European training...

Now that summer break is here (more on that later) our "cosmopolitan adventure" training has begun. I'm trying to get the kids used to walking (a LOT) and dealing with many (MANY) schedule changes, disappointments, and of course, exciting, fun activities.

Monday we started out at church (which will probably be true in Europe too) for Family Hour Adoration in Oakland. I parked on the street and hit "max" for the meter time (4 hours in case, like me, you fail to read ahead) so we had more than our usual 30 minutes in and out time.

We decided to walk up to the BIG library (I love that they call it that - I have always thought of Carnegie Main as that myself). We had a new experience riding a little closet-sized elevator with the stroller (good training for the teeny, tiny ones in Europe), picked up our books, visited the loo, and headed out.

Next up, playing in the gardens while I fed G. That is such a lovely space outside the main entrance to the library, near Dippy. I'm not sure why I have never just sat there before while the kids ran. The trees are like a giant maze.

On to the museum. The place I had promised all day. The piece de resistance! UGH...am I the only person who ALWAYS forgets they are closed on Mondays? Duh. Oh well, good training for disappointments when they might arise ("remember when the museum was closed?"...)

Since Pitt is out of session, pretty much everything was closed, including the Union eateries, where we planned to grab lunch. So we hiked to The O, got it "to go", and had a picnic on the Pitt lawn. Me and my little travelers.

Today we worked on trolley riding, more walking (always!) - this time from Heinz Hall to Station Square (yes, across the Smithfield St. Bridge! There are LOTS of bridges to walk across in Europe!). Also, how to sit in a theater during a symphony and be quiet and still. I had only the above-4 crowd so we actually did well. More playing in random parks and lunch Al fresco.

I love our city! It's like a little country all to itself and just big enough to explore with the under-10 crowd :0)

PS - I know this is a bit of a dry post. Sorry. Mainly it's for Uncle Dave so that he sees we're working hard to be ready when August arrives!

Waiting for the train!

I love it...truly

eyeball! they are SO ready for the plague statue!

Tiny Tots :0)

See? We did walk across

posing with random statues...perfect practice!