Italian Visit

This morning, Brian, the boys and I caught the train and met my sister and her family, and my Mom & Dad in Chicago. The reason for the trip south? Some of our relatives from Italy were in town for a visit. How cool is that? Most people don't believe me at all when I say I'm part Italian. I guess the German side tends to shine through. But it's true! My great-grandfather came over from northern Italy, so at this point, the relations are quite removed. But I still send annual holiday cards to them, and we still keep in touch a bit, which I think is awesome. It's been nearly 30 years since my parents took my sister and I on our very first European adventure and we stopped by to visit them. My parents have been back, as has my sister and Tim. Carlo (in the light blue oxford) and his fiance Elise (you can probably pick her out -- she is absolutely adorable) were in Chicago for a few days after spending some time in Canada. Carlo's dad Cesare (white shirt) and three of his friends are about to embark on a three-week journey along Route 66, and just arrived to the city yesterday afternoon. So they had one overlapping day. It was just so great to see them. Two of Cesare's friends joined us too (in the blue shirt with red, and the red shirt). Such fun.

Good story -- as we were walking in the rain to the restaurant, we happened to go right by my old workplace. I looked up, and there was the president of the company and two of my co-workers! I ran over and completely freaked them out, I think! We only had a few seconds to catch up -- they going bowling and were waiting for a cab, and I left my family stranded across the street. But how funny is that? I've been gone for two and a half years, but it was like I never left. Crazy.