for him in VN. Ba would have rather had him wear the other outfit in this size but w/ cold weather abounding north of the Mason-Dixon line, long sleeves were in order. He had so much fun (after getting over another case of toddler shyness, of course). And, as usual, chowed down on Aunt Helen's delicious meal.
We ended the evening's festivities by gathering the clan together for a family photo (well, tried to anyway...apparently Uncle John had decided to go AWOL and be MIA during the action).
Colin finally was able to meet his Aunt Julie (and Baby Fox in-utero), Uncle Kevin, Cousin Ashley, & Tyson the dog. Ashley was too funny. When they were opening presents, Ashley looked at her mommy and said, "I need more presents." Ah, the wonderful nature of toddlers and American capitalism, all wrapped in one cute little package. Ashley also taught Colin how to say "cheese" and sport the mack daddy cheese grin.
As you can tell by the picture below, Uncle Kevin was also a big hit w/ Colin.
So, the holiday hijinks halted and the Heberligs found themselves safely at home (after what became a 12-hour drive in really yucky weather and a pit stop at a Cracker Barrel - laugh of the night came when Eric took Colin to see the fireplace in the restaurant. As he approached the flames and felt the heat, he put his hand to his forehead and said, "Phew."). Mind you, the story doesn't end there....but tonight's blog does!
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