Daughter finally meets foreign family

The set is complete for Baby Schanz.

She’s finally met all of her family members.

Our daughter doesn’t have a big extended family; two grandmothers, one grandfather, four uncles, four aunts and two cousins.

In the days after she was born, she met everyone on my side of the family as we’re all in Saginaw. Meeting the family on her mom’s side, however, was going to be more challenging — one of her aunts is an ocean away.

Originally planned for May — about a month after Baby Schanz was born — Lori (Chrissy’s sister) and her husband John were supposed to fly from Ireland to see their new niece.

But they had to postpone the trip.

In the meantime, we communicated via video chat on WhatsApp every couple weeks or so. It was a way for Lori and John to see her and try to interact with her, but we also wanted to establish that form of communication so Baby Schanz could have her Irish relatives part of her life. I have aunts, uncles and cousins I hardly saw growing up, and I didn’t want the same for my daughter.

But as the COVID-19 pandemic taught us, video chats just aren’t the same as in-the-flesh interactions.

A couple weeks ago, Lori and John arrived in Michigan ready to finally meet their niece.

Most of their visit was during the work week, but I saved up some vacation days to burn while they were here in an effort to maximize our time together.

We packed as much as we could into the six days they were here. We visited the Bavarian-inspired town of Frankenmuth to kickstart our many shopping excursions. We took a cookie decorating class for the holiday, learning how to work with royal icing.

Baby Schanz wasn’t having it that day, though. She was cranky and irritable, so Uncle John was a champ and spent time in the car with her. This allowed Chrissy, Lori and I to enjoy our time decorating the spooky-themed cookies as it was intended to be a birthday gift for me.

We put Baby Schanz in her first Halloween costume — a lady bug — and went to Zoo Boo at the Saginaw Children’s Zoo.

(Chrissy dressed as a bee and I had a total Dad shirt that said “I’m with the ladybug.”)

We took them to a couple of our favorite restaurants.

Chrissy’s and Lori’s parents also visited for a night.

Lori soaked up all the time she could with her niece, whom she affectionately calls “Nugget.”

It was a jam-packed schedule, and frankly it wasn’t long enough. Visiting with them never is, and it’s usually for two weeks at a time when we fly to the Emerald Isle.

But this wasn’t necessarily about showing Lori and John around our little slice of Michigan. We can do that another time.

This was about them finally getting to meet our wonderful daughter.

Although nearly five months after originally planned, it was long overdue.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait so long to see them again as we’ve booked flights to jump across the pond early next year.