Friday

We headed to base on Friday evening for a night filled with fun! Wright Patterson had their annual tattoo, which, unlike what the idiots in J's office thought, had nothing to do with body art. It was a big festival, with lots of music, fly overs, and ended with fireworks. We met up with some friends early in the evening so the kids could enjoy the bounce houses before it got busy, then we found a spot on the lawn to watch the show and eat some pizza. Madeleine LOVED the fly over. She settled herself on my lap and quickly learned to cover her ears when a plane approached. Claire was fascinated at first, but then the appeal of playing chase took over. After the planes were finished, we let the kids do a few more bounce houses, then picked up a funnel cake and said good bye to our friends. We had been told that the traffic getting off base would be horrible after the fireworks ended, so we trooped back to the car to watch from there. I was so impressed that the girls stayed up as late as they did. The fireworks didn't start until after 10, and they were still going strong even after they ended. Sure enough, the traffic was horrible. Even with us leaving immediately after the fireworks, we still sat completely still in the parking lot for 45 minutes before we started moving. Next year, we'll plan differently.

And, of course, the battery on the camera died seconds after I turned it on, so we had to resort to a phone camera again....

Daddy and M coming down the huge slide. C was on the other side but was way too fast to catch her.

Fly over time

Just some pictures off my phone

I took these a couple of weeks ago when we went to a nearby park. The girls love going here to watch the ducks (and the dog who chases them away), smell the flowers, and run through the little maze. It was a hot day, but we had a great time!

See the baby?? The girls were very excited.

Cayman May 2011

Click here to view these pictures larger

Weekend in Pittsburgh

We met J's Aunt Judy in Pittsburgh for the weekend and had a fantastic little trip. We drove 4 hours all the way across Ohio, about 10 min through West Virginia, then another 20 minutes in Pennsylvania before we made it into Pittsburgh. The girls did great in the car, with lots of sleeping, reading, and movie watching. Once we made it into town and unloaded the car, we piled back in with the intention of exploring the 3 Rivers Arts Festival which started that day. We did not realize the crazy amount of traffic headed in exactly the same direction for the Pirates baseball game, so what should have been a 20 minute drive turned into an hour. We finally made it, only to quickly realize that our Suburban was not meant to park in downtown Pittsburgh - it was too tall to fit into any of the parking garages! Definitely a first. So, instead, we picked up a couple of pizzas and went to a great park and conservatory by the Carnegie Mellon campus. And after all that time in the car, the girls did just what they needed to do - run free!

Pizza Picnic

Checking out some flowers

Can you see them? Nope, not squirrels, the girls are bent over looking at clover flowers.

We had a different plan of attack for Saturday's venture into downtown. Instead of messing with the Suburban, we dropped it off in a lot just outside of town, then moved everybody into Judy's car. We had no problems parking, then went to explore the area where the arts festival would be starting soon. We walked along one of the rivers and scoped out which art booths Claire wanted to visit when it opened. Of all of us, she definitely had the best time. We were there right when everything opened, which meant she had first choice of all the activities. We spent some time at the PBS tent making a paper plate bug, then moved over to the Children's Museum area where she launched paint rockets and made sand art with Madeleine. The day was starting to get pretty hot, so, much to her disappointment, we finished up at the giant cardboard fish painting station then grabbed some lunch.

Along the river

Paint Rockets

Sand Art

Giant Fish Painting

Catching a quick snooze

Our next stop was to meet up with one of Judy's college friends. We met at Carnegie Mellon, walked the campus, and ended up back at the conservatory from the night before. Claire had wanted to walk the gardens on Friday but it had already closed, so she was happy with getting to explore some more. I was getting pretty hot by this point so I waited in the air conditioned cafe, and soon enough everyone came back ready for ice cream. Claire did a little shopping in the gift shop, then it was on to our next stop of the day - hunting for H's old house and high school in nearby Fox Chapel. We had no problem finding either of them, and I enjoyed putting real places to all the stories I had heard about when he lived in Pittsburgh. We got as close as we could to his house, but it's at the end of a long and winding driveway, so we didn't go far. We oohed and awed over all the gorgeous homes and the beautiful grounds of his school, then headed back to the area of town where we were staying for dinner and bedtime. We were exhausted after such a busy day.

H's old house

Shady Side academic buiding

Sunday brought sleeping in (hurray for sleeping later than 7!) then a big breakfast before we got back in the car for the drive back home. The girls did great again with riding, and we even found a treat for ourselves in Columbus - one of the only 2 Jason's Delis in the entire state! It was glorious! I'm seriously considering buying a franchise just so I can have one closer than an hour away.

Memorial Day

We had a perfectly relaxing Memorial Day - just what we needed after our perfectly relaxing 2 weeks in Cayman. I sat in the shade, the girls played in their little pools and ate homemade popsicles, and J manned the smoker. Couldn't have been better.

Finally, an afternoon without rain!

Of course, not even a minute after I took these shots, the rain started falling.....

And notice the jackets - we barely got into the 50's today. Spring, where are you????

Thanksgiving post

Better late than never.....click here