Here We Go...

My dad's 60th birthday is in a couple of weeks. My dad has taught me and my siblings a lot of things over the years and provided us with countless opportunities and experiences, but a love of the Pittsburgh Steelers is certainly one of the most identifiable.
As far back I can remember, I have watched Pittsburgh Steelers games with my dad...first at our house when they happened to be on tv, then at a hole-in-the wall bar after Sunday School when I was in my early teens, next back at our house with a bunch of bar friends turned Steeler Sunday crew, and all the way until now where me and my boys meet my dad (and other family members) every Sunday at a bar/restaurant to watch the Steelers. Even though I have never lived in Pittsburgh for even a moment, I learned to love the Steelers, and consequently passed that love on to my boys, because of my dad. So it seemed to be apropos that for my dad's 60th we should all be together in Pittsburgh (his hometown) doing what we do best...rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
We left bright and early Saturday morning, and in bright and early, I mean early. Despite a 6AM flight, the boys were super excited to start off our journey and did an awesome job on both flights!
Luckily, Levi did manage to squeeze in a nap on the second flight, so once we arrived in Pittsburgh, the boys were ready to hit the town. After a quick lunch in Market Square, we headed over to the Strip District for some Steeler gear shopping. One of the boys' highlights of the trip was getting to ride in a couple Ubers...without car seats!!!

Once in the Strip District, the boys were quick to pick out their purchases: new Steelers hats each! Levi also got to wave to a man in a pink tutu, and we heard the Steelers Super Bowl song on repeat, so overall it was a successful trip!

We headed back to the hotel to rest and warm up for a bit and then headed out to dinner at Six Penn Kitchen. 

We came back to the hotel and waited in the lobby for a bit hoping some of the Steelers would come through for autographs (they were staying in our hotel too), but we really didn't have any luck and were pretty exhausted, so everyone headed up to sleep.

We repeated the same attempted Steeler sightings the next morning with a doughnut breakfast in the lobby.

And then, with our Terrible Towels in hand,  it was finally time to head over to the game!  We took the metro train over which was super quick and easy.

We arrived with some time to kill before the stadium actually opened, so we walked around checking out the tailgates and getting the boys' faces painted.

Prior to the trip, my dad had been gifted three field passes. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to share them, so at first my dad had us draw envelopes to see who was going to join him and my mom on the field. Luckily, it turned out we did get to pass them off, so everyone got a turn...including the boys! While the boys definitely enjoyed the experience, I'm sure some of the significance was lost on them. I just hope one day they realize how fortunate they are!

And after all that excitement, it was finally game time. We were a little wary going into the game because the Steelers were really not expected to win, but we ended up witnessing a really exciting game...and a Steelers victory at that! The weather was a bit more of an adventure, as we basically went through all four seasons in one 3 hour game...it went from rainy and cold to sunny and relatively warm to sleeting (!!!), and finally back to sunny and comfortable. I really hadn't packed appropriately, so the boys ended up with new gloves and a blanket out of the deal. 

A lot of people have expressed surprise when they find out we took the boys to a football game. But honestly they did great...and had a blast! They definitely got a little cold and cranky for a few minutes, but as soon as the game got exciting (and they got their coveted stuffed animals), they got really into it.

We walked back to the hotel after the victory, and thought about trying to squeeze in the incline, but in the end decided just to relax at the hotel for the evening. I was kind of bummed we missed it, but hopefully there will be another Pittsburgh trip in our near future because I definitely have some Steelers fanatics on my hands!

Charleston/Kiawah Trip Report

All these rains in South Carolina (how awful, right?!?) jogged my memory that we had vacationed there during my blogging hiatus, and thus hadn't shared a proper trip report! So let's journey back to August 2014, shall we...
We rented a house on Kiawah Island, South Carolina for a week. With so much to bring and air travel basically taking as long as car travel by the time you accounted for layovers, having to get there early, etc, we decided to drive down. We left on a Friday afternoon and stopped half way to stay in a hotel overnight in order to break the trip up for the boys (or us?). We also packed tons of activities, treats, and other bribes for the boys to enjoy on their 8 hour car ride! Colton was awesome...Levi had a little more difficult time!

Driving also gave us the chance to stop in Charleston for a couple hours on the way in. We got some lunch at the Butcher and the Bee (yummy BBQ squash!) and explored a downtown farmer's market...and the beauty that is Charleston...for a bit.

After a bit of a scare in the form of a car accident which luckily turned out to be nothing more than a time delay, we finally arrived at our house for the week.  Before our vacation, I had a lot of confusion as to what Kiawah Island actually was. Turns out the island itself is home to several condos, homes, bike trails, beautiful beaches, and the Kiawah Resort. The resort itself has several restaurants, pools, and its own beaches. Our house was technically affiliated with the resort which meant we got resort privileges...could use the pools, gym, chairs on the beach, golf course at a discount (not important to me, but for Josh and my parents who were with us), etc. We debated whether that was necessary before booking, and once it was all said and done, I think we were all glad we had gone that route. It just gave us more options as far as things to do, especially because the Resort had two kid-friendly pools with slides and things that the kids loved! 

Over the course of the week, we did a lot of swimming...

And, of course, hit the beach.

One of Kiawah's trademarks is that people literally ride their bikes on the beach during low tide. Luckily, we were able to rent Colton a training wheels bike so he was able to experience it too!

Aside from tons of fun in the sun, we also managed to make it back to Charleston one day (it was about a 45 minute drive). We had lunch at the Tatooed Moose where we were sure to autograph the booth, did a carriage tour, and spent some time walking around. It was hotter than hot, but I'm glad we got to see some of the city. 

We also took some time to explore the Angel Oak, a 300-400 year old tree on Johns Island (which is about 20 minutes from Kiawah). Everyone made fun of me for scouting out this tree and wanting to see it, but it was pretty darn cool!

Of course, it wouldn't be a vacation without eating, and we did lots of it! Our best meal by far though was the night we had a chef come to the house to cook for us. I'm still dying over his shrimp and grits!

Overall it was a great week in a beautiful place. We made lots of memories, and have some beautiful pics to show for it!

But hands down my boys' favorite part...the part they still talk about most to this day...were the bunk beds! Their room had bunk beds...their first experience sleeping in them..and from that point on, they have expected each hotel to have them as well (which amazingly we have managed to find...). Every time they ask to go on vacation, my boys ask to go to the bunk beds in Kiawah (or Disney World, but that's for a different post), so it seems only fitting I leave you with a shot of their beloved bunk beds...