Murrinelli: Memories, Mishaps and Mamahood: To Emporia and Beyond!

This weekend was very eventful for the Murray family. We travelled to Emporia, Virginia to spend time with Derek’s grandparents who have never met Josiah. “Nana” and “Granddaddy” became almost-instant favorites for the kids! It was Nana’s 84^th Birthday on Sunday, and she got to celebrate with a much larger crowd than usual.

The trip was slightly more stressful on me than I wish. Nana has had 4 back surgeries, 3 knee surgeries and lives with an incredible amount of pain on a daily basis. This leads to the inevitable GI-NORMOUS amount of pills that are present in the house. That combined with a lot of things collected over the years, and two older people who can’t get around as easily anymore equals a treasure trove for three little children who can’t understand why Mommy won’t let them touch anything!

Literally, they couldn’t touch anything. Kaelyn saw the pilot light on in their electric fireplace, picked up a wooden backscratcher, and proceeded to “burn the fire, Mommy, burn the fire”. I caught her in time to prevent her from lighting the stick on fire. Josiah found many random stray pills and enjoyed climbing the two flights of stairs and then perching rather precariously at the very top while rocking from his heels to his toes. My heart!! It’s still working, but just barely! Audri was a little easier to manage, but still. The child loves attention, and when she gets it, likes to start roaring at people because she transforms to a tiger or dog or dinosaur. And she won’t stop. People just don’t understand- you just don’t go there! And then there’s the inevitable why-did-I-put-her-in-a-dress dilemma. She is still very young and does not understand that flashing her wedgied undies and hence, revealed buttcheeks are rather embarrassing to her harassed and exhausted mother. Ah well. They all had a wonderful time with their great-grandparents and Audri declared that she wants to “go back tomorrow”. Highly unlikely, but very sweet.

Life has resumed back in the Shenandoah Valley, and we took it easy today due to lack of sleep and… lack of sleep. Everyone seemed to enjoy the adventure, but seemed happy to be back in familiar territory. Here are a few photos of our escapade:

Nana and Granddaddy singing "Happy Birthday"