Cincinnati, Part 1

Last weekend Jacob had a tournament scheduled in Cincinnati.  I had debated whether Carter and I should go.  He had a baseball game, and I didn't always want to insert the two of us into basketball trips if we were going to complicate matters too much.  I probably would have been a bit more set on going if the Cincinnati Reds were home, but they weren't, so it was sort of a toss-up.  But then I started thinking about the 7-1/2 hour drive, and I realized it would be a super late night coming home, which made me think having two drivers was probably a better idea.  But we didn't want Carter to have to miss his game on Friday since the season was almost over.  But after one game where he didn't play at all, and a snarky response from his coach when we carefully and politely asked if there was anything he could do to earn more playing time, even Carter was like, "Oooh, I'll miss one at-bat!", so clearly that wasn't a deal-breaker for him.  As a result, all four of us planned to go.  

The boys had to miss school on Friday, but it felt worth it for a new adventure and presumably safer travel.  We had wanted to get on the road fairly early, but Jacob moseyed through his morning and we got on the road around mid-morning.  It was finally a nice, warmer day compared to the crappy weather we've had for so much of this spring, and it would only get warmer as the weekend went on.  I drove the first leg, and we stopped in Fredonia for lunch because we found a gluten-free place called the Angry Squirrel for Jacob.  I was a little worried it could be busy because it was graduation weekend, but nope, everything was pretty quiet.  We stopped at Firehouse Subs for the rest of us, and unfortunately got stuck on a weird route out of town looking for more food for Carter, which kept us off the Thruway for a bit, pretty much until the state border.  But it was a nice day and it was a bit scenic, and it didn't cost us too much time, so it was fine.  We did a quick stop in Erie, mostly to just grab some things from the back of the car, and then continued on toward the Cleveland area.  Our route veered off before the city, and shortly past that point we did a bathroom stop and driver change.

Jacob really wanted to stop at an outlet mall, mostly because he had to wear all Under Armour stuff for this tournament and he needed some shoes to walk into the facility in, so we stopped at an outlet mall outside Columbus.  That stop probably took a little longer than would have been ideal, but he did get what he needed.  From there we figured out that we should stop for dinner in Dublin, OH, at a Condado Tacos location--the same restaurant we discovered in Pittsburgh.  It was a cool area, with older buildings that had an upscale, modern village feel, almost like there should be a college campus nearby.  I was excited to try some new tacos this time (chicken bacon ranch and Mexican corn street taco were the way to go), and in the end, everyone agreed it was really good!  Unfortunately, while we were there we found out that there was going to be some sort of basketball walkthrough at 8:30 that night, but even if we had skipped dinner and went directly there, we wouldn't have made it.  We basically had an hour or so notice, which was annoying because it's a long trip and for us, we have to stop for "real" meals because of Jacob's needs.  If we'd have known the timing earlier, clearly we could have made it a point to get there, but we waited all day to hear and then didn't until it was too late.

Since it was too late, we decided to move forward with our other little side trip.  I remembered en route that there was a Buc-ee's location that was opening along this route.  I couldn't remember much about it, but I looked it up, and sure enough, it was a doable detour and it had only been open for a few weeks!  It was pushing our timeline to get in by the designated "lights out" time, but we all felt it was worth it.

It was like an oasis in the evening darkness.

And it was HUGE.  And it absolutely lived up to the hype.  There was so much to see--tons of food, lots of souvenirs and decor items--pretty much anything a traveler could want or need for the road or home, and a lot of it had their beaver branding on it.  We wished we could have stayed longer, because we really only got to explore a few parts of it.  We got quite a few things in the short time we had--Carter got brisket and gummy sharks, we got a paddle tail pastry, a bag of Beaver Nuggets (so good!), and despite my best efforts, we also ended up with a giant stuffed Buc-ee.  Not the big one in the picture below, but it's definitely small human toddler sized.  But to be fair, it was shockingly cheap.
  

We really want to go to another one--particularly on empty stomachs!  It was incredible, and even the gas was much cheaper there than anywhere else, which is a major victory these days.

We continued on and still had a bit of a drive ahead of us.  We definitely got in later than we wanted to, but we felt the extra stops were worth it.  However, Jacob got increasingly annoying as the night went on--partly because he was ticked about the walkthrough--but especially once we were back at the hotel.  Lately we've had a hard time in the evenings once his medication wears off, with him being oddly annoying and argumentative.  He likes to have "friendly" debates, but it's sort of relentless and exhausting.  And then he tends to find really odd things funny, and by that point in the night it was...unwelcome.  We finally got everyone to bed and tried to get some sleep before a busy Saturday.

Saturday morning sort of picked up right where we left off, with some low-level chaos and crankiness to get us out the door on time.  It was a nice hotel with a good breakfast, which was helpful, but we had to cut it a bit short to get on the road on time.

We decided that Carter and I would just go to basketball games on Saturday, mostly since the weather was looking pretty crappy, and then do something fun Sunday.  We had actually hoped to do something fun as a family that afternoon and night since Jacob was supposed to be done for the day in the early afternoon, but that plan got derailed a bit.  We had looked into going to a Louisville Bats baseball game, but between it being a bit of a longer drive compared to our hotel's location and the terrible weather forecast, we figured that wouldn't work out.

