End of the Trip

Per recommendation, we went down to the river bank and had some lunch at Hofbrauhaus. There was a fountain near there that the kiddos played in before we did some light shopping.

After dinner, W & I went on a little date: Starbucks and drove around looking at the gorgeous brick houses and magical lawn lights {fireflies} around Mt. Lebanon. Seriously wish we could use more of this beautiful building material in earthquake country. Brick sure makes a house more welcoming and quiant!

The churches in the East coast are always so beautiful.

We spent the late evening around an outdoor fire; talking and getting eaten by mosquitoes before heading to bed.

We are so glad we made the trip out here this year. Being 32 weeks pregnant was definitely no walk in the park, but I knew that it would be tough. The humidity and full days were tiring. Going through security was a bear at the airports. They are certainly making it harder for families who like to travel but I'm happy to say we avoided the new 'nakey' x-ray machines. Ezra did fabulously both ways on the flights even though he only got his own seat once-- it was harder on us when we went to Milwaukee when he was 9 months.It took us two full days to recover from our vacation. :) Would we do it all over again?! Heck yeah!

We're really hoping that we can make more East coast adventures happen in the future..so many states, so little time!

The Cromies: A Good Catholic Family

The real reason we traveled all this way: Mama Judy’s family reunion. The kind of reunion where you’re meeting relatives for the very first time and need name tags that state your name plus who you belong to. Mama's parents passed long before W was ever born so the siblings are who carry on the reunion, which happens every other year. They are, in birth order: Patrica, Jeanne, Jim, Althea, Bob, Albert, Rosemary {who passed eleven years ago from Down Syndrome complications}, and Mama Judy.

Here are the siblings who were present at the reunion L-R: Bob, Jeanne, Judy, Jim, Pat{rica}, and Al. Althea, unfortunately, was just recently placed in the hospital for heart troubles so although that part of the family was planning on coming, they did not.

Jeanne and Judy...twinsies separated by 11 years!

Six of those kids went on to reproduce…one of which had two and the rest had four or more. Judy is the leader with seven. So this means, her parents had close to 30 grandkids. Like I said in the title: the Cromies were a very good Catholic family. Uncle Jim and Mama are the ones who moved away the farthest, to the West coast. The other four siblings are located either in town, southern Pennsylvania, New York or Ohio.

I missed Bob and his offspring's photo, but here are Jeanne and her's:

Judy's and those who came from California to represent...so funny that she's really got the biggest portion when we have the smallest amount:

Pat and her's:

And Al and his:

So I got to meet W’s aunts, uncles, cousins, and 2nd cousins all in one place. We talked, ate, played games, and survived the humidity somehow.

So fun to be thrown in with a bunch of strangers and then try to figure out what you have in common. And I thought keeping W's immediate family all in order was difficult in the beginning, this was a whole new ball game. Everyone was so sweet and so interested in getting to know us. Not only did we come away with some new potential vacation locations, but some new friends as well!

A Taste of Smokey City's History

So I've been on the fence about whether I like this city or not. It used to be called the Smokey City because it was grossly polluted by the steel mills and coal mines. Apparently, the buildings were just covered in soot and there were serious health issues for anyone who lived here. Now, steel is no longer made here and they’ve cleaned up much of the building faces. But it definitely still has a dirty ol’ feel to it. W says I’m just a girl who likes her aesthetics. And I think he’s right. Seattle, Milwaukee, and Chicago are all clean, have beautiful buildings, and have lots of greenery and flowers scattered throughout the downtown areas. This place, not so much. Or at least what little I've seen.

BUT I will say that I love all the random history I’ve learned about Pittsburgh—W isn’t the only history nerd in this family. And random history it is! I learned a ton when we went to the Heinz History Center on day two. Pittsburgh definitely takes pride in all its accomplishments and accolades. It was the birthplace for…

Mister Roger’s Neighborhood--yup, that homemade-knit-sweater wearing guy of the early 70s.

