Accommodations: Holiday Inn University of Pittsburgh University Center and Aunt Helen's House
Tuesday April 12:
The kids and I took off from Boston to Pittsburgh while Lance flew home to California. The plane ride was mostly uneventful, but once we got to the airport, we had to a wait a little while because my mom and Randy got stuck in the Pittsburgh rush hour traffic through the Fort Pitt Tunnels. This wasn't too bad, but it was entertaining getting two children, two large suitcases (that don't strap together), two carseats, one stroller, one backpack, and RJ's backpack all to the door. Luckily RJ found it fun to pull one of the suitcases and I used his spot in the stroller for one of the carseats. We got picked up, fit all that stuff in the car and headed to the hotel to check in, and then went for a late dinner of ice cream. Yes, ice cream for dinner. The kids had eaten a late lunch and then had some snacks on the plane, but really, ice cream was what everyone wanted. The original plan was Max and Erma's, but apparently the one in Shadyside doesn't exist anymore (WTF?) and it was getting late and we wanted to get the kids to bed. We all crashed when we got back to the hotel.
Wednesday April 13:
This was the first day of the NALS conference. Logan clearly had some separation anxiety since he doesn't get to see Grammie too often. (Grammie needs to get her butt out of Buffalo and move to California!) He did eventually calm down and the boys got to go to Pamela's for breakfast with Grammie and Randy while I conferenced. It was spectacular to have academic discussions again and to visit other preschools (I went to the Cyert Center for Early Education (which I have never actually toured despite living above the center in Morewood my Freshman year of college) and I skipped out of the end of the tour to visit the Children's School (that's the one I worked at during my undergrad years at CMU - the one in the basement of the Margaret Morrison building for you other CMU alums out there). I gained so many great ideas for my center if I can ever get money to start it!
I met back up with my boys at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where they spent the afternoon learning about dinosaurs and RJ acquired a ridiculously heavy museum quality Brachiosaurus (who he quickly named Ned after the one on Dinosaur Train), and a big T-rex, since he was still sad that he didn't have one of his bigger T-rexes with him (and Stripey was smaller). Thanks Grammie and Randy for giving us even more stuff to fly back with! [In all fairness, RJ does play with Ned practically every day and he has visited the park, the sand table, and most recently, RJ's forehead when Logan clocked him with it.]
We had some dinner at Primanti Bros.
(Randy was previously a Primanti Bros. virgin, so it was definitely on the Pittsburgh to-do list!) and walked around Oakland and into Schenley park where I stopped in at the University Reception and Poster Session for the conference at the Frick Fine Arts Building.
Thursday April 14:
More conferencing for me when Mom and Randy took RJ and Logan to visit with their Great Grandparents and Aunt Helen. The highlight of my day was the keynote address by Hedda Sharapan from the Fred Rogers Company. She worked closely with Fred Rogers and was an absolutely delightful speaker who shared lots of clips from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as well as clips of Fred from awards banquets, hearings, etc. She also provided the entire conference with copies of "You are Special", which I have wanted to read for a while now!
After the conference, Mom, Randy, the boys, and I ate at LuLu's (yum!) and then I took the boys to the CMU Spring Carnival midway, which I don't think I ever went to since I was usuallyavoiding the last minute work on Booth, preparing for the buggy races, and/or at the KDR Buggy A-team dinner (carb-loading my pushers!) This was quite a different experience seeking out kiddie rides and being able to see straight because I was sober. RJ thought it was pretty cool as I reminisced, seeing all the fraternity men and sorority women frantically trying to put the finishing touches on their booths. 
Friday April 15:
2am: Logan had been getting up frequently to join me in bed with RJ, but it did afford this adorable picture of them sleeping together, even if I was being pushed off the side of the bed.
I played hooky from the conference because I absolutely HAD to take my boys to see the buggy races.
Tuesday April 12:
The kids and I took off from Boston to Pittsburgh while Lance flew home to California. The plane ride was mostly uneventful, but once we got to the airport, we had to a wait a little while because my mom and Randy got stuck in the Pittsburgh rush hour traffic through the Fort Pitt Tunnels. This wasn't too bad, but it was entertaining getting two children, two large suitcases (that don't strap together), two carseats, one stroller, one backpack, and RJ's backpack all to the door. Luckily RJ found it fun to pull one of the suitcases and I used his spot in the stroller for one of the carseats. We got picked up, fit all that stuff in the car and headed to the hotel to check in, and then went for a late dinner of ice cream. Yes, ice cream for dinner. The kids had eaten a late lunch and then had some snacks on the plane, but really, ice cream was what everyone wanted. The original plan was Max and Erma's, but apparently the one in Shadyside doesn't exist anymore (WTF?) and it was getting late and we wanted to get the kids to bed. We all crashed when we got back to the hotel.