The venue itself was interesting.  It was a venue specifically made for sports tournaments, located in an old mill district of Hamilton, OH.  The building itself was part of a famous old paper mill, and there was a hotel and conference center in another converted old building across the street.  One decaying factory sat up on the hill above the property--creepy!  The place had decent amenities--good courts, a lot of food options, and parking was at least reasonable for this one--one low price for the weekend rather than expensive city garages.  However, at one point Carter and I ended up at a satellite lot across the river.  The shuttle bus service was top-notch, though--there was always one waiting, and the entire process was quick and painless, so I have to give them kudos for that.  The one downside was that the venue had major internet access issues.  The WiFi wasn't working right, and there was something jamming cell signals, so even our data wasn't working great to access the internet.  It made doing any research for the rest of the weekend challenging.  Maybe it was just the structure of the building, being so old and solid, but it was super strange.

The first game was a bit of a tough one.  Jacob didn't play a lot, but he did manage to score, at least.  They lost that game, but the worst part was finding out later that his coach was going to start him (which hasn't been the case yet this year), but that because he missed the walk-through the previous night (which, again, we didn't know about until shortly before), he couldn't do that.  He did end up starting later in the weekend, but it was a disappointing moment.

After that game, Carter and I went off to grab some lunch.  There was a Raising Cane's not far away, so we headed there just as the second round of heavy rain was coming (we missed the first inside the venue just after we arrived).  Cane's (which we're getting in Rochester later this year, by the way!) was delicious as usual, although it was a bit odd as we ended up eating near half of the team that just beat Jacob.  I had discovered in my research that there was a gluten-free bakery just down the road, so we decided to go there to scope it out.  En route, we passed by an Aldi, and I immediately turned in there because, as you may recall, Aldis in Ohio are special--they have wine!  We ran in and I quickly picked a few bottles of wine, some clearance prebiotic sodas I couldn't find in Rochester, and a snack or two for Carter.  Then we headed to the bakery, which was a little more complicated because it was in a little Main Street area.  The parking situation was made harder by some sort of patriotic-looking event across the street.  But we found a spot, ran in, took pictures of the cases (everything looked SO good), and headed back to the venue for game #2.  

That game was a win, but it became apparent that they were having some injury issues.  By the end of the game, Jacob was pretty much the only sub--hence why he ended up starting the next day's games.  We ended up having to stay after that and watch a couple other games, which meant no gluten-free bakery after all.  During one of the games, I walked about a mile around the upstairs area of the venue to get my steps in because I'm in the middle of a work steps challenge.  It was a good thing we didn't have plans, because having to stay after would have ruined them.  We found out later that the game we wanted to go to ended up getting postponed due to another round of storms, so I guess it's just as well.  After the Red Sox game got canceled the prior trip, Craig said he couldn't have taken another one!  

Anyway, just before we were finally able to leave, Carter and I headed back to the car, dug into a couple snacks, and went back to grab the guys once they were released.  We headed back to the hotel, and lacking any other good options for dinner, ended up at yet another Condado location.  I didn't mind because my meal was so good the previous night--and I don't think anyone else minded either.  This one was a bit understaffed with slower service, but the food was just as good.  Jacob, however, struggled that night.  His eating had been screwed up that day because they'd been stuck there all day for other games, and eating a big meal after that probably didn't do him any favors.  Even still, the boys wanted to shop at the Dick's across the parking lot, so we stopped there before we went back to the hotel.  We watched a bit of the Sabres' game (a big win in game 6, which later led to a disappointing game 7 loss) before Jacob headed off for a very long, very late team meeting.  

The next morning, we managed to get ready early enough for a decent breakfast before finishing the packing up and heading out.  The plan for the day was that we were going to drop Craig and Jacob off at the venue and then Carter and I were off on an adventure of our own!  It was going to be a very warm, sunny day, and we were going to the Cincinnati Zoo, home of internet-famous Fiona the Hippo!  On the way, I realized that there was a Wawa nearby (who knew they were in Ohio?), so we stopped there for an iced coffee (lemonade for Carter) and a bunch of pretzels, of course...my favorite!  Then it was off to the zoo!  

That and the trip home are enough for their own post, coming soon!

Post-Mother's Day Musings

It was a bit of an atypical Mother's Day this year.  Craig and Jacob were traveling for basketball, and Carter and I had to stay behind because Carter had a game on Friday after they left.  Of course, he ended up not playing at all in a close game, so...I'm not sure that was a wise decision in the end.  But regardless, it was just the two of us for the weekend.  I took off work on Friday to recover from my 16-hour day Wednesday and spent that day and most of Saturday trying to run a couple errands and do things around the house without a lot of time pressure.  I accomplished an Aldi run for some special finds I had been waiting for, a trip to Wegmans, walks both days--one in a new neighborhood during Carter's Saturday practice--and a stop at two farm markets to look for plants for the moms.  It was nice to have some time to just work through those things without feeling rushed.  I also made myself be okay with not cooking dinner either night.  I mean, I didn't really want to cook, but also, I feel guilty buying takeout.  But we kept it relatively inexpensive and the break from the kitchen took a lot of stress off my plate.

