How We Spent Our Pittsburgh Vacation

Because we're not taking a week long summer beach vacation, Herb doesn't have marching band camp this year, and I am no longer at the mercy of a school schedule, we decided to take a bunch of mini trips sporadically throughout the whole year.

Day 1

We drove all the way from York to Pittsburgh on ROUTE 30.  It took two extra hours (six total), but we also stopped several times and it was much more interesting to look at then the turnpike.  We made one long pit stop at the United 93 temporary memorial.  It was heart wrenching to see where the plane wreckage was (although it is cleaned up now) and see the actual victims pictures.  The official memorial will open this fall, and we hope to go back and visit then.

While we were at the memorial, Levi was was cracking us up by peeking out his stroller.  Unfortunately, a few days later when he was doing the same thing, he proceeded to go ahead and kind of jump out.  On to concrete.  And hit his head.  But, he's okay, and we've learned our lesson about letting him be unbuckled.

Day 2

Herb and I dropped Levi off at Grandma Ni-Ni's and then high tailed it up to Erie for our date day.  This year is our fifth anniversary, so this little getaway was our celebration.  We drove around Presque Isle, considered going to the beach there, but decided it was way too cold.  Instead we went to Waldameer Park and the Water World (turns out, not that much warmer).  We rounded out the night with dinner and best buy.  It was really nice to just be alone, connect, and hold hands!  Of course we talked about Levi most of the time we were gone.

Day 3

We traveled back to Cranberry to spend the day with Josh, Sarah, Ellie, and Cora.  We went to Phipps Conservatory, and the kids were really entertained by the flowers and butterflies!  Later, Herb and Josh went to an Orioles game with their step-dad, Ron, and the girls went home to put the kids to bed and watch a LAME movie.  After we gave up on the movie, Sarah introduced me to my new favorite TV show on Netflix, "In Plain Sight."

Day 4

On our "way home," we swung by the Pittsburgh Zoo with Sarah and the girls.  It was really hot, but the kids had a good time.  Side note - it's really hard to get a picture of three kids, ages 0-4, where they all look at the camera, but I had fun trying.

We stopped at Guitar Center on the way home for Herb.  Then, after a recommendation from Kimba, we hunted down Thrift King, a wonderful consignment store.  I got a new pair of peep-toe shoes for $1, a basket, a shirt for Levi, and a few CDs for our roadtrip home.  Total, $12.

All in all, it was a great mini-vacay, done on the cheap, and we got to spend some quality time with our family.  The down side is that we have discovered Levi is a complete crib snob, and therefore aren't going to be trying any overnights for a while.

P.S.  Can you tell my new favorite computer toy?  I downloaded Picasa, and was delighted to figure out how to make collages and edit things using Picnik, right in the program.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.  The most free fun you can have with photos!