pittsburgh 2018.

David and I arrived home from New York at 5:00 pm Thursday.

We thanked our babysitter profusely, unpacked, did 5 loads of laundry, watered the yard, fed the chickens (and our kids), and collapsed into bed. On Friday morning we woke up, packed two suitcases, and the six of us hit the road for Pittsburgh.

 

We were tired, but there was something sweet about being together as a family for 9 hours in the van after several days apart.

Plus, the minute we arrived home from New York I thought, I’m not ready for real life yet. So it was very pleasant to get to turn right back around and leave! The kids were ready for an adventure, as always, and even indulged David and me while we listened to the entire Hamilton soundtrack and relived all our favorite moments.

 

David and I are busy planning The Great Gentino Road Trip of 2018, so we looked at this trip to Pittsburgh as practice.

On our big trip, we plan to try to eat out as little as possible — find grocery stores and pack simple snacks and lunches, then stop at parks to eat and let the kids play. We did this in a little town in West Virginia, and it was perfect. The 75-degree weather didn’t hurt either.

 

We got this exact photo at the same look-out on our trip last year, apparently it’s a tradition.

The drive to Pittsburgh is one of my favorites we take. Nearly the whole of it is in the mountains, and it feels so peaceful and green. The kids love the tunnels.

 

We arrived at Joe and Lindsay’s Friday night in time for dinner and all the cousins were very happy to see each other. Gabe and Lucas are the same age. The boys had a sleepover in the living room and stayed up until about 11:00 that first night!

 

We were all thrilled to meet our new niece, Kinley Jean, who is three months old. Isn’t she amazing? Warning: lots of cute baby pictures in this post. It’s so fun having a baby in the family again.

 

We have friends with babies, but Gabe and Noah just haven’t spent that much time around them. This makes my mom heart twinge and think: They need a baby brother or sister! But have no fear. It’s just a twinge. I loved watching them wonder over Kinley, making remarks like: “Look! She has fingernails!!!”

 

Noah explaining to Kinley what toes are.

 

Seven of the ten Gentino cousins!

 

Joe whipped David at chess.

 

On Saturday we headed to a nearby playground to get some energy out of these kids. They played so well together our whole trip.

 

We love Joe and Lindsay’s house, but we really love their deck and big, shady yard. The kids spent lots of time outside. And even with many interruptions from little people, the grown ups enjoyed lots of talking and catching up after nearly a year apart.

 

Ben’s cousins wore him out.

 

On Saturday evening, Lindsay brought out the rollercoaster sets, which were the hit of the weekend.

 

Two-year-old Ben is fearless!

 

Gabe was not pleased with his dad’s shenanigans.

So here’s where things took a turn downhill. We had a lovely first day, and then: disaster struck in the form of a stomach bug. It hit Judah first, and one by one most members of my family went down.

Lindsay called before the trip to warn us that their family had it the week before, but I’m just not a big germ-a-phobe. It was the only weekend a trip worked out with both our schedules, she cleaned the whole house, and we thought, What are the chances we’d actually get sick?

Famous last words.

I’ll spare you the details, but it was ferocious. We felt awful for their family, who had just dealt with it the week before. Suddenly we were rushing around cleaning up, disinfecting surfaces again and again, and doing loads of laundry. With seven kids underfoot! Thankfully none of the Pittsburgh Gentino’s got sick again this time around.

I’m not sure what they think, but we still felt the trip was one hundred percent worth it. One day it’ll be one of the stories we tell.

 

The saddest part about getting sick was that we were all very excited to see Lucas’ hockey game. I ended up staying back with Judah and Amie, and a napping Ben, and thankfully the rest of the family was able to go cheer him on. Just in the nick of time, because David went down soon after they got back home.

 

Go Golden Bees!

 

Ben was always on guard against virus germs or large older cousins.

By Monday morning, 3 out of 6 of us were sick. Joe and Lindsay kindly offered for us to stay another day, but all I could think was, It’s coming for me next. As long as I feel well, I’ve got to drive.

So they helped us all load up in the van, with a very convenient trash bag lined bucket should any sick person need it, and sent us on our way.

Less than an hour into the trip, Noah got sick, and the bucket was in use. It was actually perfect.

I drove us the whole way home on Monday! I listened to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets almost in its entirety while David was virtually unconscious 8 out of 9 hours and the other kids drifted in and out. He tried to drive halfway in to give me a nap, but we had to stop about 30 minutes later. I was very grouchy without an afternoon Starbucks stop, but there were none to be found deep in the hills of North Carolina. I learned that one of their little doubleshot espresso canned drinks from the gas station will do in a pinch.

Thankfully it was a quick virus, so by Monday afternoon, Judah was already starting to perk up.

And we made it! I thought I had the world’s worst immune system but I never got the stomach bug! I was very, very thankful.

All in all, Pittsburgh 2018 was a very memorable trip.