Ahhh.......back

Well, as with all good things, this weekend did come to an end. To recap, the girls and I spent the holiday weekend with Jim and his family in Pittsburgh. Well, outside of Pittsburgh, but it's easier to call it Pittsburgh as most people could locate it on a map with little problem. It's kind of like telling people that I live in Philadelphia, even though we live like an hour away from there. In any case, we drove back today. A recap of the weekend:

July 4th - had a cookout of hamburgers and hot dogs. We found that Allie just loves to be bossy, and gets mad when other kids don't do exactly what she wants. We also found that Jim and Jess have a large GeoTracks collection that Ryles became obsessed with. Jim bought a box of fireworks, and we lit off about half of them that night.
July 5th - we decided to visit the outlet mall at Grove City as a group. It's always difficult to try and find something that everyone is going to enjoy, so this just seemed like a safe and easy choice. So, we (RACHEL) decided to go "shopping". Just what men love, going to outlet malls with their wives. Now, shopping is what sets men and women apart. I think a comedian said it best, although I can't remember which one to give the credit to, but I loved the way he put it when he said "Men and women approach shopping differently. Rest assured, when a man goes shopping, he's coming home with something. It doesn't matter if it's an air freshener in the shape of the Taj Mahal, or day old rice crispy treats from the bakery. It's the hunter mentality. We shop, we buy. Women, on the other hand, can go shopping all day and return with nothing. How is this shopping, I ask you? As far as I'm concerned, you just wasted the day looking - let's just stop calling it shopping." In any case, we did actually pick up a few things, so it was shopping. Jim/Jess bought dinner for everyone that night at Smokey Bones (my favorite) restaurant ..... BBQ chicken and broccoli for me. The night was capped by the rest of the fireworks to the delight of the kids, and we all went to sleep early that night.
July 6th - What a great relaxing Sunday. Jim opened his pool, and we took Lindser for her first swimming adventure. Ironically, it was in the same "boat" floating toy that Ryles took her first swim in at Jim/Jess'. We were better prepared this time, as Lindser had an actual swimsuit and not just her onesie over a swim diaper. It was also a ton warmer than the other times we've dipped in their pool, so that was a bonus. We relaxed with a lunch outside, and then for dinner Jim grilled steaks, corn, and chicken for everyone. Just a wonderful, lazy day that you yearn for when life starts reminding you how busy you normally are.
July 7th - We packed up, cleaned up the mess the girls made (0kay, and the mess we made) while Jim worked from home in the morning. We decided to have lunch with them before getting on the road for home. We planned to have lunch at the Quaker Stake and Lube and popped in about noon. Well, when we pulled up - a mini-bus from the local retirement community pulled up and unloaded the bulk of their residents. Jessica was waiting at the hostess stand trying to secure a table. It was pretty busy for a Monday afternoon, but it didn't look packed by any means. Well, lovely hostess walks up and the following exchange occurs:

Jim: Table for 8 - four adults and four kids.
Hostess: (puzzled look) how many?
Jim: There's eight of us.
Hostess: (looks at seating chart, grunts) I don't have anything for you.
Jim: Okay, we're going to Primanti's. (To us, with hostess right there) Sorry, apparently they don't have anything, and she's not going to even quote us a wait time.
Hostess: (confused look) Oh, you want to wait? Hmm..... I think we might have something ...... let me see ....
Me: Screw this, let's just leave blondie to her needlepoint and physics books.

So, we went across the street to Pittsburgh's own Primanti Bros. restaurant. Kinda a neat regional restaurant. They put the coleslaw and fries inside the sandwich, you can catch the food network special on the place or check out their website. After lunch, we left for home. It's always a good time with Jim/Jess and family, and we look at them as our second family.