David, Michele and … Piper

Every year we try to plan what David calls our “Annual Pilgrimage” to my home town in New York.  Well, we lived in Horseheads growing up, but my parents moved to Corning not long after I moved to Dallas.  Corning is the headquarters for Corning, Inc. which is the company for whom my dad worked in one capacity or another for most of his working life.  They are known for making Corelle and Corningware cookware, among other things.  It’s only about 20 minutes from Horseheads and it is beautiful country this time of year.  We were really excited to take Pip and were really hoping that David would FINALLY get to see the leaves at their peak of change.  Fortunately, the leaves DID turn while we were there.  UNfortunately, David wasn’t there to see them because he had to stay home and work.  I was pretty sad.  Not just because he was going to miss the leaves.  Not just because he REALLY needed a vacation, too.  Not just because I was going to miss the stuffing out of him.  But also because I knew he was going to miss us and miss out on two weeks of Pip’s life.  This is how Pip felt about it:

Well, after all the tears, we ended up having a REALLY good time.  REALLY good.  It ended up being a nice vacation for me.  I loved having the extra set of hands with Pip.  I loved seeing my relatives bond with her.  She really brings out the fun and tenderness in everyone.  And I loved being in the country and watching God’s majesty unfold in the changing leaves.  Though the leaves were a little dull this year by comparison, He still did a lovely job.  A much better job than if I were God, that’s for sure!

My dad predicted that the leaves would reach their peak on the second Friday that we were there.  And they did.  So during nap time the next day, he piled me into the Jeep and we went hauling through town.  He knew ALL the best places with all the best trees.  Because of the nap deadline and the fact that Pip’s meal wagon was riding around in the Jeep snapping photos, we had to make it quick.  I think we were on two wheels a few times.  But we hit all the spots and still managed to grab a cup of coffee on the run at one of his usual stops.  Here are some photos from that day:

Something we did NOT expect the weather to do when we were there... SNOW!  And snow it did.  We had 4-6 inches the second day that we were there.  Pip's first snow!!

Of course we weren’t expecting such cold temperatures so I didn’t pack the right gear for Piper.  I brought the knit hat but the flimsy little pink coat that she’s wearing in the picture above was all she had in the way of coats.  It appears that she also grew a whole bunch when I wasn’t looking, because the other slightly heavier jacket that I brought didn’t even come close to fitting her!  Consequently, my mom made a trip to this precious little second-hand shop in town called Pookie’s Little Britches to buy her a coat.  She didn’t find a coat on the first trip but she found a couple of warm fleece goodies–a shirt and some really cute pants.  And this little clown outfit that makes me giggle:

Because of this unnoticed and unannounced (are they ever announced?) growth spurt, she also BARELY fit into her infant car seat.  She hated being strapped into it and she cried after about 10 minutes in the car.  So we stayed at the house a lot, which was fine with me because I liked having the time to rest and relax.  I actually read a fiction novel while there!!  My mom got to soak up some good, unadulterated Pip Time–and handled most of the baths and a lot of the solid feedings.  They had a blast together!  Grandma made a little snow duck for Pip, which she liked sucking on, but didn’t really want to touch it with her hands.  I think that might have been what got Grandma to thinking that an ice cube might feel good on those sore gums:

Here are some more great shots with Grandma:

During feeding times, Piper sat in what used to be my mom’s highchair as a little girl.  It actually folded in half to make a little activity table with a chair, and that’s where she sat at mealtime.  Here are a couple of shots:

My dad got to see her in the eveningtime and on the weekends.  She really loves his deep, baritone deejay voice.  He would come home from work at about the same time she was winding down for the night–which often meant the fussies were setting in–and he could pull a smile out of thin air with just two words: “Hiiiiiiiiiii, cookie!”  One night after my dad had gone in to change out of his work clothes, we sat on the bed with my mom and their shih-tzu, Chloe.  I was flipping through pictures on their camera, and Pip leaned in to get a good look herself.  She was mesmerized by what was on the screen and we thought it was the cutest thing:

My Uncle Larry and Auntie Carol came to visit one afternoon before we left.  We had a great time catching up, and Piper had a great time laughing at her uncle’s funny faces–and he had a lot of them!

And here’s a shot that’s just too funny NOT to share:

The hardest part about the whole trip was being away from Daddy for so long.  It was too long, actually, and we don’t plan to do that again any time soon.  She went from giggling with glee when I put him on speakerphone at the beginning of the trip to kind of just looking at the phone with a little interest at the end of the trip.  She went to him at the airport, but there was a moment of hesitation and then it took a day or so to rekindle the bond.  Since then, however, he has become Piper’s Favorite Person in the Whole Wide World and she often tries to climb out of my arms to get to him.  Sweeeeet!

I’m glad to be home but sad to be away from my family.