The invention of the Big Mac

Andy Worhol, the pop culture artist

Rachel Carson—the first notable environmentalist who did a lot to clean up this city

The great Lewis and Clark Expedition…seriously, they started from Pittsburgh.

Andrew Carnegie’s great success as a steelmaker and contributor to the city’s cultural development

The Polio Vaccine

Heinz Food Company

And Rosie the Riveter 

Okay, so probably more than you EVER wanted to know about Pittsburgh, but I was quite impressed by its resume. We then headed to the Strip to grab a bite to eat and check out the bizarre. Like the Alter Bar which is located in a church…

And The Wholely Market—full of chaos and weird smells.

We grabbed some yummy pizza at a hole in the wall place before heading back home for the day. That evening, W’s sister Dof and Ashaya flew in. Just in time for the Cromie Reunion!

Overview of Pittsburgh

For our first day in the city, we decided to do a Just Ducky tour to get a ‘forest view’ of Pittsburgh. 

Before our trip, E and W hung around a fountain that was tuned to music {at that time it was Disney movie soundtracks} in Station Square. If you stood close enough, you could get a refreshing shower of mist. And it was uncomfortably warm when we went.

Mama Judy and her oldest brother {#3 out of 8}, Uncle Jim, joined in the ducky fun. They both grew up in this city.

My handsome and wet boys.

We were quickly introduced to the city and its history. 

PNC park where the Pirates play.

PPG plaza made out of black glass…I guess the Inspector Gadget filmed used this for Dr. Claw’s evil lair. It definitely stood out against all the old gothic architecture of the city.

The last bit of the tour was in the water. Pittsburgh is surrounded by three rivers {even though the two merge into one, the Ohio} and has over 400 bridges to cross them.  The city’s south side also has Mount Washington and requires these long tunnels to get into the heart of the city.

During the boat portion, kids got a chance to drive. After E woke up from a nap, he took to the wheel…hence the dazed expression on his face. 

We saw the Heinz Field where the Steelers play. And let me tell you, these people out here—they are dead serious about their sports. Maybe because they don’t have multiple choices because there is black and yellow every.where. Mama Judy says it’s because they were serious steel and coal miners so they needed something fun to ‘get away’. 

On our way home, we stopped at the top of Mount Washington for a bird’s eye view of the city. It has a great skyline with all the water and bridges surrounding it.

We also stopped at St. Mary’s of the Mount church with its beautiful architecture. 

A great day to get better acquainted with the {formally known as} Smokey City!!

Traveling Across the Country

Not as challenging as we had worried about leading up to the day. Surprisingly, we were packed by Monday and had most details taken care of in advance of our early Wednesday morning departure. Here’s our loot {minus a car seat, lunch pail and stroller}… more carry on weight than our checked luggage, I’m sure. ;)

E loved seeing all the big airplanes. It was fun that we just went to the Airplane Museum so he already knew what they were.

We lucked out the first leg and got a whole row to ourselves. E loved putting his feet up.

We sure asked a great deal of E on our travel day: waking up at 4:30, and a loooong day of travel. This included one 4 hr flight and a 3 hr flight. Although, there was very little sleep that day, he did amazing. We read, snacked on yummy treats, colored, made pipe-cleaner bracelets, stuck stickers everywhere, and played with kind neighbors.  He even let us watch the in-flight movie on the last leg—which was Unstoppable, a movie about Pennsylvania and filmed in Pittsburgh. 

And he loved blowing off some steam by way of the 'moving walk'. We went on that thing again and again and again and...while waiting for Mama Judy to land.

We arrived in the early evening at W’s Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim’s place in southern Pittsburgh. Aunt Pat is Mama Judy’s oldest sibling. Mama is the youngest of 8! I am really looking forward to meeting some of W’s extended family for the first time—as he was too since the one and only time he’s seen them was when he was three!

{I'm hijacking some internet so while I hope I can continue to post while here, no promises!}