Well, we are a little behind on our blogging but we have good reasons! My mom came and visited at the beginning of April. She wanted to visit my sister and I while we were both on Mirror Street. She came with two large checked bags (free on Southwest) chuck full of stuff for each of us: Easter goodies, clothes, and toys. We took her to see the Steelers and the Pirate's stadiums while she was here and she LOVED that. We took her to a really great viewing spot of the whole downtown area including the stadiums and the rivers. Then the girls and the kids went for a shopping trip at Kohls because my mom had a coupon (and she has a Kohl's card plus they were having a sale). If you know my mom you know she doesn't take couponing lightly. We spent close to $150 dollars all together but saved about $500 (Fun Fact: Pennsylvania only has tax on a select amount of things like the prepared food at the grocery store-so NO sales tax at Kohls!!). Needless to say all of us left Kohls with a large bag in hand...including the kids! That's my mom's style of shopping! It was fun to have her here and the grandkiddies loved getting so much play time with Grandma Ellen.
We watched Cody and Kylee all day one day while Tiffany and Steve drove to Maryland to house hunt. We played Yahtzee, Sorry, went to Dinosaur Park, made hamburgers and brownies, read story books, and painted on T-shirts. We are going to miss having the Cramers around this joint.
At the end of April, the Cramers came to stay with us one last time while they transitioned between their apartment and their new house. We didn't get to do as many fun things with them for their last week in Pittsburgh because they were getting so many necessary things done for their move, Steve had end of the semester homework, and Bobby had just started into his summer semester of school. However, we did enjoy being under the same roof, having meals together, and hanging out all the time. We made sure to get one last Rialto's Pizza visit in before they left and they took family pictures for us in exchange for me giving Tif a haircut, Yeah!
Tiffany offered to watch Duncan (while they were still staying with us) so Bob and I could take a short trip to Niagara Falls. We took her up on it even though we've never left Duncan with anybody over night. Thankfully, Duncan did great while we were away.
I'm so excited to say that I've been to Canada and New York! Unfortunately, they didn't stamp our Passports while visiting Canada but we can prove it with pictures! We went to Niagara on the Lake which is a cute little town located on the edge of Lake Ontario known for it's grape/wine stuff so you can imagine how cute it is. We walked up and down the tourist trap strip and didn't feel tempted at all to purchase their 400% mark up items. We also enjoyed window shopping and walking along the lake shore. The area we were in had just had a tornado with winds up to 80 mph the day before which explained all the trees and limbs we saw strewn about! I'm glad we didn't get there in time for that! The next day we walked to the Canada side and enjoyed the view of the amazing Niagara Falls! I can't believe how much water flows over that baby constantly! It was really neat to see in person and although we missed riding the Maid of the Mist (due to being closed because of ice conditions and a late Spring) we had a great time. We even had our first taste of pierogies during our trip which were actually pretty good. If you don't know what pierogies are they are a Pittsburgh specialty made of an outside pocket of dough filled with whatever filling you want (generally potato and cheese flavored) and then cooked. Fun Fact #2: Pittsburgh eats more than 11 times more pierogies than any other city in the nation. I want to learn to make them well so that we can have that as a family tradition when our time here is done. We had a great trip and really enjoyed the conversation time and seeing the sights that were new to both of us!
The day after the Cramers left, we babysat one of our "regulars" all day...a little boy name Seth who is moving to Seattle with his parents for a summer internship. The next day after that, we got our next batch of visitors! As I've mentioned before, we have been busy!
Nate, Ann, and Isaac Edwards came to stay with us while they visited Nate's old mission stomping grounds...Pittsburgh! They got here on a Saturday, then Sunday was Mother's Day, then Monday was our Anniversary! It seems like this time last year was just about as crazy if not more so (moving out of our apartment, being sick, both of us speaking in church, Mother's Day, and our Anniversary all in one weekend)! We went with the Edwards to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquirium. Since we were last there, all of the trees have gotten their leaves and it looks so much more Spring-like instead of dead-like! Yay!
Each evening, we had a lot of fun playing games and eating fun treats after the kids went to bed. I think that has to be one of my favorite parts of having people stay with us.
Our future plans for the summer hopefully hold a trip to the Columbus temple, DC temple, camping, Hill Cumorah Pageant, thrift store finds, Amish country, Falling Water, Cathedral of Learning, Kirtland, Cape Cod (or someplace up that way), the Atantic Ocean, riding the Gateway Clipper, Gettysburg, the Incline, the fountains at Station Square, Pamela's Diner and anything else that comes our way!
Yay for summer and for weekends off from school! We are ready to see the world...or at least anything within a days drive of home.
We have family pictures to post but the Cramers are still editing them...ahem...Cramers... :)
2 comments:
Hey if you make it to Cape Cod (or Martha's Vineyard) let me know so we can meet up! (We live on the Vineyard) :)
Wow you have been busy! If you go to Columbus or anywhere in Ohio then you need to put Graters ice cream on your list and order an 1870 tower. It is to die for.
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