Family Day - The last one as a family of 3

I have done it.  I have caught Loopeeeee up.  Just in the nick of time.  For those who don't know I am going into the hospital tomorrow morning (August 26th) to have a c-section.  This little girl is on her way.  She has been given her eviction notice as Dave says.

This passed Monday Dave, Otis and I spent the day together.  It was Otis' choice.  As it is the last week he will be an only child.  For the most part he seems to understand what will be happening. He has been a bit more emotional recently.  I am sure there will be other baby side effects in the weeks/months to come.

We spent the morning hanging out at home and then headed to the Lego Store. to build and race some cars.

We then went to see Spy Kids 4 and headed home for some Lego Star Wars on the Xbox.

 

Nonno

If you haven't noticed I have been gone awhile.  March disappeared.  I wish I could say in the blink of an eye but I would be lying.

I am very sad to say the reason I dropped off of the blog universe is that My Nonno passed away some what suddenly on March 9th.  I am not going to go into many details.  He had a stroke on the Monday morning and never woke up again.  Myself and my extended family on my dad's side sat vigil at the hospital for three days.  To support each other and especially my Nonna.

One week prior to his passing. my great aunt on the same side of the family passed away.  One good thing that came out of her passing, was that I had a chance to visit with my Nonno one last time.  Had she not passed away it would have been several months since I had seen him last.

 

It was amazing to spend a whole week with so much family.   Our family has not spent more then one day a year together in forever.  I got to know a lot about my cousins as adults not just the children who grew up playing together.  By the end of the week I was speaking more Italian then I had since I was a child.  I was even able to read a page out of my Nonno's little Italian bible.

For those who don't remember, I wrote about my grandparents beautiful garden last summer.  My Nonna seems like she will do fine on her own.  I hope.

This was Otis' first exposer to death.  He did very well and seemed to understand quite a bit about what was happening.  Just the other day he had a asked ma a couple of questions about Big Nonna but for the most part he seems fine with the hole experience.  Which was good.  I didn't want to make to big a deal about it.  I was afraid if we did it could scare him for many years.  Unfortunately he did end up at the hospital for a few minutes when we first got into town.  I didn't want to waste time dropping him off at my mom's.  He wasn't a big fan of all the machines and wire and didn't even come into the room.  I wonder how he will be when the baby is born.

Even though I lived through that whole week in March I still struggle to comprehend that My Nonno is gone.  He was a very fun and loving man.  You could never leave his house emptied handed.  I am glad he was able to live the life he wanted to the end and did not suffer for to long.

I love and will miss you Nonno.

Family Photo

It has been a long time since all three of us have been in the same photo.

Yes, Dave has a giant beard.  It started out as a winter project.  If you remember last year it was how long he could grow his hair.  It has now been determined that Dave is going to grow this beard until the baby is born.  I wonder if he will survive the summer with that much insulation.

Visitors from Kelowna

How do you take a picture of 6 grandchildren and 2 grandparents and have them all looking the same way.

You don't.

I have about 20 versions of this picture and this is the best one.  What a treat and zoo all at the same time.  Otis loved visiting with his cousins and was very sad when they left.  He has been talking about them non stop as if they are coming over right now.  Maybe we will get out there some day.

We also got to meet baby William, who was cute as a button.

Nonno & Nonna's

I discovered the term Urban homestead a few years back.  It wasn't until this year that it registered in my brain that my grandparents live on an Urban homestead and have my whole life.  I just thought it was called being Italian.

Through the years my dad's parents have raised pigeons, rabbits and ducks.  My uncle also lived there for many years and had a hunting dog kennel on the property.  They live on a corner lot with no back yard.  They have two side yards and a large front yard almost all of it was gardens.  The house is right up the street from my grade school and high school.  In recent years as they get older they have had to transition more of it back to a lawn.  They were saying they have cut down about ten trees in the last few years.  They were just to much work and there was to much food for the two of them.  My grandfather is a skilled gardener.  He is able to graft trees so that many varieties of fruit grow on a single tree.  The gardens are also layered with fruits and vegetables.  Many trees have vines of other fruits growing up them.  It kind of looks life a jungle.  I think this is a form of permaculture.

We stopped by this week for a visit while in Niagara.  I love being able to walk through the yard and eat whatever is ready.  This visit we had cherries and white mulberries.  I had know idea the berries were mulberries.  Thanks Google.  The house itself has a two cold rooms.  One cold room is where they store everything they preserve.  The other is where the dry different foods they are curing.  The whole house is full to the brim with stuff.  It is quite amazing.

Over the years I can remember being over while they made many different types of cured meats, salami, prosciutto, sausage, capo cola, supresato to name most of them.  I am sure I missed some.  They also have a large grape press in the garage for making wine.  I loved the fresh grape juice that came streaming out the bottom of the press.  There is no match to real fresh grape juice.  They also made their own cheese.  I remember one of the last times I was there when they made cheese it was black market milk.  It is against the law to sell unpasteurized milk.  Even the rennet was a difficult thing to come by.  They had to get it at the local pharmacy.

We can never leave their house empty handed.  A soon as I walked in the door my nonna threw me a bag of their homemade sausage.  We barbecued it on Wednesday, it was delicious.  We also left with the big bunch of dried Chillies Dave is holding them below, a large bag of walnuts from their tree and several seedlings they just happened to have lying around.

Next year they will be growing my tomato seedlings for me.  I didn't have much luck with seed starting this year.  As you can see they have no problem at all.

ZiZI Miranda & Ben

My sister Miranda and her boyfriend Ben came home for a visit for December.  She has been living in Ireland and now Scotland since last February.  I am not completely sure how long she has been in Edinburgh.

The month flew by so fast.  We were able to get some good visiting in but I miss her already.

 

 

 

 

 

 

See what happens when you take silly pictures with my camera.  Good thing the Video was to long.

I love you!!!!

My Family BBQ

This past weekend was My Family's Annual BBQ. There were fewer people in attendance but it was fun all the same. Otis had a blast and loved all the motor cycles. He was very close to going for a ride. He then decided he would "Just Pretend"

Otis and His Cousin Kyle on My Dad's Bike

Otis and Nonno. (I love this shot)

ZiZi Pizza (He can say Teresa now. She will forever be Pizza to me)

Matt and Otis trying to Give me a Peace Sign

Goofing Around

He has arrived

A Whole Lotta of Meat (Sorry you Vegetarians)

Family BBQ

I just found this post in the draft section.


We decided to drop in and surprise My dad's side of the family at the annual Family BBQ. Originally we weren't going to go. We had been travelling for a few weekends at that point and the gas was starting to kill us plus I was in the middle of a huge head cold.

Anyway we slipped into town and made some peoples day.

Have a look.