Sunday we went to Buffalo for the day.  We first stopped in Hamburg to have lunch with Craig's parents.  With Craig out of town and continued tensions with Craig's brother, I didn't want his mom to have a childless Mother's Day.  So I felt it was important to go, bring her flowers, and spend some time there.  I know I'm a bit of a consolation prize compared to her actual children, but I hope it made the day better for her.  We then moved on to my parents, where we hung out, FaceTimed with my brother and his kids, and eventually went out to dinner.  Aside from the usual veer into political talk with my dad, we had a nice time.  I just wish the weather would have been warmer and less threatening so my mom and I could have gotten out for a walk!

I realized during the day, partly after reading some social media post about a mom unhappy with how her day was spent, that I have somewhat "leveled up" on the Mother's Day front.  I used to have those feelings sometimes too--I worked so hard every day, and the least I could get on Mother's Day was a physical break, even if it was just Craig attending to the kids' needs while I sat nearby with a glass of wine.  As much as there were days I wanted to run off for some me time, I always deferred to our moms.  We'd go to Buffalo, bring some flowers, share a meal, switch spots and repeat, and drive home.  It was the one day i could almost always opt out of being the driver, at least.  But I'd usually get through the day feeling a bit underwhelmed, or annoyed about how tired I felt after a long day while facing another work week.  

This year, it wasn't even a question in my mind where we should be or how that day should be spent.  Especially as they age, deferring to our moms feels even more important.  I've seen way too many friends and family lose their moms, so I know how lucky we are to still have ours to celebrate.  But anyway, it surprised me this year to realize that I must be officially out of the trenches of the most exhausting, physically-demanding part of motherhood, as that break doesn't feel nearly as necessary.  I mean, I'd still like some flowers or a thoughtful gift, and I still don't really want to plan the day if I can help it, but it definitely feels different.

This year the boys gave me a shirt that says, "I'm a sports mom--Of course I'm running on caffeine and crazy schedules".  So true--this weekend included, but more on that later.  That weekend, Craig and Jacob had an interesting experience in Boston.  They had early games on Saturday, so they had most of the rest of the day free.  They decided to try to go to a Red Sox game (a year after we did the Fenway tour), but while they did manage to get into the stadium right when it opened, the skies opened up before it started and they canceled it five minutes before game time.  Oh well, at least they got part of the experience.  They should be able to sell the tickets via resale.  Jacob didn't play a ton that weekend, but the team did well.

Once we get past this weekend's travel, Carter's school season ends Tuesday, the next weekend is Memorial Day, Jacob wraps up his school year a week and a half later, we hit a few lasts of the school year after that, and pretty quickly it will be summer.  The weather is finally mostly getting on board with spring, at least.  It's going to be in the upper 80s tomorrow where we are, but home will be quite toasty the next few days as well.  It seems like maybe the cooler days are finally tapering off, thank goodness.  It's been so wrong to see all the signs of late spring and have it feel like March.  I marveled today as Carter and I walked through the rain because it felt foreign to have crappy, rainy weather and not be freezing, because we've had so much of that lately.  A warmer 71 degrees was much more tolerable.  

Because we were gone this weekend, next weekend is going to be a hardcore outside weekend--the garden, planting flowers and seeds, and hacking off a foot of burning bush growth.  Thankfully it's an early Memorial Day!  I also have to switch out inside decor to my summer patriotic stuff--farewell for another year, Polish eggs!  I honestly haven't felt like I've had much free time over the last couple weeks--lots of evening baseball, a concert, frequent grocery shopping, laundry, late work nights, and finally this week, packing.  I'm tired, still dealing with a very sore arm and elbow, and will have a very late night tomorrow night as we make the 7-1/2 hour trip home.  I'll share more about that soon!  But suffice it to say that "May-cember" is in full swing!

Stuck

Lately the word that has been coming to mind for me is "stagnant".  So many things just feel stuck in the muck, so to speak.  Everything just feels like some variety of boring, limited, unmoving, or inescapable.  Not in a terrible, horrible way, but in a way that definitely ups the baseline of anxiety and makes it hard to feel excited about or inspired by much.

The weather, for starters, has been pretty awful.  Carter's game last weekend was probably the second coldest sporting event I've sat through, second to one of Jacob's lacrosse tournaments when it was sleeting.  When the sun was out, it wasn't bad, but when it wasn't--and especially when the wind blew--it was rough.  And it was May 2nd.  Tuesday was just about as bad, except the bigger problem was wind-driven rain.  It took until last night to get one that wasn't generally miserable, actually.  We've had a couple decent days here and there, but the weather is remaining about 10+ degrees below average for another week or so.  It feels like a cruel joke, and it's frustrating because everything is blooming and it feels like we should be out enjoying it, but I haven't even wanted to walk much lately because it's been so cool and I'm just over bundling up.  We also had the rainiest March-April span since 1873, and the third rainiest spring ever at the moment, so that's been another issue.  We've barely been able to walk in our backyard since it thawed--and of course, when I did I found what I believe is a dead hawk carcass.  Great.  Maybe I'd care a little less if we didn't have baseball games to sit through (or have happen at all), but this month includes a big walking challenge at work and I'd really like to feel excited about taking my daily walk.  So, the weather just feels stuck in early spring mode.