Wednesday April 13:
This was the first day of the NALS conference. Logan clearly had some separation anxiety since he doesn't get to see Grammie too often. (Grammie needs to get her butt out of Buffalo and move to California!) He did eventually calm down and the boys got to go to Pamela's for breakfast with Grammie and Randy while I conferenced. It was spectacular to have academic discussions again and to visit other preschools (I went to the Cyert Center for Early Education (which I have never actually toured despite living above the center in Morewood my Freshman year of college) and I skipped out of the end of the tour to visit the Children's School (that's the one I worked at during my undergrad years at CMU - the one in the basement of the Margaret Morrison building for you other CMU alums out there). I gained so many great ideas for my center if I can ever get money to start it!
I met back up with my boys at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where they spent the afternoon learning about dinosaurs and RJ acquired a ridiculously heavy museum quality Brachiosaurus (who he quickly named Ned after the one on Dinosaur Train), and a big T-rex, since he was still sad that he didn't have one of his bigger T-rexes with him (and Stripey was smaller). Thanks Grammie and Randy for giving us even more stuff to fly back with! [In all fairness, RJ does play with Ned practically every day and he has visited the park, the sand table, and most recently, RJ's forehead when Logan clocked him with it.]
We had some dinner at Primanti Bros.
(Randy was previously a Primanti Bros. virgin, so it was definitely on the Pittsburgh to-do list!) and walked around Oakland and into Schenley park where I stopped in at the University Reception and Poster Session for the conference at the Frick Fine Arts Building.Thursday April 14:
More conferencing for me when Mom and Randy took RJ and Logan to visit with their Great Grandparents and Aunt Helen. The highlight of my day was the keynote address by Hedda Sharapan from the Fred Rogers Company. She worked closely with Fred Rogers and was an absolutely delightful speaker who shared lots of clips from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as well as clips of Fred from awards banquets, hearings, etc. She also provided the entire conference with copies of "You are Special", which I have wanted to read for a while now!
After the conference, Mom, Randy, the boys, and I ate at LuLu's (yum!) and then I took the boys to the CMU Spring Carnival midway, which I don't think I ever went to since I was usually
Friday April 15:
2am: Logan had been getting up frequently to join me in bed with RJ, but it did afford this adorable picture of them sleeping together, even if I was being pushed off the side of the bed.
I played hooky from the conference because I absolutely HAD to take my boys to see the buggy races.
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about (or clearly weren't listening to me when I was in college), Buggy is a unique race at Carnegie Mellon. The buggies are small aerodynamic non-motorized vehicles built and powered by CMU students in various organization. I usually describe them as looking like torpedoes on wheels with a giant stick coming out the back. These were the ones I drove:
Yes, I am INSIDE the torpedo part. Laying on my stomach a few inches off the ground enjoying every second of it. The course is roughly a loop, where a two person relay pushes you up a hill and then shoves you to free roll (yes there is steering, and brakes in there) downhill and around a sharp curve (the "chute"), after which the buggy is picked up by 3 more people who relay up the hill again to the finish line. The running part is fun (especially if you cheer on your pushers from inside the buggy), but the downhill portion is where the real excitement is for the driver because buggies can go pretty fast (~35 mph at peak speed).
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| Palooka - KDR Buggy 1999 |
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| Penthus - KDR Buggy - 2000 |
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| Penthus - KDR Buggy - 2001 |
Anyway, in college I drove for Kappa Delta Rho (Lance's fraternity) and I had the time of my life doing it, so I really wanted to share the experience with my kids.
RJ thought it was really cool since he is obsessed with races, and even got to witness a crash (something Mommy NEVER did - I spun once, but never crashed) right in front of him.
Seriously. The buggy hit the hay bale right next to the one he was standing on. After this crash (the first of about 5 this year - crazy!), we ran into Doh, 40, Lou, and Dawber (oh, you expected me to use their real adult names - HA!), who were all KDR buggy gurus. For example, 40 Dogg, who was chair, built the buggy that I drove (and got a 5th place trophy with) in 2000. That was 11 years ago. Damn. Yeah, a lot has changed in 11 years - for example, I know 40 as my buggy chair and friend who welcomed me to the KDR buggy team at a party, and who once got covered in American cheese after passing out during Carnival festivities. However, to RJ, "Mike" is "the cool guy who has two boys my age and took me to the potty so Mommy could stay outside with Logan". Thanks "Mike", that was really helpful and in college, I NEVER would've imagined that you'd be taking my kid to pee.
