cards @ pittsburg

Wanna know the truth??? We spent a couple of extra days hanging around Pittsburg just so we could see the Cardinals play the Pirates on Monday night... I'm not complaining or anything, just putting the truth out there/

This is how excited I was to be at a new stadium!!!

Here's the view of the stadium from our boat tour the day before.

Here's the view from inside the stadium. We were a little early so there's not a lot of ppl there yet, but it was a really nice stadium and it was smaller so you were pretty much right on top of the game!

Not sure why we're happy at this point b/c the Cardinals definatly lost this game :/

See how close we were we got some decent player pics even with our wimpy zoom!

Go Pujols!!!

more of Pittsburg

Our last full day in Pittsburg we started at the botanical gardens - I love going to botanical gardens so, of course, I was very excited for this part of our trip!!! It gets more exciting though... Kevin went up to buy our tickets and it turned out to be a free day!!! Apparently they have 2 free days a year and we'd hit the jackpot (or the flower pot anyway)!!!

This was the very first picture of the day and it might just be my favorite!

It sprinkled a little off and on, but it made this pic turn out really neat

I always love the orchid room,  probably because they are some of my mom's favorites

The butterfly room was aslo very cool and I got several good pics to share

Ok, sorry. Enough butterflies. Here's me and Kevin!

I thought this room display was pretty cool - it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.

These next two are from the outside gardens

The botanical gardens were in the same area as the University of Pittsburg so we also stopped by the cathedral of learning. It was really cool on the inside with great places to do homework and study... you know, if you still have to do that type of thing ;)

This church was right next door and had lots of pretty stained glass windows.

Here, I'm actually waiting on Kevin, who was taking pictures, it's usally him waiting on me!

the city of pittsburg

After our morning at McConnell Mills State Park we headed into Pittsburg to actually see some of the city.

First we rode up the Monongahela Incline to see the view of Pittsburg from Mt. Washington.

Pittsburg residents used to ride this to/from work everyday.

Here's the veiw from the top!

This hellicopter was actually filming for the new batman movie - we also got to see the "batcave" and a bat tumber - so fun!!

Next, we took a boat tour, since downtown Pittsburg is set between the Allegheny & Monongahela Rivers, you can see a lot of the city this way!

Finally, we stopped for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack

the guys really enjoyed their crab legs!

and I was just happy to get to eat!

We ended the night by driving back up to Mt. Washington and taking some night pics of the city.

I think they look really cool!!!

mcconnell mills state park

While in the Pittsburg area we wanted to spend some time with PA nature so we visited a nearby state park - McConnell Mills State Park. It had an old mill, a covered bridge, and a couple of waterfalls too! It was so beautiful and relaxing to spend the morning enjoying nature.

Here's the mill and the covered brige.

inside the mill was all the old tools used when the mill was "up and running"

tourists :)

from the bottem side of the mill

next we took a trail to see a waterfall

it was so lush and green and peaceful

I was running to catch up with Kevin & Mark and I accidently snapped this photo... I think it's kinda cool though!

Hi Kevin!

We made it to the waterfal! So pretty!

On our way back to the Hotel we found this castle golf course & club house - it was a wee bit expensive, but very pretty!

love, marriage, and cookies!!!

This past weekend we visited Pittsburg, PA for Kevin's cousin's wedding and were able to spend an extra couple of days there for a mini vacation with some of Kevin's family. It was great! The wedding was so much fun and I loved the town! We crammed a lot of activity into our couple of days so get ready for a whole slew of posts about it!!!

Here's the newly married couple!

Kevin & I all purdied up :)

Eric & Casey

The brothers looking sharp in their various shades of blue

Kevin's cousins  (and uncle)

I tried to get Kevin to take a "cute" pic and this is the best we could do. Guess "cute" isn't our cup of tea.

Yes, we got stuck driving the "kids" around :)

Maybe we're not so far from being "kids" ourselves

Love this pic of Kevin's parents!

Another shot of us - we stopped at a wine bar on the way to reception! The sangria was mmmm

All parts of the wedding and reception were beautiful and fun, but I've got to give a big (5 picture) shout out for my favorite part... the cookie bar!!! Each mother made 40+ dozen cookies (that's 80+ dozen total) for this delicious appetizer/dessert/snack bar and I LOVED IT. I can't wait to use this idea for my next party

I'm not gonna lie... I ate a lot of cookies and even was able to take a few to-go to snack on the rest of the weekend. love love love