Speaking of baseball, here's a pretty pic I took of Carter after one of his games.  It looks nice, and it was a warm day, but up in Greece it was about 20 degrees colder than other parts of Rochester!

Everything about living in this country feels heavy right now.  There's daily bizarreness coming from the Oval Office (or at least his social media account), inflation is sky high, gas is ridiculous because of a war no one really wanted us to jump into, and you can just feel the overwhelm from people.  Voting rights took a hit last week, ICE is still on the prowl, food and healthcare costs are through the roof for many people, and you can just sort of sense this anxiety from anyone who isn't "rich" because everything feels so much harder right now.  And yet half the country (although that number seems to be declining with each day and each stunt) still thinks everything's fine because this administration is literally lying about how good things are.  Living in a constant state of gaslighting is so mentally draining.  And it just feels like we're either stuck in this mess for another 2-1/2 years (even though the midterms should be a decisive victory in areas where Republican gerrymandering isn't happening right now), or something horrible is going to come to a head and it's going to get worse before it can get better.  So many people are scared or suffering, and it's a lot.  Trump unveiled a golden statue of himself the other day, and religious leaders were celebrating it.  Like...what?!

The economy and all of the increased costs has me feeling very stuck.  We have a lot of expenses right now since we're still working through our out-of-pocket max on insurance, paying for basketball travel, and all along paying for tuition and two newer vehicles.  Add that to a roof replacement over a year ago, and things feel tighter than I'd like.  And we're about to start paying even more tuition, so despite Craig getting a nice bump last year, it still doesn't feel like we have a lot of flexibility.  I still really want to redo my kitchen, and there are a few other house projects I want to feel rich enough to do.  But between the money and the mental load of those projects, it's just not happening.  In the past couple years I've gotten a bit down about real estate listings.  I've gotten emails from Zillow for years with houses in our area, and I enjoy looking at them and maybe even dreaming about what I'd like someday.  But especially lately, it's saddened me that there is absolutely zero chance we could move without ending up in financial ruin.  Between inflated house prices, the resulting higher taxes, and high mortgage rates, there's no way that anything would be doable, even a somewhat lateral move.  Feeling stuck like that is just deflating.  We had a house in our neighborhood go on the market a couple weeks ago, and while it's even less likely we'd move within our own town, let alone to a house that has the same bathroom capacity as we have now, the house is super pretty.  It's an odd contemporary split that I've calculated must have five levels--a small basement under the main level, a lovely ground level family room, then up a level is a lovely, bright, high-ceilinged living room that is overlooked by a dining area and kitchen (open through a pass-through window), followed by the bedroom level a few more steps up.  For some reason a couple of those spaces caught my fancy (and the yard is interesting too), and not that we would have bought it, but it definitely bummed me out thinking about it and how impossible it would be even if we found the perfect place.  I had a similar feeling when another house around the corner had a gorgeous kitchen that I pinned a picture of because it's my new backup plan for my own kitchen.  But just that feeling that it's not even a possibility is sad, and knowing that even home improvement projects feel like more than we can do right now is discouraging.  I wasn't planning on spending double on gas or groceries right now, let alone everything else.  I might feel better about things if the boys would get better about their messes and I could get the energy to organize and declutter, because that all contributes to feeling like we don't have enough space, but it's such a losing battle right now.

Lately my desire to escape has been strong, and of course that's been complicated by the money stuff above, but also, I likely won't be able to take advantage of much of Jacob's basketball travel to scratch that itch.  Now that Craig's season is over (no playoffs, boo), he's taken over the travel again.  That's mostly Jacob's preference as he and I are not the best of travel buddies sometimes.  Craig is probably a lot more go-with-the-flow and also tends to be a bit more free-spending than my frugal self, which helps.  The trade-off is a lack of pre-planning, but I guess Jacob's willing to deal with that.  But because Carter has Friday and weekend games, our ability to join trips is limited unless he wants to skip.  He's barely been playing, so there might be a trip next week where I might encourage him to do just that, but it's hard knowing there's adventure to be had and I can't do it.  Pittsburgh was fun, and I did get to do my Highland Park visit a week ago, but I've just been wanting a bit more.

Here are some highlights of the Highland Park evening, which was a little chilly but still pleasant:

Lovely tulips!

Even though these were a bit raggedy (not sure if it was rain or cold or what), they were still gorgeous.

I always look for these in one spot.  They're different but still pretty.

I hit the magnolias at a lovely golden hour again.  The colors were lovely.

Such a happy daffodil

One of the few blooms in the azalea/rhododendron section

My favorite tree!  Pardon the hand--getting good light and no blur, while reaching up on a slope, was tough!

