Viggianelli Family Reunion: 100 Years in America

On Saturday, we went to a special party to celebrate 100 years of Viggianellis in America. See, my Great-Grammy Mary is Italian and her father, Michael, came to America 100 years ago. Wow, huh? So Grammy invited all of her siblings' children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to California for a big reunion. Mimi and Pop-Pop hosted us at their house. Here is a photo of everyone. Some of us came from just a few miles away and some from as far as Michigan and Florida. It sure was a treat to meet all of these wonderful Viggianellis for the very first time.
Since it was a reunion, we also got these awesome T-shirts and took a picture wearing them. Do I look cool or what?
I had a fun time playing in Mimi and Pop-Pop's backyard. I ran all over the grass and through the trees.

Then I decided that this was "my tree" and made sure to tell anyone who would listen.

Then I discovered Pop-Pop's new hammock.

Then Jack joined me.

Are we silly or what?

After a delicious dinner of lasagna and antipasto salad, we celebrated Great-Grammy's and Cousin Ann Marie's birthdays! Their birthdays are only one day apart. I sang "Happy Birthday" and everything.

Then I asked Grammy for a closer look at the cake. Sure looks yummy.

I pretended to blow out the candles. Hey, Jack, where did you get that cookie? I held out for the cake and it was soooo good!

After cake, all of us little cousins played together. Here we all are: (back row) Brandon, Lexi, Jack, Me, Maylana, Mara and Elleana; (front row) Maressa and Bella. What a bunch of cuties!

We started with a good old fashioned game of hide and seek. Maylana and Bella helped me hide.

Here's Maressa and Lexi explaining the finer points of hiding to Jack. After a few rounds, Brandon came up to Mommy and said, "I don't think Noah knows how to play this game." You'd be right, Brandon. But we had fun just the same.

Oooo, is that ice? I love ice! There's always time for ice.

Yummy!

After my "ice break," I played the piano with Maylana...

...and Maressa read this pop-up book to me.

And Maylana and I did some "web surfing."

Since Grammy is the last remaining child of Michael Viggianelli, we thought it would be awesome if all the little ones took a group photo with her. Here's our first attempt...

...second one was a bit better.

Ummm, maybe one more try...

This is about as good as it's going to get. Maressa tried really hard to get me to sit still. Oh, well.

Then it was time to try to replicate an old photo of Pop-Pop and his cousins taken at his birthday party sometime in the 1950s. From left, Pat, Michael, Fashu (that's my Pop-Pop...his nickname means "little bean" and he got it because there were A LOT of Michaels in the family), Donna (she's Pat and Loretta's sister who passed away a few years ago) and Loretta.

Here are all of those cousins today. We added in David (standing) even though he was not in the original photo. Neat, huh? Just so you know, Pat and Loretta's father was Grammy's brother Albert, Michael's mother was Grammy's sister Delphine and David's father was Grammy's brother Angelo (David has two brother's, Michael and John, who were not able to join us).

We thought we'd add Grammy to the photo, too. Gotta love those Italians!

All good things eventually have to come to an end. Awww! Here I am giving fives to Lexi and Maressa. They fell in love with me.

I also gave out lots of hugs.

And even more hugs.

Maressa, Maylana and their Mommy, Angie, have a little brother at home named Hunter. He's only eight-months-old and I think they missed him and gave me lots of extra lovies because I was a cute little dude.

What nice and beautiful cousins I have, huh?

No night with Jack would be complete without a little craziness (courtesy of Daddy this time) and a good bath. What a day!

Thanks so much, Great-Grammy, for getting all us cousins together. We had so much fun! Let's do it again in another 100 years!