Pittsburgh Part 2

Richard and I on top of the parking garage for our hotel.

Ginny and I on top of the parking garage by our hotel. 

The hotel was right on the river (don't ask me which one, there's three)

The Pirates stadium is right behind us and Heinz field is on the far left.

We had a great night on the town with our old friend Emily.

She was 10 when we served there.

She is one of those people in this world that make you realize there is hope.

Her and her twin brother are by far the most outstanding young people I've ever known.

We spent an evening back in our old stomping grounds, Bloomfield.

Pittsburgh is the city of a thousand small towns put very close together.

Bloomfield, or Little Italy, was our small town.

The small park by our apartment was always full of old Italians

playing their boom box of old Italian songs 

and dancing. 

It was terribly romantic.

We went out in search of our favorite Italian restaurant in the area.

We ended up at the WRONG restaurant,

...awkward....

we ordered the kids some food and explained things to the waitress.

She was very accommodating to not make us eat.

Then we were off to our REAL heart's desire.

They had changed the name and that's why we had trouble finding it, 

but we finally made it to the best Italian food in Pittsburgh!

Ginny and Emily holding deep-fried breaded mashed potato balls dipped in marinara sauce. 

You can see why we would spend our whole evening looking for this place, right?

Don't even get me started on the Mafalda Sauce.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned it every other word during the course of the night.

Let's just say, I was the only one without need of a to-go box.

Our trek for good food also led us to Pittsburgh popcorn.

If you are a sucker for caramel corn like I am, 

then you can understand how happy I am feeling at this point in our trip.

Which is a little rude seeing how UNhappy Colette is at this point.

It was really cold and we had to walk.

But it was worth it.

I would have happily stayed in the hotel with this brown sack the rest of the weekend.

"I don't believe I ordered a wake-up call."

Another adventure led us to the Carnegie Science Center for Kids.

My very dear friend May was nice enough to share her season passes with us.

She is another truly remarkable woman that I am so grateful to know.

Her story of conversion from Judaism to Mormonism always puts warmth in my heart.

Her boyfriend was a Mormon and left to serve his two-year mission.

Meanwhile, she joins the church in his absence.

Now they are happily married with two kids.

I treasure her so very much.

You may think Mitchell is looking out the hatch of the space simulator,

but in fact, he is throwing a tantrum.

Colette's favorite was the robot that would sing songs, 

or recite Hamlet.

Colette with her new best friend, Lyla, May's beautiful daughter.

Parker attempting to beat a robot at air hockey.

Maybe next time buddy.

Searching through the reef.

Strange specimen.

I don't know what this did, but the kids thought it was fun.

GIANT OPERATION GAME!

I could have stayed here for hours.

Although having the game this large made it very clear to Richard and I for the first time in our lives, that this man being operated on is completely naked.

...shudder...

Parker didn't seem to notice...

You get that wishbone!

Mitchell was mostly concerned with why the nose lit up and made a buzzing sound.

Lyla and Colette working on the wrench in his ankle. 

Colette launching a rocket.

She was really good at it.

She'll be a rocket scientist like Grandma Nan, I know it!

If you're happy and you know it... look like this kid.

if Dr. Seuss had a bathtub

...sorry a Zonker Zezzer Zub Tub

And the highlight of Richard's year?

He saw PEE-WEE HERMAN'S BIKE!

I guess it's not in the basement of the Alamo after all.

A good friend of Richard's named, Charlie Brown,

good grief you heard me correctly, Charlie Brown.

He drove down two hours to see Richard.

It was really wonderful to meet this incredible man 

that Richard has told me so much about.

Another evening took us to a downtown market square.

We had an amazing dinner.

{I'll show you more pictures of that later}

And everything was covered in Christmas lights!

There were also little market stands to buy Christmas items from around the world.

One building behind us looks like a Gothic cathedral, except it is made entirely of glass!

Our hotel was pretty immaculate as well.

We felt like we were in a castle.

Except it was in the middle of the city.

This is the lobby of our hotel. 

The Renaissance Marriott.

Sadly Pittsburgh would only last a few days, 

and then we were back on the road.

But it was just enough to satisfy my nostalgia of living in the city.

While Richard and I were in the same mission, 

he never served directly in the city like I did, 

so I was extra giddy showing him all my favorite places.

Although, three days was also enough 

to remind me of what I disliked about the city.

Like any city, it is loud, busy, and dirty.

You never know where you are, or where the road you are on will take you.

You have to be in the right lane to turn left, 

or be in the left lane to turn right.

Let's just put it this way, 

our GPS would very often display an Error message that it couldn't help us 

because there were 8 roads criss-crossing on that spot 

and it couldn't tell which one we were on.

So I had zero confidence in ever going somewhere by myself.

When Richard was at his conference, 

the kids and I mostly stayed in the hotel.

Honestly, I was battling a sinus infection.

The kids were all on medication for ear infections also, 

so we very much needed rest in between all the exploration.

But remember we had our bag of Pittsburgh Popcorn,

so don't feel badly for us at all.

Now the Pittsburgh reunion may be coming to a close,

but if you think our adventures are over, 

you are dead wrong.

Just you wait...