Day in the City

There is one week left of summer. Today the girls and I headed in to the city. We parked first in Oakland where we had lunch at the outdoor kiosks near Pitt. We ate under the tent canopy, and the pigeons kept attacking us to get the rice that Daisy kept dropping! We walked over to the carousel, where the nice operator let us ride an extra time for free! Daisy picked the dragon for her first ride and the seal for her second. Virginia loves the spinning car!





Then I showed the girls around Pitt for a bit. We went to the bookstore where I showed them how to look up what textbooks were required for your class and they were amazed at the prices. We looked in on a dining hall and passed by a few dorms. We strolled past the Cathedral of Learning and the girls peaked in on Heinz Chapel.
I'm not sure when classes start, but there were still a lot of parent milling about.














We then drove to the blue slide playground in Frick Park. There was a long line for the slide, as usual. We hadn't been there for a couple of years. Daisy liked the slide, but she really loved playing with other babies in the tot playground and sipping from the water fountain with Leah and Ruby holding her up! Virginia is a master at the monkey bars.
































Tonight, we went to the library and to Bruster's for ice cream. It is starting to get cooler at night. Leah stayed at a friend's house and Ruby's friend is here for the first night of a two-night sleepover.

Belated Birthday

Leah had a bunch of friends over tonight for a bonfire on the island. It was kind of a delayed birthday party and kind of a last-few-days-of-summer party. Russ made an awesome fire, but the kids got caught in a downpour and had to run home with the cupcakes, chips, gummy worms, and board games! The chips didn't fare so well, but everything else was O.K. Leah had made the cupcakes herself. The party continued in the family room, but that fire burned on through two hours of rain!

Leah is a High School Girl

Leah and I went to her high school orientation. She picked up her schedule in the library and we walked the halls for a while. I know it won't take her long to learn to navigate the building, though it seems daunting right now! She has gym first period, and I only teased her for ten or fifteen minutes about how great it will feel to suit up and start exercizin' at seven-thirty A.M.! At least, I told her, she won't need to fix her hair in the morning because it will get messed up as soon as she gets there, anyway. Ruby did a wonderful job of caring for Daisy and Virginia for the two hours Leah and I were gone. She played with her, fixed her lunch, and took care of a boo-boo!

A New Beginning

Today our air conditioner was fixed. Yippee! In addition, we had the little kids and babies of the neighborhood, along with their moms, over for a morning of play in the backyard. It was a lot of fun. Later, the girls and I met friends Megan and Hayley at the pool. We got takeout wings to eat in the backyard for dinner. a great day

Leah babysat today, while Virginia and Ruby each had friends over to play. Virginia loves to play school, so that is what she and her friend did for most of the time. Virginia is a very patient and kind teacher. Russ had a school board meeting, so the girls and I went to Sonic for dinner. I love the strawberry limeade. I mowed the lawn and Grandma took the three big girls shopping for school supplies. They came back with really bulging bags and are very ready now!

Tonight I went out to Pier One and got a really cool clock for the kitchen. Russ watched the girls and they played outside. They made a neat chalk drawing on the driveway! Daisy Sat and Spun.

Geocache and More

We searched for and found a geocache at North Park today. It began to rain during our search, but we persevered and found the cache near the Latodami nature center. We searched for a story pole (like a totem pole) that was relocated to Latodami this year. It used to be at our favorite family picnic spot in North Park, Parish Hill.
We couldn't find it and speculated that it must be in the barn, which was locked. Later, Leah went to a friend's to sleep over and we took the three younger girls to Wildwood Highland to play some games. Virginia had saved up tickets from her past few visits and was able to cash them in for a cool plush Batman doll! She will always be able to remember that she got the doll during the summer that they filmed the Batman movie in her hometown!