We're back from our long weekend in Pittsburgh and what a wonderful weekend it was! It was so nice to be with family and be able to spend time with them. It was perfect to be with my extended family since we were with Marlon's family on our recent Texas trip. Life can be short and being with family is so wonderful and so important. We're hoping that most of the extended family on both sides will be able to make the trip to California in April for Harrison's Bar Mitzvah so we can all be together again!
We flew out on the red-eye on Thursday night. My mom travelled with us, which was actually great because she goes in a wheelchair (she can't walk the long airport distances) so we get special advantages, skip lines, board early, have help with luggage, etc. She came and went with us most of the weekend and it was nice for the kids and us to spend so much extra time with her. The flight wasn't the greatest because no one really slept (the kids were able to sleep about 2 hours, Marlon, my mom and I not at all) but that was the best way to do it to get there in time and not have the kids miss a third day of school. Our hotel was awesome and let us check into our rooms at 7 a.m. so we could sleep for a few hours.
The first event was the unveiling (like a memorial service, when you reveal the headstone on the grave) for my aunt Florence, my mom's sister. *Everyone* was there (her entire family of kids, grand kids and great grand kids, our entire family, and part of my Uncle Erwin's family) and it was such a wonderful tribute to her. We all participated in the service and it was very nice. My mom was emotional, but grateful that my strong cousins carried her up the steep hill and over the rough terrain so she could be at the graveside. Being the only one of her generation, she was the "queen" of all the festivities and really, really enjoyed being with everyone.
After having some lunch and relaxing, we all went to a place called the Alpine Club for the rest of the afternoon, dinner and the evening. It was a perfect place for all of us to just hang out together and everyone had plenty of time to talk and the kids time to hang out, go fly fishing, and play poker. We celebrated the birthdays of myself (which was sunday), my mom (later in Aug), my cousin Brad (in a couple of days) and my cousin Amy (July 31st). A highlight was catching fireflies (lightning bugs) which are an east coast thing and we don't have them here. I remember catching them in the summers we spent in Pittsburgh when I was growing up and I loved doing it. The CA and Florida kids all found it very fun and exciting to do it too.
Saturday morning we slept really late since we lost a whole night's sleep on Thursday. Then the whole group of us went to the Carnegie Art Museum/National History Museum and had a docent led tour of the dinosaur exhibit and then wandered around the museum. Sat afternoon/evening we all went to a nice park where the kids played together on the playground equipment and the adults talked and of course we all ate. We got to catch more fireflies too!
We had a hospitality room at the hotel that everyone had a key to and was well stocked with breakfast foods, sodas and snacks (by my cousins Lois and Nigel, Aunt Florence's daughter and son in law, who worked so hard to organize everything the whole weekend and did such a great job!) and we all hung out there during free moments. Sat night a bunch of us were in there talking until about 11 p.m., even all the kids. It connected to my mom's room, so the kids had plenty of space to run around and play. There were a LOT of little kids and babies.
Sunday we had an unveiling for my Uncle Erwin (my mom's brother) who died a couple of months before Aunt Florence. We were all there and, again, it was a wonderful tribute to a great man and we all participated in the service.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out at Lois and Nigels, as they live in Pittsburgh. Everyone left at different times, some to take flights home and others to do other things. We stayed until most of the cousins were gone because we were really enjoying being with everyone, looking at old pictures, telling stories of the past, playing with the babies, the older kids were running around, it was nice. We left around 4 to go to Kennywood Park, an amusement park in Pittsburgh that I remember going to as a child. If you go after 5, it's less than half price, so we figured we'd go from 5 to closing and it was the perfect amount of time. We stayed til 11 when it closed and had fun on all the rides.
Monday we were able to get late check out from the hotel, so we slept in, ate a nice brunch, watched a movie in the room while packing and organizing and left for the airport around 3. The flight home was fine and we got into LAX around 8 p.m., arriving home around 10:30 (took awhile to get the luggage, the car, drive home, etc.)
I didn't take that many pictures, but tried to get at least one of everyone. Mike, Jacquie's husband, who does photography for a living, took a lot of pictures and I'm sure better ones, but we haven't gotten his yet. Anyway, even though these aren't great, enjoy them!
