The Breuers: Weekend Update

This post is a bit delayed because we were out of town last weekend, and we've been pretty busy since we got home. We had a wonderful weekend in Pittsburgh. The impetus for the trip was the fact that Georgia Tech was playing Pitt at Heinz Field. We decided to travel to the game and also visit with my family. Luckily for us, a few friends decided to go as well, which made for a really fun trip.

We flew up Friday morning, along with our friends Sarah, Ben, and Parks (their one-year-old son). They were staying at my parents' house with us, so after a quick lunch at Steak-N-Shake (Dad's choice), we went back to their house to settle in and relax for a bit. The weather was beautiful - sunny but not too hot - perfect fall weather. So we decided to walk to the playground, which is about a three-mile round trip. Parks and Lola played for a while on the swings and the pirate ship structure/slide, and then we headed back. We spent the rest of the day playing at the house, and after the kids were in bed, we had a nice dinner and then all crashed pretty early.

Unfortunately Lola had the worst night of sleep in recent memory. She woke up around 1:30 but went back to sleep easily. Then she woke up at 2:30 and pretty much never went back to sleep. Joseph and I took turns trying to get her to calm down, but she just kept crying. I was so frustrated because a) I wanted to sleep, and b) I was sure she was keeping everyone else awake too (luckily Sarah and Ben said they couldn't even hear her since they had their white noise going). Lola went back to sleep around 5 but woke up again at 5:45, and I gave up. We went downstairs to play, and my mom joined us around 6:30. She graciously offered to watch Lola and told me to go back to bed. So I got to take a wonderful two-hour nap.

Despite the rough night/morning, the rest of the day was great. Our neighborhood had a little Halloween parade, where all the kids dress up and walk four blocks to the fire house (very short parade) for a party. We dressed Lola in her costume, an owl, and went to the parade. Parks came along dressed as a GT fan. Joseph and I left Lola with my mom and her friend Elaine, and then we headed downtown with Sarah, Ben, and Parks. We were excited to get to go to a football game child-free!

We went to a GT alumni tailgate at Bar Louie in Station Square, across the river from Heinz Field. We met up with our other friends there - Kelly, Dave (and their kids Natalie and Ryan), Karen, Max, Vickie, Nick (and their son Jackson), and Andrew. My friend Erin and her boyfriend Chris (Pitt alums) also joined us, along with two of their friends. We had lunch and drinks and then took the subway over to the game.

The game was great. We got to our seats about three minutes into the game and had already missed three GT touchdowns! Pitt fumbled on their first five possessions. It was crazy. Clearly it was a great game for GT, and I loved being at Heinz Field for the first time. After the game we went to Market Square to eat at Primanti's for dinner. Then we all headed home, exhausted.

Sunday morning we met the Jacksons for breakfast at Pamela's in Squirrel Hill. They live in DC and hadn't met Lola yet, so we were excited for them to meet her. Natalie, their four-year-old daughter, LOVED Lola. It was so sweet to see them together. Natalie is just so great - I enjoyed getting to spend some time with her.

We went back to my parents to pack and get Lola a nap. Erin dropped by to see Lola before we left. Then it was off to the airport. Lola did pretty well on both flights - I've learned that if you give her food, she'll behave.

All in all, a great trip! Lots of quality time with family and friends.