Such a lovely sunset over the reservoir

Same view with blooms of Koreanspice viburnum in the foreground

Magnolias in the fading light

It was a nice evening walk despite the chill, although it was clearly a bit earlier than some years since a few spots had less to see, like the azalea area.  But it was nice to see more of the magnolias (although, oddly, a third were spent, a third were perfect, and a third were unopened), and the tulips were nearly pristine with only one variety spent and one unopened.  Lilacs are opening now, despite the cold, just in time for the Lilac Festival this weekend.

I'm also feeling a little stuck in a rut with my health.  I did have one clear test for some lady part issues--nothing serious, but with the back pain I'd had in January and one minor issue I'd been experiencing (which otherwise had an easy explanation), it felt worth checking.  But I can tell my body is battling hard against peri-menopause.  At least, that seems to be the catch-all for most women's random issues.  My tennis elbow isn't really responding to physical therapy as well as my shoulder impingement did a while back, and in fact now the other shoulder is badly impinged, so my right arm is not particularly useful currently.  I sleep with wrist braces on most nights to help with my hands going numb, which does cut waking up down to roll over to maybe once or twice a night.  I can feel arthritis creeping into my hands and each day seems to be part of a rotation of random body aches or issues.  A pulled neck muscle after yard work last weekend, knee pain while walking the other day, a sore left elbow just for fun some mornings.  I don't know at what point I should start asking harder questions about the state of my connective tissues, but we'll see.  I've also put on about five pounds in the last few months, despite not much of a change in lifestyle or eating habits, and it's mostly around my midsection.  I know that getting back to walking and some modest diet changes should help, but I can't say I'm confident they will.  I am trying a new supplement, berberine, which is supposed to help regulate blood sugar and lower cholesterol, among other things.  It's sort of like a GLP-1 med without feeling so extreme.  I'm currently ramping up my dose, so we'll see if it feels like it helps.  I do feel a little less snacky, so maybe?  But the chronic discomfort makes it hard to feel energetic, so I just sort of feel stuck there too.

The boys are good other than Carter not playing as much as he'd like and Jacob dragging himself through the last month of his school year.  The prep school thing is a go, so we'll be starting to prepare for that before you know it.  Craig's season is over, so he's trying to find his offseason groove.  We were hoping Carter would have gotten his coach's respect by now, but apparently that "team manager" designation that got him on the team is holding him back, because he's definitely not getting the equal playing time they're supposed to have at this level.  He's done the work, done well when called upon, but he's just not playing.  He didn't even play at all in a close game last night.  It's so strange, especially since he played with five of his teammates last year and was better than maybe all of them.  It seems like the coach has a preference for a group of travel kids, but we don't know the connection.  It's deflating and frustrating to seemingly not have the ability to earn time.  Jacob is still struggling a bit through his travel season, as well.  He had a swelled up finger for this weekend's trip, which didn't help, and he didn't get a lot of action on day one.  Oh, and he and Craig also got rained out trying to go to a Red Sox game.  Ugh.

I know that despite all of the frustrations, we still have a lot to be thankful for.  We have a house, good families, (mostly) good health, and even if it feels tight, financially we're still better off than a lot of people.  The good weather will come, adventures will happen, and beauty will abound.  I just wish it didn't feel like such a battle to get there.

Back to the 'Burgh, Part 2

Once Jacob's tournament was over, we had to pretty quickly clear out of there in order to make it to the baseball game.  We had to get back to the car (same convenient parking ramp as the evening before) and find a new ramp closer to the stadium so Jacob would be okay to walk it.  The game was starting in about a half hour from the time we left, so we were fortunate to find a close ramp across the river for only $20.  From there we just had to walk over!

We got to our seats as the anthem was playing...so not too shabby!  It was a little chilly--only in the 50s--which wouldn't have been so bad if the sun hadn't gone behind clouds for most of the game.  It still wasn't intolerable, but I really missed the sun!

Pittsburgh has embraced a funny thing this season - "Hoist the Cone".  Apparently a shirt was inadvertently made and sold that said "Hoist the Cone" instead of "Hoist the Colors", and the Pirates turned it into a whole thing.  The stadium is now filled with people lifting construction cones into the air with each big play.  Even the dugout has one!  It's pretty hilarious, and even more so when people are raising their cones (instead of their kids) during the "Simba Cam".

Not a bad view from our seats--our first time in the outfield!

These seats actually gave us way more than we bargained for!  For one, there was a home run that landed six feet from us.  Had we anticipated that other people in the vicinity wouldn't exactly launch themselves at it, Jacob (maybe minus his injury) likely could have gotten to it.  If you look on the replay you can see him taking his hat off in case he could catch it!  Then, at one point in the game, the left fielder threw a ball into the stands above us.  He threw a lot of balls into the stands, actually--one guy caught one in his cone!--but this one went high above us.  We didn't find out until later, when it went viral (!), that he was throwing to a little girl who was wearing his jersey.  Her brother caught it over the rail and immediately gave it to her, leading to the absolute sweetest sibling hug, complete with their dad cheering behind them.  It was so adorable and made it all over social media, and even the national news!  And guess what?  We were RIGHT THERE.

