Last weekend we took a few days off and took a road trip to beautiful, sunny Pittsburgh. What’s in Pittsburgh you ask? Well lots of things, but in particular, friends. I had some serious flashbacks to the trip Sara and I took to Pittsburgh about 10 years ago (seriously? 10 years?), before we were even dating. However, there was something a little different this time: kids.

We had the first “are we there yet?” exactly 19 minutes into the 9 hour trip. All in all though, she was actually really good in the car. We made plenty of potty stops and even planned a picnic / park stop for lunch, so we broke things up as much as possible.

Since we took so long getting there and going home, that we only had 2 days in Pittsburgh. So it was mostly a low key trip. We did manage to hit up Primanti Brothers, ride the Incline, and the National Aviary, as well as do some shopping. Evie enjoyed the Aviary, but she was a little panicked about the birds flying around free in the walk-through areas.

Evie, crying: “I don’t want to see real birds, I want to see pretend birds!”

According to Evie, the best part of the trip was “playing with the bath toys”, which I definitely believe. For her (for all of us) the trip wasn’t really about what we did in Pittsburgh, but about visiting friends. She had SO MUCH FUN playing with Ayla and Jackson (who she found quite hilarious). She had been looking forward to taking a bath with them ever since she took a bath with them when they visited us. I would have to agree as well, my favorite parts of the trip were when we were just joking around at night about whatever; minute to win it, baby names, Step Up 2: The Streets, anything.

There was one part of the trip that was particularly memorable. I was taking a shower, when I heard the door open and 3 year old footsteps enter.
“Mommy?”
“No.”
“Daddy?”
::getting nervous due to the rustling at the shower curtain:: “No…It’s Shane.”
::ripping open the shower curtain:: “Hi Shane!”

I’m not the first person to learn that 3 year olds aren’t so great at privacy.

The way home was roughly the same as the way out. It was raining in the morning, but it finally cleared up in the afternoon, so we took a side trip to South Bend to hit up a park. This little side trip ended up being pretty interesting. First off, I got to passively pump gas and watch the police try to rouse a homeless guy who was…well, let’s just say he was never going to be roused by a policeman again. Afterwards, we took a delicious detour to the South Bend Chocolate Company. The food was awesome, but the place was bizarrely empty. It worked out well for us, however, since the place had a big indoor playground and we were the only ones using it. The structure was pretty awesome, except for the stuffed demon monkey statue thing perched on top of one of the tubes. The thing freaked Evie out so much that she wouldn’t go inside without me. I can’t say I blame her. Who puts a stuffed demon monkey statue, complete with sharp teeth in it’s screaming mouth, on top of a kid’s playground? Brilliant design decision.

So anyway, all it all a great trip. Being forced to make stops and take the trip there and back slowly ended up being something of a blessing in disguise. It was kind of nice to be able to stop whenever and feel no stress. Evie is already asking when we can go back, and making plans for what we will do when we go.