more on last weekend

i left off on last monday. i got all the work done that i needed to do on sunday afternoon, so on monday i was able to take off of school without feeling too guilty and missed the last rip (research in progress) which was 3 presentations instead of the normal 2, and journal club. it was a hard choice to make (NOT), but going to the children's museum was fun ... well, it was fun for the kids anyhow. i had fun watching them having fun, but all of the adults agreed that it was exhausting. it was the previous day's crew minus adam and his fam, and peter who had to work, so i guess that makes 9 of us. we started out doing some art (which we have never done with erik before).





the boys had fun playing in the garage too.





after a pizza lunch, we went up to play in the nursery.









and then in the water play area.









somehow kyle made it in without a raincoat and in his sneakers and none of us noticed. he was completely soaked. michael was too. actually, despite the raincoat erik was also drenched, but i had his crocs and an extra outfit for him so i changed him as soon as he was done playing.







finally we went to the roving exhibit room which was about trees with a treehouse slide and various bird costumes. kyle was so good with erik, helping him climb up to the top of the tree and making sure he made it down the slide.







here's a picture of the cool ribbons hanging from the ceiling in the art room:



erik and i went home, and when peter got home, we met up with everyone for dinner and had a table in a corner of the restaurant all to ourselves. it was really nice. after erik and max were in bed, we played rock band and drank wine. rebecca was brave and sang a song or two.



on tuesday our guests went off to the science center, but peter had to go to work and erik and i went to school. we met for a final dinner together at outback steakhouse. that night rebecca and max stayed in delmont, and scott, michael, kyle, rebecca, and max went back to virginia the next day. it was a really nice visit with everyone!

in my next blog ... easter weekend!

springtime

spring is finally here and in full bloom! unfortunately mother nature appears to be confused about the season as the temperatures have fluctuated from the 70s to the 30s, back to the 60s, and down to the 30s again all in the past week. we even got a decent dusting of snow last tuesday! never the less, winter is most certainly behind us as evidenced by the lovely blossoms all over the place and the fact that our snow shovels are in the basement and are not coming back up until december. so there!

i'm a little behind in my blogging because i have been taking and uploading lots and lots of photos over the past week and a half. i wanted to get everything uploaded before i started my blog so i can include pictures in the appropriate places. yes, i am a big dork!

so going back to LAST weekend, my brother scott came to visit from virgina and brought along my two nephews michael and kyle, his friend rebecca, and her son max. peter, erik, and i had the fortune of hosting rebecca and max which was a lot of fun ... rebecca played nice with peter and i at rock band and guitar hero world tour, and erik had fun playing with max (who's 4) and was really good about sharing his toys with him. the 5 of them drove up here last saturday, and we all met out in delmont at my mom and dad's house (granny and pop pop) to go out to dinner at the old country buffet. "we all" meaning EVERYONE - here's the count: granny, pop pop, scott, michael, kyle, rebecca, max, adam, chrissy, morgan, marisa, maggie, peter erik, and i. that's a total of 15 people, 7 of them under 10! it went surprisingly well. i got to sit between erik and maggie which was fun. :) we went back to granny and pop pop's house where erik broke my mom's harry potter snow globe music box sending tiny shards of glass all over the ceramic tile floor. i felt horrible about it, but it brought back fond memories of christmases past. luckily no one got hurt.

on sunday morning, the boys had some time to play before we headed over to station square to go on the incline and have lunch.



it was the same crew as the night before (all 15 of us!), and the weather was gorgeous. station square was surprisingly empty, so the kids had plenty of space to run around, and we enjoyed the view of the city and were lucky enough to see a train come past too!





i had the brilliant idea to gather all the kids to get some pictures of all of them together, and some of them turned out really cute.







i also really liked these two photos of maggie:



next we went up the duquesne incline:









and back down again:







we had lunch all together at the hard rock cafe at one loooong table. morgan was at the opposite end from me and i have no idea what she at, but it was all over her face at the end of the meal and she asked me to take her picture:


(i'm thinking maybe pizza or spaghetti???)

after lunch, the kids ran and played and repeatedly almost got run over by cyclists! but they all had fun playing together and i had fun watching and taking pictures of them.













i got rebecca and scott to pose for a picture (i think it came out nice!):



peter and i took erik home so he could take a nap and recharge. peter napped too, while i went to the lab for awhile. when i got home, i woke both of my guys up and we took erik to the playground before meeting up with the virginia contingent and granny and pop pop for dinner at rock bottom. the clouds were really cool!





that catches me up to last monday, and it's monday now so i'm only a week behind. i'm going to play rock band now, but i'll blog more soon ... probably!

happy easter!

a beautiful and sad day in pittsburgh

today in oakland at the petersen events center, just up the road from where i am now, a ceremony is getting underway to honor the lives of three pitsburgh police officers who were brutally murdered in what i can only describe as a senseless act of violence. police officers from all over the country have come to our city to pay their respects to these three men whose lives were lost in the line of duty. rest in peace, officers kelly, mayhle, and sciullo.


Memorial for fallen officers
Originally uploaded by apatheticapathaya


4-9-2009 Pittsburgh Police Memorial
Originally uploaded by unkle.jamima

despite the sadness, it was a nearly perfect april day, sunny and warm. spring flowers are blooming and the sky was a beautiful deep blue.

don't feel much like blogging right now ...

... but if you're interested, i have posted some photos from this past weekend on my flickr page.

in short, this weekend my brother scott came to visit with my two nephews, his friend rebecca, and her son max. rebecca and max stayed here at my house and we had loads of family togetherness from saturday through last night. i have managed to upload photos from saturday so far, and will work on the rest in days to come. a more substantial blog should follow sometime soon. here are a couple of photos until then.

all of the cousins and max at station square:


maggie trying to be one of the big kids:


erik, his shadow, and the shadow of a giant guitar:


cool clouds from the playground that afternoon:


more to come ... eventually.