Pics-burgh, PA

All of my sisters live out west (why??????! :), but we're lucky to have a few of Bryan's siblings on the east coast, including his sister Kelly and her cute family.  When we found out they would be blessing their baby the first weekend in May we knew it was the perfect opportunity to visit Pittsburgh.

Never having been to Pittsburgh, we were surprised by what a cool city it was.  Apparently there are over 400 bridges in the city itself and the whole area was surrounded by these crazy steep hills and ravines.  Bryan's sister lives in the middle of a bustling part of the city near one of the universities and it didn't take long to realize that with only two days to spend in town we were barely going to scrape the surface of what there might be to discover in Pittsburgh.  (Dear Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, I'd be happy to accept compensation for the above promo...)

Besides encountering a whole new interesting city just six hours away from where we live, we made several other interesting discoveries over the weekend, especially during the hours we spent at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.

Such as...

1.  Nothing brings together generations like a little bit of nerdiness.

Bryan, Grandpa Gordon, and the girls making circuits at the children's museum.

2.  Overalls are the perfect place to store birdseed for later.

Katie loved this station.  The museum probably should have charged us extra just to compensate for how much seed accidentally made it's way to our hotel in Katie's pockets and stock-piled inside her overalls and diaper.  

3.  Yes, the puppets on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood really were as creepy as you remembered.  (Don't get me wrong, I loved Mr. Rogers...but the puppets always seemed kind of scary to me as a kid. :)

Because of the ties between Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and Pittsburgh, several artifacts from "Neighborhood of Make Believe" were on display at the Children's Museum.  Which meant my sister Lynda received several ribbing texts during our visit. :)

4.  There's a little bit of hamster in all of us.  (But in some people there's more than in others...)

When we saw this contraption, I didn't really expect any of the kids to do more than go in one side and come out the other.  In fact, a little part of me was hoping they wouldn't since I wasn't sure how I'd fish them back out if anyone lost their nerve somewhere inside: nothing about this exhibit screamed "pregnant-lady friendly."  We underestimated Amber though: she went to the top and back several times and loved it!

5.  Toddler-sized rain coats score low for wetness protection, but very high for cuteness.

Exploring the water exhibit on the upper level of the museum with Grandma and Grandpa.

Re-directing spraying water with different shaped pipes and attachments.

Self-appointed care-giver to all abandoned bath toys.  I'm amazed none of the birdseed down her overalls sprouted...

6.  "Children's Museum" may be a misnomer.

The grown-ups having more fun than the kids "catching" letters in the air.

7.  Green transportation is totally doable as far as the girls are concerned. 

Tapping into renewable resources is easy when you have a daddy/grandpa-powered rickshaw at your disposal.

8.  When all is said and done, rocks are still the coolest toys.

Everyone playing with a giant noise-maker created from an angled barrel, nails, and lots and lots of rocks.

9.  There's no such thing as too much playing in the water.

To-do list for Saturday:  Play in the water at the Children's museum.  Swim around in the hotel pool.  Rinse off in a tub full of bubbles.  Check genealogy for mermaid lineage.

And finally...

10.  Big brother + camera with red-eye reduction = serious opportunity to be obnoxious.  :)

They say a sister is a lifelong friend.  They should probably also say a brother is a lifelong pest.  Everyone who came for the blessing now has several pictures of Kelly and her family with a nice red glow thanks to someone, who of course shall remain nameless, who couldn't help flashing the red-eye light at exactly the right moment over and over and over.  Redness aside, aren't they a cute family?  (Bryan's mother made the blessing dress baby Meghan is wearing.)  We can't wait to find an excuse to visit them again! 

Checklists

I’m not sure why, but for some bizarre reason it seems to take roughly the same amount of work to prepare for a two-night trip as it takes to go for a two-week trip with this group.  We went to Pittsburgh this weekend to celebrate new niece Meghan’s baby blessing (and had a wonderful time…pictures to come in next post!!), and while I thought the flurry of activity involved in getting ready for a trip was obvious, apparently I underperformed in Robyn’s book.

Thursday morning, t-minus one day until road trip, Robyn asked what we needed to do that day.  I told her a couple of the high-level goals: pack all the clothes, pack all the food, clean the house.  Within minutes she reappeared with a notebook, a pencil, and an illustrated check-list showing those three objectives. 

