Saralyn and Amare's visit.

Ever since we moved to Australia, or really since we decided to move and started telling people about it, friends and family have expressed their desire to come visit.  We’ve been fortunate in having a few friends and Candice’s Mom come visit, and every time we have visitors we get to show them around this awesome city.  So you can imagine my excitement when my sister and nephew agreed to come out to help us with Arden. 

Despite a 15 hour flight with little sleep, they were up for a lot of exploration over the first weekend, so we took them to the main sites around the CBD: Fed Square, Southbank, the Shrine of Remembrance and Queen Victoria Market.  We had typical Melbourne weather too – beautiful and sunny one day, then rainy, windy and sunny the next. 

But wait Ben, what was it like seeing them meet Arden for the first time?!  Well as I was waiting for them at the airport, I got a little emotional thinking about seeing them and wondering how they would react to meeting Arden.  Would they cry?  Laugh?  Would they feel connected to her and try to sneak her home in their luggage?  And how would I feel, seeing someone from my family meet Arden?

Saralyn reacted by hugging her, bouncing her and kissing her cheeks (which we can all agree just beg to be kissed), while Amare played shy and took a bit to warm to his newest cousin.  But as soon as he learned that Arden loved singing, especially when she was upset, he would run over to her anytime she started to fuss and sing songs to her and play peek-a-boo to cheer her up.  In other words, he was the sweetest big cousin Arden could have hoped for.

As for me, I felt a whole mixture of emotions.  But mostly I felt joy to have my sister and nephew around and to see them interacting with Arden.  It was so nice coming home from work to spend time with them and to play catch and videogames with Amare.

While Candice was away for the weekend we spent the day at the zoo, which was a blast.  It was so funny being there with an easily distracted 6-year old.  He would get so excited to see a particular animal but as soon as we saw it, he was ready to move on to the next one.  It gave me a fun glimpse of what Arden might be like in a few years…

We had such a great visit with Saralyn and Amare.  I realised after they left how much I’ve been missing them, and how much it’s been weighing on me that I really want my family to see and experience our life in Melbourne, especially now with Arden.  I am so thankful that they took the time to come here, and seeing how they fell in love with Arden makes me even more excited for our upcoming trip to the states.  Arden will finally get to meet more of her family, and I can’t wait to see their reactions to holding her for the first time. 

BK