On July 2 of this year, 10 This Morning anchor Pete Scalia was getting ready for bed.
He and his family had just finished eating dinner. His wife, Amy, was putting their then 15-month-old son Nico to bed. Their two daughters, Lola and Sofia, were still sitting at the dinner table.
Standing nearby, Scalia noticed the wind was picking up.
"Just as I was commenting to the girls how windy it was, the roof just exploded above us."
An enormous limb from an old oak tree came crashing through the roof of their home. A few seconds later, another, even larger limb destroyed their sunroom and garage and blew out the skylights in their kitchen.
"That was the last time the kids were actually inside the house," Pete remembers.
For the next six months, the family of five would be holed up together in two adjoining hotel rooms in the Residence Inn in downtown Columbus.
"For the kids, it was really sort of an adventure," Pete recalls. "We really got to explore the city. And the kids loved going to COSI on a regular basis."
Over that time, the staff at the hotel "sort of became like family," Pete says.
While they were out of their home, the family celebrated birthdays, their wedding anniversary and Thanksgiving.
Pete documented the family's adventures on his public Facebook page.
Finally, after six long months, Pete shared a special live Facebook video of his kids coming home for the first time since that fateful night in July.
"It's just good to be home," Pete says.
Watch the video above to see their emotional homecoming and some before and after photos and video of all the damage.
Welcome home Pete and family!