Now, by evening, here’s what I felt like I’d accomplished:

- Monitor feeding, dressing, and hair brushing of three girls.  Pick clean pajamas for Katie to wear since she was up from 2 to 5 am having tummy troubles.  Reluctantly decide Amber can’t actually wear her shirt inside-out and her pants backwards to joy school; monitor re-dressing of Amber.

- Make bed.  Empty dishwasher.  Wonder where all the sippy cup lids have gone.

- Deliver Robyn and Amber to Joy School.

- Wash sheets and towels from Katie’s night time woes.  Give Katie popsicle since breakfast didn’t stay down either.  Scrub regurgitated rice krispies off the dining room floor.

- Wash more laundry: make sure everyone has clean clothes, undies, socks, and dresses, for the weekend.  Attack bizarre stain on Amber's Easter dress with trifecta of Shout, Fels-Naptha, and undiluted Tide. 

- Generously shmear Katie with hand sanitizer.  Go to grocery store for road trip produce.  Grab apple juice for Katie.  Try to smile amicably when random person stops and says, “Whoa!  You really need that maternity parking space up front, dontcha!  You’re HUGE!”

- Put groceries away.  Unclog finicky first floor toilet.  Take down “out of order” sign so girls know they can use it again.  More shmearing of hand sanitizer.

- Add money to EZ Pass; read Conference talk online.  Commit to being a better mother.

- Pick-up Robyn and Amber from Joy School; eat lunch.  Decide that since Katie kept down a sandwich she is officially healed and can go play outside with her sisters rather than keep resting on the couch.

- Ooh and ahh over dandelion bouquets.

- Finish sewing new swimsuits.  Cut off bottom of Amber’s; reattach facing the other direction for a better fit on top.  Add funny-looking ruffle around middle to hide seam. Wonder why Robyn’s turned out so well and Amber’s turned out so…special.

- Sweep up contents of entire sugar shaker which has been dumped out on the kitchen floor and drawn in by little fingers.

- Make chicken drumsticks to picnic on during car ride.

- Clean out minivan.

- Realize why girls were so quiet earlier.  Remove drawings stuck to window with Elmer’s glue.  Make girls clean window.

- Clean out diaper bag.  Find missing pearl earring stuck to the bottom of the bag with melted fruit snacks.  Throw entire bag in washing machine.

- Collect medical records, immunization records, dental records, birth certificate, utility bill, and  photo ID for kindergarten registration.  Look up what month Robyn learned to sit up, crawl, walk, talk, self-feed, etc.  Resist urge to write  “none of your business” in several places on the forms.

- Straighten kitchen, dining room, front room; ignore piles forming on computer desk and piano.  Drag suitcase and duffle bags into bedroom.

- Make dinner.  Decide orange juice counts as a "vegetable."

- Listen to voice message from library.  Hunt down missing disc from Magic Treehouse audiobook returned yesterday.

- Attend kindergarten registration; add three kindergarten transition workshops, one kindergarten screening, and one kindergarten orientation to calendar. Try to be discreet when scribbling down names of moms and kids I've just met who seem nice but who I know I won't remember if I don't make a note. 

- Help girls get into pajamas and send them off with Daddy for story time with a hug and kiss.  Use looking up travel weather, preparing for a joy school mother’s meeting in the morning, and brainstorming for Amber’s birthday next week as an excuse to collapse onto the couch with tablet for a few minutes.

- Take turns with Bryan bouncing little girls back into bed.  Start fantasizing about curling up in my own bed, rationalizing the rest will just have to get done tomorrow.



Admittedly, by bedtime there was still plenty to do for the trip, but I figured everything was at a point where it could reasonably be polished off first thing in the morning.  Unfortunately, Robyn summarized things a little differently. Despite frequently following up with me through out the day, she realized I ultimately hadn’t managed to fully accomplish a single item on her checklist.  Around bedtime she finally despaired, crying out in exasperation:

“But Mom, didn’t you do ANYTHING today?”

Some days I wonder the exact same thing.  I guess it all depends on what the *real* to-dos actually were.  Robyn's checklist aside, I suppose things like cleaning house and packing bags were never truly the critical action items du jour... :)

Girls having almost as much fun cleaning the window as they did messing it up.