The Nino Clan

This past weekend we headed to the 'burgh for quite an adventure. We already knew the Trunzo reunion by itself would be an adventure, but we had no idea the scale of the adventure we were on when we headed through security and to our gate at the airport. After carefully packing to fit everything the whole family needed into 1 carry-on suitcase, we ended up driving. Thank you US Air for the cancelled flight! We did end up saving quite a bit of money, but we were still scarred from our attempts to drive to Pgh and Boston w/ Ade as an infant, and so had never attempted the journey again. We all "took the hill" together, though, and were amazed at how smoothly the drive went!

Friday we did a little shopping, ate lunch at Eat-n-Park, and then I made the "Nino clan" photo board I'd been asked to contribute to the reunion.

That night Ryan and I went to the Sons of Italy for the reunion Meet-n-Greet while Ade hung out with the G's. It was fabulous. This picture says it all:

Saturday we went to the main event at Uncle Tommy's, and I got to meet relatives I've never met, and see many that I'd not seen since I was a kid. Grandpa Nino, after a few beers and too much time in the sun, ended up leaving the reunion in an ambulance. His explanation after being on an IV for dehydration was he was "sick of watching people play volleyball." Sounds about right if you know Nino.

Check out Jennie and Joe Trunzo - my great grandparents:

Sunday we hit Idlewild in the rain (the only proper way to attend an amusement park in PA) with the Malloys and had a blast. I especially liked/hated going on the spider with Ade and Mya. While the girls laughed and enjoyed themselves, I hung onto to them for dear life as the ride with NO SEATBELTS spun us around and around in the rain. Ade yelled in giddy excitement, "I'm holding onto my butt!!!" We still have no idea what this meant.

There was also a ball pit rescue at one point...

We topped it off with some of Gigi's fabulous chicken stew that she made after I mentioned how much I love it. In fact, there is a nice portion in my freezer right now that she sent me back with! ;-) Another Gigi tidbit - she wants me to teach her to blog, and she thinks Lady Gaga (who I was repeatedly reminded is Italian) is inspirational.

Monday is was off to the zoo with the G's, where Ade paused approximately .5 seconds at each exhibit. Except at the manta ray petting exhibit where she could have stayed all day.

We had a yummy lunch at Oakmont bakery and then packed it all up to head out. We stayed at a hotel halfway back that night, and then got home on Tuesday in time to get settled back in.

All in all, it was a perfect trip. Visiting our families in non-winter weather is an entirely different kind of trip, the better kind of trip.