We made it to Virginia!

After our day at Disneyworld, we all went to bed pretty tired. I woke up around 12:30 am (which is really normal for me at this point) and couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't have to lay awake for nearly as long as I anticipated, since Chase was up and chipper and ready to go at 3:00 am! Poor kid, I'm pretty sure he thought we were going to take him to Disneyworld again that day! I tried to keep him quiet so that Ben, our driver, could get a little more sleep, but Ben quickly woke to Chase's little jibber jabber of "I see daddy! Wake daddy!" Ben got up and decided that since it was going to be a long day anyway we might as well pack up and hit the road. Chase was so hyper and happy as we packed up, and kept saying "I see Mickey Mouse!" He was fairly devastated as we pull out of Orlando around 3:45 am and did not head to the Magic Kingdom. 

All in all, for a 12 hour road trip, Chase did extremely well. He would hardly nap at all, but he did stay fairly content watching movies, playing little games with me, reading books, coloring, and looking for big trucks out the window. Here are the only pictures I snapped during the trip- of Chase mid-tantrum. I was hoping that if I pulled out the camera he would think it was a funny game, which wasn't actually the case. 

 The drive itself was beautiful. We watched the sun come up as we drove through Savannah, Georgia and all the way through North and South Carolina we were surrounded by beautiful trees.  We had to stop often (pregnant lady and toddler on board!) but still managed to make pretty good time. By 4:30 pm we were pulling into Ben's parent's home in Powhatan- and boy were we happy to finally be there!

Despite Chase's lack of sleep and naps, his attitude quickly turned fairly sweet as he greeted his Papa. He got even happier when he was introduced to Andy, the family dog. Andy is a really sweet little shih tsu, and Chase loves to get right down on the ground next to him, look him in the eye, and say "Hi there doggy!" We are still working on being "soft" with the dog and I'm pretty sure that Chase thinks a little dog like that is the greatest thing in the world!

Monday we headed out for a special outing for Chase. Knowing of Chase's love for donuts, Papa planned to take him to Krispy Kreme, so he could watch them be made and then, of course, eat one. Papa was swelling with pride as he took Chase over to show him the choices of which donuts he could pick and Chase pointed right to the chocolate covered creme filled donut, Papa's favorite!

 Chase with Papa and Grandma

 Watching Donuts be made- Chase was pretty mesmerized.

Monday night we had another Thanksgiving dinner, since we got here just a little late for the actual holiday. The dinner was filled with Southern traditional Thanksgiving dishes- aka Ben's heaven! We had turkey of course, with sides of green beans, collared greens, corn pudding, sweet potato casserole and homemade stuffing. Ben thinks that all the other stuff are just ancillary to sweet potato casserole and devoured several helpings of it. We were delighted that Ben's good friend, Brent Gunn and his little family were able to join us! Here are Ben and Brent with their little boys- Chase and Tanner- with Brent's little girl Layla in the front. 

 Grandma spoiled us by having a pie there corresponding to each of our favorites- a German Chocolate pie for Chase (well- it's Papa's fav too), a pecan pie for Ben and a mixed berry pie for me! They were delicious! Chase was all business about devouring his piece of chocolate pie!

 After dinner we had two surprise guests- Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped by! A couple in Hugo's ward dresses up as Santa and Mrs. Claus ever year and Ray arranged for them to come see Chase! This was his first exposure to Santa, and it was a pretty great first exposure. Chase was very unsure at first, and was clinging to Ben, but after a few rounds of jingle bells he warmed up a little. He loved that they gave him his own little jingle bells to hold!

 Once Santa got down to sit on the ground, Chase eventually worked his way closer and closer until he was sitting on Santa's lap. As long as they talked about the jingle bells and not anything else, Chase did fine! (We've noticed that Chase's coping mechanism when he's uncomfortable is to divert all his attention to something else, and jingle bells were the perfect outlet- after all it's his favorite song these days!) He warmed up enough to give Santa a hug before he left!

The first half of our Virginia visit has been awesome! Lots of yummy food and Santa Claus- what could be better! Stay tuned for Part II!