Happy Birthday, Dad!

Hope your day's been good, Dad. You said you had a relaxing birthday when I spoke with you tonight. Ours wasn't exactly relaxing, but it was a fun day full of adventure for your grandboys. (Benjamin, by the way, is saying "Nana and Dad-daddy" when he talks about you two now!)

We finally made it to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh today. Soooo fun! We checked out the dinosaur exhibit, which is actually under construction now, so what we saw is only a piece of what will be installed in a few months. We also toured the Pennsylvania barns exhibit, the ancient architecture exhibit, and the ancient Egyptian exhibit in the Carnegie Museum of Art which is under the same roof as the Natural History place.

To see these places through the eyes of my boys is amazing, to say the least. When we saw the model of the Green Parthenon, we told the boys that the Greeks believed the Gods lived there. "You mean God lived there once!" Camden exclaimed. How do you answer that in a millisecond?! When we saw the mummy of an Egyptian child, Camden wondered, "How come the child died?" When we found the dinosaur excavation area, where kids are given goggles, brushes, and a chisel to dig for a casting of a real dino skeleton, Camden shouted, "SWEEEEET!" He and Benjy took off, strapped on their goggles and began digging away. They were there for a good 15 minutes, which is a lifetime in this place where every turn offers a new feast for your eyes.

I'm so glad we finally made it back here, where we last visited in May. We had come for a weekend then to scope out the area, knowing that Curt's job was about to move us from Ohio to here. We fell in love with the museum and downtown Pittsburgh immediately and vowed to make it back to the city at least once a month after the move. And we've made good on that vow. Granted, we've not done the museum thing each month (ahem, we've done Ikea two or three times!) But we do love driving into the city, seeing the Monongalhela and Alleghany rivers meet to form the Ohio River and all the fun places along the water fronts. Sometimes I even wish we lived IN the city, on one of those cool loft apartments above the department stores and such. But, once we get back home to the outer suburbs, I'm happy with my new little town. Out of the limelight. Out of the hubbub. Out of the way. Yes, we are in the best place of all. Close enough. Far enough away. Home.