I reluctantly returned to the conference for the afternoon and took the kids back to midway in the evening (where we ran into Shannon, Kirstyn, and beautiful baby Amelia).
And then, as the trip had been going more smoothly since getting my new phone, of course, we were due for some drama. I lost my wallet, which I didn't realize until we arrived at Gullifty's for dinner. So my mom and Randy left me and kids there with some money and went to look for it in the parking garage at the hotel (we thought it fell out when packing the stroller in the car). We briefly saw Eileen and her family there, which was cool, but I was so discombobulated that we didn't really talk much. Mom and Randy came back and we stopped at CMU to check if anyone had turned it in. I really had zero faith that I would recover it during Carnival, but Mom's sixth sense was right and CMU police picked it up and it was completely untouched. Thank goodness! The trip was back on track!
Saturday April 16:
After packing up and checking out, I finally got to go to Pamela's with the boys and Mom and Randy! Except it was packed, unlike during the week (duh - should've KNOWN that). After a yummy breakfast, we took the boys to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum for some good quality play
and then shopped a little in the Strip District before heading out to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim's for dinner and a sleepover and visiting! And, as an added bonus, Logan decided that he was ready to walk again! His injury was, for the most part, over.
Sunday April 17:
We visited and then drove up to Buffalo, stopping at Grove City on the way up.
RJ thought it was really cool since he is obsessed with races, and even got to witness a crash (something Mommy NEVER did - I spun once, but never crashed) right in front of him.
Seriously. The buggy hit the hay bale right next to the one he was standing on. After this crash (the first of about 5 this year - crazy!), we ran into Doh, 40, Lou, and Dawber (oh, you expected me to use their real adult names - HA!), who were all KDR buggy gurus. For example, 40 Dogg, who was chair, built the buggy that I drove (and got a 5th place trophy with) in 2000. That was 11 years ago. Damn. Yeah, a lot has changed in 11 years - for example, I know 40 as my buggy chair and friend who welcomed me to the KDR buggy team at a party, and who once got covered in American cheese after passing out during Carnival festivities. However, to RJ, "Mike" is "the cool guy who has two boys my age and took me to the potty so Mommy could stay outside with Logan". Thanks "Mike", that was really helpful and in college, I NEVER would've imagined that you'd be taking my kid to pee.I reluctantly returned to the conference for the afternoon and took the kids back to midway in the evening (where we ran into Shannon, Kirstyn, and beautiful baby Amelia).
And then, as the trip had been going more smoothly since getting my new phone, of course, we were due for some drama. I lost my wallet, which I didn't realize until we arrived at Gullifty's for dinner. So my mom and Randy left me and kids there with some money and went to look for it in the parking garage at the hotel (we thought it fell out when packing the stroller in the car). We briefly saw Eileen and her family there, which was cool, but I was so discombobulated that we didn't really talk much. Mom and Randy came back and we stopped at CMU to check if anyone had turned it in. I really had zero faith that I would recover it during Carnival, but Mom's sixth sense was right and CMU police picked it up and it was completely untouched. Thank goodness! The trip was back on track!Saturday April 16:
After packing up and checking out, I finally got to go to Pamela's with the boys and Mom and Randy! Except it was packed, unlike during the week (duh - should've KNOWN that). After a yummy breakfast, we took the boys to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum for some good quality play
and then shopped a little in the Strip District before heading out to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim's for dinner and a sleepover and visiting! And, as an added bonus, Logan decided that he was ready to walk again! His injury was, for the most part, over.Sunday April 17:
We visited and then drove up to Buffalo, stopping at Grove City on the way up.
More pictures on Picasa
2 comments:
If you want to see a cool Super-8 video of buggy, check out our friend Jordi's video page @ http://jenjordi.org/jordi/films.php
The buggy video is at the bottom of the page.
The video is edited to go back and forth from "buggy cam" or what the driver sees to external video footage of the buggy (mostly our other buggy). Jordi mounted the camera to the top of my buggy, so it's actually my view that is featured as I was following our other buggy during free roll practice. The buggy actually goes quite a bit faster, but we slowed it down so that we wouldn't risk damage to the camera.
Cheryl,
That video of buggy was awesome! I'm going to have to show it to Ross. It's so much fun to see your family's adventures!
Emily Schmidt
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