Hamilton/Winter/McDermott Reunion May 2008

Uncle Randy, Aunt Julie, Clayton


Grandpa

Uncle Jerry, Aunt Darb, Lisa, Lyndi, Brad

The family reunion (although not totally complete as my mom and her new husband are coming later in October for their "honeymoon"-we missed you by the way) kicked off on a warm sunny day at the Venice airport. Thankfully the crew (all 9 of them) were sleep deprived from the flight over and didn't mind bein crammed into our 2 cars along with their luggage. We did rent a roof luggage rack by the way, and for those of you who get this joke-we totally looked like the McDermotts on one of their MT trips! (aka Grizwalds).

So we drove them to our house about an hour away and got them settled. They were troopers and stayed awake most of the day and played with the kids. Then night came and it was time for sleeping assignments. I think we did pretty well and most everyone was comfy although I am not sure about Clayton and Brad on the bunk beds!

For the entire time it was cozy but still somehow comfy with everyone in the house (14 people in all). We had a blast cooking yummy Italian dinners together (thanks so much to my assistant chef Lyndi and our sampler person, aka "drunk Uncle randy"), playing outside with the kids, and traveling to Venice via train and Verona via cars. We also took in local sights and the winery down the road and even got soaked in the rain at the local weekly market. I have to mention it poured rain quite a few of the days but we had a great time anyway-must of been the wine that helped!

We had so many hysterical moments that it is hard to name them all, but I fondly will remember offering to pay people a Euro if they would do things for me, so that they could use the bathroom, driving around and around and around in Verona looking for a parking spot and pointing out all the "really old things" along the way, learning how to cook for 14 people, and playing I Spy with my trusty co-pilot Lisa.

Sadly the time for them all to leave came and it was off again to the Venice airport. I was going to see everyone again in a few months so I told myself it was no big deal to send them off, but boy was I wrong. I cried and cried and didn't want to let them go. When I got back into our car to drive home, Aiden told me to dry my tears. Think he has been told that a few too many times?

We had so much fun and thank you all for coming to see us! Can't wait for the next trip!