Today was pretty amazing. Zanesville is the town where Scott’s Emmert side of the family came from Germany and settled in the 1820s. The majority of his family still lives there. So, there was a TON of family history learned today.

We woke up to a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit, toast, and coffee. Then, the family history tour began. First, Scott’s cousin Michael (we met 4 generations of Michael’s today, so pay attention!) came over to visit before heading out to work. And guess what? He has the same hairstyle as Bryan and Scott, so the family resemblance was not hard to miss.

Today, we had to get an oil change in the RV, so Scott and his Uncle Mike drove around town to find a place that would do it. Meanwhile, Aunt Liz and the girls drove around town to see some family sites and learn about how much the town has changed in the last 75+ years. Both Mike and Liz grew up in Zanesville, so they’ve seen a lot of change.

We stopped by Michael’s house since he hadn’t left for work yet, because Liz wanted us to see the inside. This house was once owned by a doctor who had a wife with a heart condition, and couldn’t handle going up and down the stairs. So he built an elevator in the house in 1940. It was so cool. The girls just had to ride it up and down! Then, the girls hit the mall for a little while and did some school clothes shopping.

When we all got back home, Uncle Mike took us on another tour of family history. We saw the last home where Scott’s grandparents lived, the church that his great-grandfather helped build, and three cemeteries where family members are buried, including the children of the first family settlers. Because the family has been in Zanesville so long, they are pretty much related to everyone else in town (and in the cemeteries) in some way. Talk about a small world!

After the tour, we went back to the house, and Uncle Mike sat down with Madison and Sydney to show them all kinds of old photo albums filled with family history. They even got to make a family tree dating back to the very first people who came to Ohio! So cool! Now, they are on a mission to fill in their entire genealogy. It was incredible to hear everything that uncle Mike remembers – he pretty much remembers everything!

Then, we headed out to dinner at Adornetto’s – a pizza place that anyone who visits them has to go to. They had GREAT pizza!

After dinner, more family came over to visit. Michael’s sons, Nicholas (25) and Mike (31) came over. (Mike also sports the same hairstyle as his dad and Bryan and Scott.) Mike’s wife (Kylie) and two kids, Mikey (5) and Alauna (2) were also there. Michael’s wife Candy was there making the room filled with 4 generations. It was pretty cool! We had a great time visiting with everyone, and the girls were really sad to go to bed knowing that we were leaving in the morning. We’d love to go back and spend a week just at their place. Everyone was so nice, and they are all such great people.