Adventures in Pittsburgh

We had a GREAT time in Pittsburgh last week.

We drove up Tuesday, arriving at our hotel around 3 p.m. It was about a 5-hr drive, and the kids handled it
very well. DD was thrilled at the thought of her first hotel stay.

We took the hotel's complimentary shuttle to PNC Park where we met with emydi to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Cincinnati Reds. It was the kids' first baseball game, and they did great (considering they had sat in the van earlier in the day). Both kids were dressed like pirates (pics to come). We left around the 7th inning as they were starting to get tired, the Pirates were losing, and we wanted to make sure we could get out to the shuttle before the throngs of other people left.

On Wednesday, we headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo! It was a great facility (although much busier than we anticipated). The kids loved seeing all the animals, and DS solidified the tiger as his favourite animal (he even added it to his vocabulary). DD loved the flamingoes ("because they're pink!"). They also have a cool tunnel that you can go through that runs beneath the pool in the polar bear facility (similar to one we went to at Atlantis in the Bahamas). We were in there when one jumped in the water and swam right over top of us. Very cool.

Wednesday night, we met up with Glow and her hubby. They were sweet enough to bring along a little gift for DD, and they instantly became best friends. DD affectionately called her "Glow-in-the-dark." We again took the shuttle over to Station Square, a hip little place along the river. Had dinner at Houlihan's, and then took in the fountain show until DD convinced us that we had to leave because the water was going up too high (she was getting very tired at this point).

She sat beside Glow-in-the-dark on the way back to the hotel and talked her ear off :-)

Thursday, we left around 10 a.m., drove past Mario Lemieux and a bunch of big-wigs doing the ground-breaking for the new arena downtown, and headed to the Grove City Outlet Mall. Not too many good deals to be had, but I picked up a couple pairs of nice pants.

On the way home I started feeling a bit under the weather. Ended up in bed the next 3 (beautiful weather-wise) days with what I believe to be strep throat. Yay.

But feeling better now. When it's raining.