Weekend In Pittsburgh

We spent the weekend in Pittsburgh visiting my brother, Tony, and his partner, Hien. Lucky for us, OG, Emma and Jake's newfound half-sib, Callie and her awesome moms live there, too. Friday night was fun. My brother is a professor at the University and the Faculty Advisor for the gay and lesbian group, so he had a few of the students over for a delectable Asian dinner and wonderfully fattening desserts. Nice kids - SOOOOOOO young. It made me feel pretty old to hear some of the things they talk about.
Saturday was a blast. We met up with Darcy, Mare and Callie at the Pittsburgh Zoo and my brother came along (so happy he did). However, Hien stayed home and sealed their HUGE driveway. What a daunting task that was.
We spent 4 hours trolling along looking at all the animals and the girls had a great time. So did the kids (hehe).
Tony and Hien were sweet enough to ask Darcy and Mare for dinner that evening. After we all went home and napped, they came over and ate and drank and talked and the girls played and it warmed my heart and made me wish (all over again) that we all lived closer and could do this on a whim if we wanted.
I have to give it up for Tony and Hien. They sat so patiently and graciously listened to all our talk of children and what they do and how they do it and how funny and smart our kids are and all kinds of woman stuff that nobody really wants to hear. BIG UPS! MWAAAAAAAAAA! (Tony - that s a big kiss for you and Hien).

The weekend was wonderful and my only regret is that I didn't get to go shopping at TJ Ma.xx with my IDOL, Hien. He is the clearance king and even I am in awe at some of the great deals he gets. (I am now on my knees bowing, paying homage to the master).

I leave you with pix of our fun...

The rhinos were huge, and uninterested in talking to us.

The family...poor Jake, and my brother, didn't have a prayer with all the estrogen surging that day.
My favorite fish in the whole aquarium...gimme a big kiss!
This scale lets you know what animal weighs as much as you do. And you are a...? Poor baby just paced back and forth, back and forth.
It was really hot, so the girls cooled off in a sprinkler.
The elephants were great. They were getting baths when we saw them and they frolicked in the water. We were sweating and quite envious. Nothing to say here - just cute!

Callie the rock climber.
Me and Callie, Mare and OG.

M&M's and Back.yardigans videos made for sweet ride home.

Olivia had to pee, no rest stop in sight, so she assumed the camping pee pee pose. No go, so she held it til we got home.

And a few of the babies - just cuz they're cute and they never get to have any fun!

Above - our little ladykiller and below, the maneater. They are also both Mare magnets. She couldn't put them down.