This is a screengrab of the beginning of the throw.  See the people in the middle, a couple rows above the blank green panel--one with their hand on their hat and another that's all bundled up in a hoodie?  Yup, that's us.  All over the media for half a second.

This was our typical view of the player who threw it.

It was fun to have a different view for a change, although I missed having a direct view of the scoreboard, which was directly behind us, and especially the gorgeous skyline.  But it was better than I thought!

Marcell Ozuna, mid-swing--so fast you can't see the bat

Rookie sensation Konnor Griffin

Power hitter Oneil Cruz, looking tough in center field

Fortunately, braving the chill was worth it because the Pirates won!  It was actually a great game, maybe the best we've ever seen in person.  Home runs, great plays...it was awesome!

Definitely a victory for us, too, after a tough weekend!

Had to try on the pierogi hat in the store on the way out...

Also, I love these pennants.

We finally got to a spot I hadn't known existed until maybe a year or two ago, and then never got a chance to go to.  This is a tiered field and walkway outside the stadium with all of the retired numbers.  

We also saw these Hall of Famer baseballs out along the river.

Such a gorgeous view from there.  Being down near the water made me want to go on another Duck Boat tour like we did when Jacob was little!

Notice the sun had come back out as soon as the game was over...figures!  We headed back across the bridge, sat in a bit of traffic getting out of the garage, and finally got on the road.  Our next goal was to make it to the Grove City Outlets before they closed.  We'd only have about 20 minutes, but Jacob wanted to check for a couple things.  We did make it, and Jacob found a couple things, but he didn't find what he really wanted.  I did manage to get a few things Carter needed, so at least it wasn't for nothing.

Back on the road, we periodically hit some rain.  Nothing bad, but it was odd to go from sun to sprinkles and back.  It got dark sometime after we crossed the border into New York, and we ended up stopping at a rest area so I could grab dinner and Jacob could get a couple snacks.  I got my beloved Panda Express!  I ate it as quickly as possible so we could get back on the road.  Once we got past Buffalo, we started running into snow.  Now, that was annoying on its own, but considering I'd been in shorts and flip flops the previous day, it was truly offensive.  Not only that, but it was really bad snow.  It wasn't sticking on the roads, so I guess that was good, but it was coming down so hard that it was doing the "Star Wars effect" and making it really had to even see the lanes.  It definitely slowed us down and made the end of the drive extra challenging.  It was such a relief to get home after that.  All things considered, we made the best of what could have been a really challenging trip.

Meanwhile, back at home, Craig and Carter had a rare weekend alone.  Carter had a scrimmage...

...and then he and Craig went to a Knighthawks viewing party, where Carter ate his weight in food and hung out with Chopper.  But why does he look so grown up?!

So now we have a couple weekends off, which is providing much needed time to get things done around the house and be a little lazy when needed.  I just wish the weather would cooperate so I could do some things outside!  Spring may be here, but it's doing its best impersonation of early April right now, and for the foreseeable future.  Grrrr.  I need to see some tulips, but it may not happen this time around.  Onward to another busy week...

Back to the 'Burgh, Part 1

Last weekend Jacob and I went to Pittsburgh for his second basketball tournament of the year.  The previous weekend Craig was on the hook for Boston and Carter and I stayed behind because of baseball (and that they needed to leave Thursday so it would have meant two days out of school).  This time, Craig had the Knighthawks' final home game, and Carter had another baseball scrimmage, so it was my turn.  Of course, we really love Pittsburgh, so this wasn't a bad trip to get "stuck" with!  But tournaments don't always allow for much exploration, so we weren't entirely sure how this would go.

Spring really started to do its thing over the course of the week before we left.  Bulbs were coming up, including my gorgeous hyacinths, which both came as potted gifts in prior years and transplanted nicely.  Too bad the deer ate the tulips I received last spring (along with the first peeks of some of my hostas and sedums...grrrrr). 

It was so nice last Wednesday that I needed to take a walk outside at lunch.  There were lots of signs of spring there--including a groundhog hanging out near the pigeon coop (which lives on our property for research purposes).  He was so still I wasn't sure he was real.  But groundhogs are a secondary mascot at the University (nicknamed Groundboi), so it's always fun to see one.  

I haven't seen our yard one yet, but Craig has.  Hopefully babies are coming!  We did have fox babies next door, so that was cool.

  

The trees were gorgeous at my office, too.

The nice weather was such a welcome relief from stubborn cool temperatures and lots of rain previously.  Thankfully, the day we left it was starting to get even warmer, although it wasn't going to last long.  But between home and Pittsburgh, I think the temperature jumped close to 20 degrees (although it got nicer later at home), and it was like a lovely summer day when we finally emerged from the car!  Just like our midwest trips three years ago, an extra, early shot of summer was such a nice mental boost!

