Last post from Pittsburgh until November!

The past 2 weeks have been full of fun and work and a fair amount of putting off work, as we are set to leave on our grand adventure Monday!  Tyler has finally recovered (knock on wood) from his Kidney craziness and we are on our way to health!

 Alex had her last Girl scout meeting, unfortunately half the troop wasn't there so we don't have a picture of everyone.  She enjoyed her time there and made some good friends.  I'm glad we did it.

 This is a house centipede.  They have started to emerge from the depths and I keep finding them in the kitchen.  The body is about 2 inches long, but the legs are so long and spindly that they seem gigantic!  And they are SO fast!  The worst part is that they are so big that you can't wash them down the drain.

 Our awesome neighbors introduced us to the river trail here in Pittsburgh.  It's not my new favorite thing because you can park for free and then walk to downtown in the time it would have taken you to find parking anyway!  That is if you don't have children, or have a stroller that can hold them all.

 One warm day we went to visit the steps.  They usually have flowing water, but that was off this day, so we just splashed in the puddles and bathed on the rocks.

 This photographer from the newspaper was there and asked to take pictures of the kids.  I said sure, thinking they might be in some broad shots he did, but instead he follwed them around for about 30 minutes.  I should have told him not to waste his time, since they have learned when I pull out my camera they need to run away.

 Quinn had a blast, we all did really.  The girls played mermaid land for about 2 hours straight.

 We had lunch at the park and headed home for popsicles.

 Love these guys.

 We also squeezed in a trip to the International Children's Festival the day before it rained for 3 days.  It was pretty busy but the kids had fun.

 They really just wanted to climb on these chairs all day.

 Quinn is nearing the end of her stroller days.

 Emily took care of Payson and Heidi while Alex, Quinn and I wandered our own way.

 Everything was free and the only downside was that it was downtown and stretched all over downtown.  So didn't get to all the booths because little legs couldn't take it.

 There has been a lot of this going on.  Quinn can escape up the stairs before I know what is going on, and she HATES to have her diaper changed.

 It's been so rainy that we decided to do a picnic on the porch on day so we could still get outside.

 A few months ago I put this map on our table.  We did a geography lesson in preparation for our trip and the kids loved it.  The chocolate chips are mountains, the m&m's mark the Mississippi and the lucky charms show our driving routes.  We also marked the cities we will be visiting and the cities we will be staying at.  (Emily, note that Rochester has a marshmallow heart.)

 Love these kids.

 We also tried another Zoo trip with Jen and the girls.  We went on the day that all the schools were doing their field trip and it was MADNESS.  We left halfway through because it was just too crazy and went to an empty park instead.  We spend so much time with these guys it's going to be pretty sad to be apart for the next 5 months.

 But it wasn't a complete waste because we finally got to see the polar bear in the water!!!!!!

 17th time's the charm!

 I've been having a hard time packing because the weather is finally nice and I just want to enjoy this part of Pittsburgh, the part I love.  The green and great weather and fun things- there is so much to do that I'm already making plans for next summer!

 We will be saying goodbye to these kids as well and I'm already trying to figure out how we can see them on our trip West, as they are moving West in a month.

 So here are all the backyard friends (missing Quinn, and baby Lilly.)  These guys shared backyards, and adventures for the past 10 months and our world is going to be really empty when we return.

 I'm so thankful that this was my welcoming committee when we moved to Pittsburgh.  I couldn't have picked out better neighbors for myself, and friends for my kids.  This was a crazy, stressfull, hard, wonderful, fun and blessed chapter of our lives.  It seems I've been praying for it to end since it began, but not that it is over and things will be SO different, I'm not sure I'm ready!  

 The day before Emily left for Minnesota we had one last day of wonder.  Playing in the front yard, pictures with the kids and then the 3 of us went out to dinner and a movie (Mom's night out) it was so much fun and a great way to end it.  But I can't help tear up while looking at these pictures, and miss my dear friend.