Eating Our Way Through The 'Burgh!

This post goes back to post-adoption and pre-Thanksgiving...sandwiched right between the two! I just have not had the time to sit down and edit the 500+ pictures! So, you really should be proud of me, I have managed to cut it down to only 55 pictures for this post. That's good, right?!

So, this is Lauren! If you know much about us at all you know that we love Lauren and Ray.  She is THE link to our boys...which gives her the title "fairy god mother".  Another (more professional & distinguished) title she holds is that of dietician.  Ironically (and one of my most favorite things about Lauren), she loves unhealthy food as much as I do! Hence, the title of this post because we literally ate our way through Pittsburg!

Lauren and Ray moved from Hershey to Pittsburgh this summer, and we were SO glad we got to visit them during the second half of the week after Miles' adoption. We had so much fun in that big city! LOTS to do with the kiddos and, more importantly, LOTS of unhealthy food.  Not only are there a lot of unhealthy options, but also in unhealthy portions.  It was grand! These two pictures sum up my love of Lauren and her poor food choices!  Obviously, she doesn't eat like this all the time, but when we're together it's like the blind leading the blind...straight into the hands of gluttony!

                      

This lovely bakery was about a 15 minute walk from her house...and we did it twice. I mean, how can a place called Food Glorious Food not be worth two trips!! Plus, it was a great excuse for Murray (and myself) to get a bit of exercise!

I can't even remember which "glorious" food choices we made, but they were awesome!

Disclaimer: These pictures are grouped appropriately but completely out of order chronologically!

A day at the Children's Museum of Pittsburg...FANTASTIC! I'm not sure I have ever seen such a sensory playground for kids!  It was fantastic! We packed a lunch and spent a better part of the day exploring that place!

Human size Lite-Brite

light/sand sensory tables

This amazing projector that put your live images on screen as you walked by, and then letters "dropped" onto your images while you moved.  The object was to "catch" letters to form words by moving your body in different positions. I have NO IDEA how that thing worked, but it was awesome!

A hug rope ladder that led up to a platform where you could launch parachutes.

See-thru see saw that made bubbles as you went faster

What's a kid's museum without water play?

Ok, true story...this entire room of optical illusions made me sick to my stomach. I could not get out of there fast enough...almost tossed my cookies.  Take a good luck at this picture and see all the things "wrong"...the shelf, the ball that should have rolled down, her scarf not falling down...

this was a 2-story maze for the kids to climb up and down between floors!

Of course, we had to go to the famous Primanti Brothers for lunch...their sandwiches all come with fries on them! Need I say more??

We went to dinner one night at a place called Burgatory.  Hilarious, right? The burgers were amazing and enormous as were the shakes for dessert! Here is a picture of their homemade milkshake menu...

have you ever dreamed of anything quite this fantastic?! Coffee & Donuts was the favorite at our table.

So, in the middle of this swanky neighborhood there is a park with the "big blue slide".  We went hunting for it, and it was a blast!

We took the incline up to the top of the  ridge which overlooks the city! It was a spectacular view as the sun was setting and the lights were coming on below!

The red lights in the bottom right corner of this picture show the track of the incline. Left to center you can make out the "point" where 2 of the 3 rivers converge.

Here you can see the red trolley-like incline bringing people up and down the mountain.  There were some pretty fancy shmancy restaurants up at the top, too...perhaps we'll try one next time!

 riding the incline back down

Could they be any cuter??

Such gracious hosts to have this rowdy family of four! Their new home is quite charming!

We toured Pitt's campus which was gorgeous! And, we made a lunch stop at the "O"...basically a hotdog joint.  Below is the pic of our lunch which included the superdog (it was laced with bacon!).

Beautiful campus and  a nice day to explore!

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Future Pitt Panther??

In the background is the Cathedral of Learning...a 42 story gothic style building for classrooms! Amazing!

Inside the Cathedral of Learning...seriously, this is where they have class

Dave & Andy's, a local home-made ice cream joint near campus...pretty fantastic!

Pittsburgh also boasts a National Aviary which was very fun and impressive!

Wow, what a fun time that was!! I hope we can go back and finish eating (umm, I mean exploring!) Thanks, Lauren & Ray, for hosting us and showing us all around town! And, thanks, Lauren, for letting me rat you out about being the "junk food dietician"!  

We love you guys and hope to see you again soon!!