We got a bit of a later start than planned on Friday, as Jacob was a bit pokey to get moving and I had a work meeting that ran long (even though I took the day off).  Then we had to pack up all the last-minute stuff, and I think it was around 11:30 when we got on the road.  Unfortunately, we ran into some pretty significant traffic due to construction on the Thruway, which set us back a bit and made lunch a bit more tricky.  Jacob has always been tough to travel with because of his Celiac Disease, but in the past six months or so he's gotten even pickier because he began to suspect he was getting glutened from some places, due to some oddly timed GI issues.  I'm not sure that was the case, but good luck convincing him of that.  So standbys like Chick-fil-A, Jersey Mike's, or Chipotle, which were staples previously, are all off the table now.  He mostly goes with places that have strong reviews in the gluten-free app, and he brings lots of snacks to fill in the blanks.  Since we didn't have time to stop at a sit-down place, he ended up just eating snacks for this round while I stopped at Chick-fil-A in Erie for a bathroom break and food to go.

The trip was otherwise pretty uneventful until we got into the city.  There was a backup near the convention center where the tournament was being held, and we were stuck in that for a bit--only to pop out on the other side and find out that the parking ramp we needed was full!  Time was short before our arrival deadline, so it was a little nervewracking trying to find another spot.  We ventured around the area and finally found one within walking distance.  The walk to the convention center was pleasant despite being a slightly sketchy area, as there were so many gorgeous old buildings with elaborate stone-carved adornments.  Jacob was dispatched to the player entrance while I paid my exorbitant fee for weekend admission, and headed in.  I had over an hour to kill, much of which was spent on this balcony adjacent to the upstairs lobby outside the exhibition spaces.  The view over the river was stunning!

My panoramic view

And of course, off in the distance was our ultimate target for the end of the weekend - PNC Park!  As Jacob is a big Pittsburgh Pirates fan, of course we wanted to try to fit in a game, but tournament schedules are unpredictable and typically a bit illogical and spread out, so we weren't sure it would be possible.  But oh, did I look at it longingly all weekend from this spot!

We honestly weren't sure how much Jacob would play.  He didn't play a lot the previous weekend because he had not practiced with the team prior.  He had actually been with the younger team to start the practice season, but because of his post-viral fatigue, he hadn't been able to participate and that coach felt he needed to get a more reliable player.  If I'm honest, that was probably a mistake as that team doesn't have a shooter and didn't do well the first weekend.  Alas, Jacob ended up on the 17U team, which is maybe where he should have been anyway since it's the coach he'll likely have for school next year.  But that team is pretty strong and maybe didn't need him as much.  He did get assurance he would get more of a chance this time.  Oddly, the 16U team actually didn't end up making this trip because the tournament had a bunch of teams drop out and the late schedule changes left the 16U team playing earlier Friday.  The parents balked at having to get there so early on such short notice, so they canceled out.  So I guess it was good he wasn't playing on that team if he wanted a shot at a Pirates game!

He did get into the first game and even hit a three early.  I swear, he didn't shove that kid over--he tripped!

But unfortunately, when he went back out later in the game, he jumped to block a shot and got his feet swept out from under him, leaving him to fall helplessly to the floor.  He landed hard on his butt and side, and was writhing around in pain.  I was having flashbacks to three years ago when he got hurt in the first game in Missouri, only worse now because of everything he's been through in the interim.  I just could not fathom him going through another lengthy injury.

Accidental pic, but glad I got it while I could!

He was definitely in a lot of discomfort as he came off the floor, but shook me off a few minutes later when I tried to check on him.  Most movements left him in a lot of pain, so it was pretty clear he wouldn't be playing anymore for the rest of the weekend.  That was a bummer, but later I saw a kid walking through the crowd being held up by two people and holding a very limp wrist, and then a kid on the other team twisted his ankle, and I was reminded that it could be so much worse.  He went over to the athletic trainers after the game, and they weren't concerned.  It wasn't his spine or his tailbone (even though it very much reminded me of how my back acted), so in the end it appears it's just some sort of deep bruise.  He's functional, but certain movements make it flare up.  He should be able to play by the next tournament, which is now a week later than it was supposed to be.  Good news/bad news--it was going to be in Atlantic City, which is a super expensive and somewhat challenging tournament setup to navigate, but also, we love the Jersey Shore and it would have been a lovely time to go there.  Not that Carter and I could have gone because of his baseball schedule, but the thought was nice!

Anyway, Jacob's team lost that first game, which stunk because it immediately put them into a consolation bracket and made our schedule less favorable for Sunday baseball.  Had we won, we would have played again at 9:40 that night, so honestly, I was relieved to have the rest of the night to figure things out, between the injury, getting to the hotel, and finding dinner.  He managed the walk to the parking ramp, during which we saw an arrest happening (as I said, sketchy), and headed to the hotel.  We got settled in and Jacob showered, and then we headed down the road to Burgatory for dinner.  We'd eaten at the downtown location a couple years ago and Jacob liked it, and it was nice to have it so convenient to our hotel.  He did have team meetings later that night, so we had to sort of rush through dinner.  But we got to watch the Pirates game on TV and the food was great, so we'll call it a win.  

