Pipsburgh.

I just said to my husband, "I need to go downstairs and write."  It's been too long.  It's crazy how much I've come to depend on blogging as an outlet for all of the thoughts that swirl around in my head all day long.  And when I go seven or eight days without writing anything I start to feel all bottled up and antsy.  Kind of like I'm assuming Georgia feels when she sits in a five point harness car seat for six hours on a road trip.  However, I will say she is a champion traveller.  Just the best. 

And that's part of the reason for my little hiatus.  We left last Thursday for Pittsburgh (Pipsburgh as G says) to visit my sister who moved there mid-July.  I've been there a few times in the past as I had a room-mate in college who was from there and I knew Georgia was up for the trip since she made it back and forth to Florida for spring break this year and was as happy as a clam both down and back.

We had a great time.  G is a fantastic little road trip partner.  She tells me about everything (EVERYTHING) that we see out the window, "There is a cloud.........,(and actually the clouds looked really amazing on the way out there....in fact....here's a picture I took while driving)......

........."there is a gray car just like ours--but ours is bigger, there is a gas station--do we need gas?, there is a blue truck, no a green truck, no a lellow truck, there is that creepy guy (upon seeing a billboard that I have no idea what it was--we were past it when it registered what she'd said), there is a deer--I think it is sleeping."  And the other thing about Georgia on a road trip that is very unusual for.....anyone.........is that she never falls asleep.  Never.  She talks continuously from the time we get in the car to the time we exit.  Even while she's watching a Barney movie, a Tinkerbell movie, and Charlie and Lola--she just gives me an update every few seconds on what everyone in the movie is doing, wearing, eating, saying, and singing.

Ahhhhh.  You just have to embrace it and say to yourself, "I love that little voice and I'm going to suck up every bit of it because one day she won't do this; she won't be the narration to my life and I'll miss it like crazy.  I'll say things like, "Remember when Georgia could talk for six hours straight when we drove to Pennsylvania?"  "Remember when Georgia talked for seventeen hours on the way to Florida?"  I will.  I know I will.  I'm not being facetious. 

So anyway, back to Pittsburgh.  We rolled in Friday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon and we packed so much fun into two days.  It was great.  Pittsburgh is a great little/big city.  The landscape is so different from flat Michigan that it's hard to believe it's really so close to us, there are six bridges that go back and forth across three rivers that you can basically see from anywhere you are in the city, and it feels packed full of more history than anywhere in Michigan. 

My sister is working for American Eagle at their corporate headquarters so we headed to her office to take a look around--such a great working environment--right out of a magazine or movie complete with racks of sample clothing everywhere, floor to ceiling stills from photo shoots, and a vibe that you just don't find in most places of employment.  We went shopping for some great clothes at 77 Kids (American Eagle's kids store) and purchased among other things these amazing Minnetonka ankle boots for G......ahhh....I love these!

We took walks around Ellen's apartment and tried to convince Georgia to play in this great fountain.  She was having none of it so we found this little tiny fountain instead that was buried in the back of an alley and let her play in that. 

We went to a Dora the Explorer show at the children's museum.  We were thinking we'd have to leave once Georgia caught a glimpse of the actors in costume and her heart rate sped up to unhealthy levels from fear but as soon as Dora smiled at her she was a fan and couldn't wait to talk to Dora at the end of the show.  Dora told her that her outfit matched Dora's and I've heard about that little exchange at least one hundred times since we've returned.  I think she's star struck. 

And we took an incline ride up Mt. Washington to see the city.

And....the following picture contains a couple of things that are fun.....but mostly......Georgia's face!  What is she looking at? What is so great at the bottom of the mountain?  Who knows--but man--she is super excited about it!

All in all a fantastic little trip and we can't wait to go back.  Ellen's new city is a great one and we're super happy that she's so happy.