Pittsburgh Reunion

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a road trip to Pittsburgh to meet up with my Aunt Jean and Uncle Joe from Virginia, my cousin Kristen and her two children, Mackenzie and Ryan, and my cousin Marty, his wife Shannon, and their two girls, Mariah and Kendall. Why Pittsburgh? It's roughly halfway in between all of our home bases. Why make the trip? Well, besides catching up with family, Marty and Shannon have been making yearly donations of clothes for Moira, for which we are truly grateful! Picking up the clothes is a key part of the weekend. Alan stayed home for this trip, but my parents and my sister joined us on this adventure! 



We stay at the Embassy Suites, and it's perfect for the children. Last year, Moira was too little to appreciate the hotel, fully, but this year she had a blast. She loved the fish in the pond.



Here's Aunt Jean with all of the kids! Believe it or not (and totally unintentionally), they're lined up roughly according to age, and in order, it's Mackenzie, Mariah, Kendall, Ryan, and Moira.



You can appreciate the chaos at breakfast! Everyone wanted to see "Grandma Joan," and Moira, who is used to having Grandma all to herself, was not too pleased with the girls monopolizing Grandma's time. All the girls loved Moira--Mariah and Mackenzie would take turns picking her up and trying to hold her! 




She was intrigued with the hotel elevator--especially since it had a glass window.




Moira is now a big fan of playgrounds. She loves slides, climbing stairs, swings, riding the bouncy horsies, etc. She almost had a major fall on this slide, though, because it was a little too fast and curvy for her, so she almost took a dive off of it. Fortunately, I caught her at the bottom!




We almost got all of them to look at the camera with their eyes open!


Marty and Shannon were kind enough to give us a swim jacket for Moira, and it really helped her enjoy swimming more than she has in the past. If she's not in a baby pool, she gets a little nervous in "deep" water. But she ended up having a great time swimming (and dangling her feet in the whirlpool).






I repeat what I said last year. Who knew hotels could be so much fun? The kiddos were totally entertained, even though we hardly left the hotel. It was a great weekend, and we look forward to next year!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Random Moments

Image
I am still playing catch-up from all the photos we took over the holidays, and I have a few random ones that I want to share! Here they are: Moira's first official haircut. She was so good. I wasn't sure she would sit still, but she did. The stylist did a great job of keeping her entertained! Moira walking around in her "shoes." Moira is fascinated with shoes. She loves taking our shoes on and off. And she loves walking around in adult shoes. We went to the Eiteljorg on Martin Luther King day and Moira had fun exploring the Wild Wild West. You may recall that Moira's 2nd birthday party was pretty entertaining because Moira fell asleep in her high chair, and then she was completely overwhelmed by everyone singing Happy Birthday. Since then, we have had lots of family and friend birthdays, and she has mastered singing Happy Birthday. At this point, she sings Happy Birthday to just about anyone and anything--babies at a restaurant, the light, the birds......
Read more

To Hannah, With Love

Image
Hannah, You, my darling baby girl, are growing up entirely too fast. By the time you were one, here’s what you were up to: On the Move Well, truth be told, you haven’t been that interested in moving.  You’re quite content to reach both arms in the air and look imploringly at mama or dada to pick you up. By the time you were 5 months, you rolled over, and by the time you were 10 months, you finally decided to crawl. Since then, you’ve become a very quick little girl on your knees, and you’re just starting to consider standing up and walking on your own. One of the cutest things you do is crawl while holding onto a baby stroller—it is quite a feat! I predict you’ll be about 16 months old before you walk, and that is fine with me. What did you say? Hannah, you are a talker. At a year old you have a few words in your vocabulary. They include the traditional words like “mama” and “dada.” Your very first word, however, was “Mo-ra” in honor of your big sister,...
Read more

Time flies!

Image
It's hard to believe Moira is already 5 weeks old (today)! Here 's a quick recap: October 14th, 9:32am, Moira Joan Mackintosh came into the world. She was a healthy 7 lb, 14 oz, and 20.5 inches long. My labor was fast, but delivery was slower than I would have liked. On the whole, neither Moira nor I can complain . October 16th, we came home. I discovered after a couple of sleepless nights that Moira would only sleep for about 15 minutes in her bassinet. She preferred sleeping on someone or sleeping in her little swing. The first few weeks went by in a complete blur. We were all trying to get used to a new kind of normal. Moira and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out her preferences for eating and sleeping. Alan spent a lot of time trying to help his girls get as comfy as possible. We've had fun discovering the little things about Moira. She has dimples and so much dark hair. She has the cutest high-pitched hiccups. She loves it when her Dad holds her and paces with...
Read more