Jacob woke up on Saturday having miraculously slept well, but feeling as sore if not worse.  We had a game mid-morning, so we had to get up relatively early and grab some breakfast before heading into the city.  This time we got in the good parking garage.  Jacob's team won pretty handily, and their next game wasn't until 4:30, so we had time to kill.  We first went to the Pirates store (yay for quick, cheap on-street parking) since it wouldn't be an option to go on Sunday on our way out of town if the game was still in progress.  After that, we ended up killing a bit more time than planned while trying to find a lunch spot.  Jacob picked one restaurant out of the gluten-free app that wasn't far away, but we could not find any convenient parking nearby.  Normally I'd just find something and walk, but with his back injury, that wasn't ideal.  So we moved on to another one over by Duquesne University, but we struggled on parking there, too.  We did get to see the Penguins arena, all ready for that night's opening playoff game.

After much angst and arguing, we eventually settled on a place outside of downtown called Mandy's, and it was a typical hole-in-the-wall pizza joint.  Only two tables in the place, and you had to go through a storage room to get to the bathroom.  But the food was SO good.  Jacob's pizza actually had a decent crust, and my chicken finger sub was on par with anything you might get in Buffalo.  We will definitely be remembering that place next time we're in town.  

Also, somewhere in our wanderings and wrong turns, we ended up with a quick but fantastic view of the setup for the upcoming NFL draft!  The draft was the following weekend, which was a great relief when I was hearing about it and panic-checked the dates to make sure we weren't going to be stuck in that mess.  The preparations there were crazy--so many closed streets even a week ahead of time, plus a ginormous stage with massive video screens in front of the football stadium.  It was really cool to see.

We ended up stopping back at the hotel for a bit after lunch to regroup ahead of the afternoon game, and then it was back into the city--unfortunately with Pirates traffic this time.  I had to drop Jacob off and once again search for a parking ramp that wasn't full.  The convention center was, as was the one we parked in the previous day.  Thankfully, I remembered a sign indicating there was one in the opposite direction, and it turned out to be a good one--close and not expensive.  I never quite imagined parking would be such a big part of our weekend.

As the afternoon went on, the clouds rolled in as forecasted.  The Pirates were playing at 4pm (which later got changed to 3:30 because of the approaching weather), so that game was out of the question for us.  And honestly, thank goodness.  I took this picture around 4pm and you can see that the sky was getting dark.  Moments later the rain started, and it didn't stop for at least a couple hours.  

In fact, it was still raining after Jacob's team won.  The rain made dinner a bit more complicated, but fortunately, that ended up easier than anticipated.  When I was walking to the convention center from the parking ramp, I noticed a restaurant less than a block away whose name I recognized as being the top listing in the gluten-free app.  It was a taco place called Condado Tacos, and the reviews were good, so I figured that would be a perfect option if Jacob was up for it.  We could easily walk there and not have to worry about parking yet again.  Sure enough, tacos sounded great to him, so we just had a quick walk through the rain.  It was pretty busy since Penguins traffic had started to roll in, but we got seated right away.  We had a nice view of the historic Gulf Tower and UPMC, and a helpful bird's eye view to monitor the rain.  

The food was really good!  We both enjoyed our tacos, chips, and queso, and that will be going on the return list for the future, too.  Even better, it's a chain, so we may run into other cities with them as well.  As we sat there, we saw a big group come in, wet and dressed in matching baseball shirts, most bearing Paul Skenes bobbleheads and Pirates beer swords, presumably having given up on the game.  They all had the same shirt featuring a "holy cow" playing baseball, but then one guy came in with a jersey that helped me solve the puzzle--they were apparently fans of the Danville Dairy Daddies, a very low minor league team from Virginia.  

Stuffed to the gills, we headed out.  The walk back to the car wasn't bad as the rain was finally starting to slow.  I'm not even sure when the Pirates started playing again, but not only did the game resume, it went into extra innings and didn't end until sometime after 10pm.  That was my nightmare as a baseball intern, by the way--long rain delay plus extra innings?  Ugh, that was like seven hours.  And they lost, too.  I'm so glad we didn't try to go to that one because it would have been exhausting to try to stay through all of that.

The evening ended with this lovely sunset as the rain cleared, and Jacob went off to another round of team meetings.  For the second night in a row, I hung out in bed, watched TV, read my e-book, and tried to stay awake until he got back so I could let him in (he didn't take a key because he didn't have pockets).

By this point we were also clear on our schedule for Sunday and it looked like we would be able to make the Pirates game after all!  

On Sunday morning, we slept in a little and then started getting ready and packing up.  As we drove into the city (much more easily this time), I asked Jacob to take a picture of the city as we popped out of the Fort Pitt tunnel, as it's such a striking view.  Well, I should have guessed it would turn into this...

This is what my camera roll looked like...Jacob, then attempts at what I wanted, then pictures of me, each on repeat.  Oy.  Teenagers, amirite?

In the end, he didn't get exactly the panoramic view I wanted, but this was close.

We had our last game, another win--a much tougher one this time--and wrapped things up for the weekend.  I have to say, it's one of the prettier venues that Jacob has ever played in.

This is what it looks like from the outside, as seen from the Heinz Museum a couple years ago.

With that, it was time to turn our attention to the baseball portion of our weekend!  But that's a story for another day!