OMG. I have been without internet access since last Friday morning. We came home on Sunday to a dead phone line. The phone company came on Monday to fix the problem, told me that it was fixed (even though the line was still dead) and left me instructions to call the main office, which only lead to another headache. I spent a good portion of Tuesday on the phone (thank goodness for cell phones) with the main office, arguing that it was a problem with the lines, not with my phone inside the house. Kyle tested the outside box and there was still no dial tone so they sent someone out today, and lo and behold it was indeed a problem with the central line, which is now fixed and working and I am once again connected to the outside world through my bff - the internet.

I have so much catching up to do, a long list of blogs to read, and a list of bills to pay. Today I intended on cleaning the house, but the computer keeps calling out to me so I’m sitting here with toys piled up under my feet that can wait to be put away when I’m finished with this post.

Our trip to Pittsburgh was not as bad as I had anticipated (it was our first time traveling with the two kids). In fact, it was an overall pleasant experience with only a few meltdowns (courtesy of Kade and myself). We had a low key day on Friday hanging out at the hotel pool, which Kade thoroughly enjoyed but he was so cold afterwards that he wanted nothing to do with swimming for the rest of the weekend. We ordered in delicious room service that actually cost a significant amount less than what we would have spent at a restaurant and called it a night at about 9:00. Kade had a hard time falling asleep and kept asking where the “little bed” was (he didn’t like the idea of sleeping with mom and dad all night). We woke up very early (thanks, Kade) so I headed to the fitness room to get in a few miles. The heat smacked me in the face as soon as I opened the door, and I barely made it 3 miles without passing out from sheer exhaustion. I was tempted to jump off the damned treadmill and head outside to bury myself in the snow to cool down. So much for the long 7 mile run I had planned on doing Sunday morning…there was no way I could make it that distance without blacking out from heat exhaustion.

After a much needed shower, we were on our way to the Children’s museum. We gave Kade the choice of either going there or to the zoo’s aquarium, and he quickly decided that a trip to the museum was in our future. We took a drive through South Side Works, the Waterfront, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Oakland and downtown enroute to the museum and Kade anxiously asked if we were there yet the entire time.

We were amazed the moment we drove up. The facade of the building was the perfect marriage of historic architecture with modern design, and Kade was awe-struck by the enormous fish sculptures in the parking lot. You’ll have to check out Kyle’s pictures to get the full effect. There were interactive wall screens, a physics based room centered around experimenting with pulleys, an illusion room, a traveling exhibit involving Japanese animation, a water play room that made me want to don golashes and splash around myself, a “nursery” that catered to Liv’s age bracket, an entire wing devoted to hands-on artwork of every kind (printmaking, silkscreening, painting, etc.), and Kade’s favorite - a Mr. Roger’s neighborhood complete with the original puppets from the show (I’ll admit this was a perk for me as well).

Kade and I watch Mr. Rogers (or as he would say “Jolly Rogers,” in keeping with the pirate theme) nearly every day during lunch. We talk about his topic of the day and discuss what’s going on in the neighborhood of make-believe. So, it was darn near impossible to get him out of that room of the museum. We had to keep bribing him to check out the other exhibits, and he kept going back to the Rogers’ room in between. The puppet, Lady Elaine, freaks him out but he loves her, so when he saw her in person it was a little overwhelming for him. I think he was waiting for her to say, “Hey there, Toots.”

Our day at the museum made quite an impression on Kade. He has been talking about it ever since, and so have Kyle and I (we had just as much fun there as he did).

We were all starving after our 3 hour fun-fest, but lunch was not so nice. That smoking ban we have here in Cleveland apparently doesn’t transfer to Pittsburgh so we had to suffer through a smoke-filled meal (we ate fast).

The rest of the evening was spent lounging in the hotel room, and the clock read 8:00 when the lights went out for the night (talk about party animals).

Now we are home, I’m back on the running bandwagon, and I have so much to talk about but this post is already way too long (my apologies). So, I will have to recap the genius comments made by one local news anchor (that title is under debate) at a later date, but I can promise you that you mama’s out there will be foaming at the mouth over this one…