My cousin Nancy's kids and spouses (Uncle Erwin's grandkids) -- Maggie, Segev, Ayelet and Jerry (I hadn't seen Segev and Ayelet in at least 15 years!)
Andi (Lois' daughter) with her daughter Meghan (14 months)
Andi's husband, Chris, with their son Kyle (3 years)
Me and my cousin Brad
Marc (my cousin Jennifer's husband, she's in the background) and Mike (Jacquie's husband)
My cousin Nancy and my sister Patti (Nancy's husband, Dave, was there, but for some reason I didn't get him in any of the pictures. Her siblings, Linda and Ed, and their families couldn't make it in for the weekend)
My cousin Josh, my cousin Natalia (Brad and Debbie's daughter) and she's holding one of Josh and Julia's 8 month old twins (Matteo, I think, but it could be Niko)
Florence Fralin (Lois's aunt on my Uncle Norman's side, who is 96 and sharp as a tack), my cousin Debbie and Lois
My cousin Amy with Jacob
My cousin Eliot (Aunt Florence's son) who lives here in CA and we see all the time and his wife Linda (That's Brain and Nigel in the background)
My cousin Brad holding a beer bottle with the fireflies in it. We didn't know what to put them in, so we used beer bottles. We had some pretty drunk fireflies!
Harrison with Brad and Debbie's son Max (that's the one whose Bar Mitzvah we went to in March)
Leah (Amy and Michael's son) with Sophia and Lauren (my cousin Jennifer's kids and they live here in CA so we see them more often)
My cousin Bryan (Brad and Amy's brother)
My cousins Lorraine and Roger (Roger is Aunt Florence's other son and their kids are Brad, Amy and Bryan)
Leah, Natalia and Michela at the museum
My mom
Me
Jacob catching fireflies
Josh and his oldest Gabe (who is 3 1/2) with the drunk fireflies
Two brothers - Roger and Eliot - at the park on Sat
Sophie (Seth's wife), Seth (Lois' son), Andi (Lois' daughter), Kyle and Meghan (Andi's kids), Julia (Josh's wife, they also live in CA) and the twins Matteo and Niko
My cousin Jacquie and her daughter Helena who is about 1 1/2. They also live in CA so we get to see them more often.
Michela, Jacob, Lauren and Sophia
Rachel and Sebastian, who are Amy and Michael's older kids (Leah's siblings.) I can't believe I don't have a picture of Matthew, their 4th child who is 5 and is adorable, but I guess he was always running around and I didn't get a picture of him. I also did get one of Michael. I tried, but I didn't get everyone.
Patti and Marlon at Lois and Nigels. I thought I got a picture of Brian (Patti's husband, my brother in law) but I guess I missed him too!) This is actually the only picture Marlon is in too. Mike took some posed family pictures, which I'll put on when we get them.
Hanging out -- Me with Niko, Brad with Meghan, Natalia with Matteo
Mike (who used to play baseball in high school) giving Harrison some pointers
Josh and Gabe
Jennifer, me and Nigel (Lois' husband)
Our kids at Kennywood Park after they got off the Roaring Rapids ride and they were soaking wet and cold!
I didn't take many pictures at Kennywood but it was a neat amusement park because it is so historic. I thought this attraction was so different and neat, being created to make people laugh during the depression. Many of the rides and attractions were original from this amusement park that opened in 1898!
The kids imitating Laffin' Sal
Harrison teaching Sophie to play poker
Just hanging around
5 comments:
That's a lot of great photos! You Boarnets get around this country, don't you? :) I'm glad you had some nice time with family and touching tributes, too.
Happy belated birthday!
I love fireflies...but drunk ones, that is a first for me!
I enjoyed the pictures even though I didn't know anyone. Nice family.
I remember your Aunt Florence; I am glad you could all be there for the unveiling(s). I am going to Pittsburgh in November to give a talk; I haven't been there since I was a child.
Boy, you crammed a lot into a long weekend! Great pictures of your family.
Way to go Barbara!
Tammy
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