Science Center...

We visited the Science Center while in Pittsburgh.  

They had a really neat robot exhibit that included a robot with a basketball shooting percentage better than 90%.  In comparison the human basketball shooting percentage was less than 20%.  I had so much fun I forgot to take pictures during most of the visit.  I googled a picture of this robot because I would feel guilty if I talked about it so much and didn't show a picture. 

I did remember to take pictures when we got to the sports area.  This fan caught our attention because we are fans of Mythbusters and we recently saw the episode where they test a myth about a ceiling fan cutting off a persons head.  For the record the ceiling fans didn't do much damaged unless they were scary and industrial looking.  Based on those qualifications this one could definitely do some damage!

Alex was excited to ride the unicycle that was really high in the air.  The scared face was just for our entertainment. 

Mike tested his balance on the skateboard. 

Christine measured her reach and standing jump for basketball. 

You can test your hockey goalie reflexes.

You can also give major league pitching a try. 

There were lots of kids who enjoyed bouncing and trying to do flips.

There were also plenty of people interested in climbing the big rock wall.

You could ride a virtual roller coaster. 

We were very excited to try this huge Operation game. 

In the gift shop Mike saw this and had to try it. 

He actually got it going pretty good. 

They dancing windup robots in the gift shop made me giggle.

I've seen gum ball or candy machines but I had never seen a machine that dispenses gems.  Mikes fathers would love it! 

Breakfast...

Since Pittsburgh has some colleges in the area there are plenty of interesting places to visit.

During our visit we did save money by not eating out for every meal but Christine and Alex did take us to some of their favorite places.  Pamela's Diner is said to have the best breakfast in the state of Pennsylvania.

This was my kind of place!  I love games and they had board games all over the walls. 

They even had some very unique games I hadn't heard of. 

One of my nostalgic favorites was a game called "Cootie".   Alex and Christine really kept us busy during our visit! 

Gettysburg Part Two

This monument was the largest.  You could climb to the top and see for quite a ways. 

There were lots of people dressed up for the occasion. 

There were also the typical annoying tour buses.

These guys were dressed to represent the Union Army.  They did some demonstrations and marched around. 

They were all very knowledgeable and willing to answer the same questions multiple times. 

I can't imagine how hot there were in their long sleeve shirts and jackets.  They all seemed very glad to have a water break. 

There were lots of houses in the area but it was difficult to tell if they were from the Civil War time period or not.  We tried to guess but of course we could not be sure. 

This motorcycle in Baylor colors caught my attention.

There were a lot of bikers visiting that day. 

I'll be honest.  We were so hot, tired, and hungry that we pretty much skipped the last stop which was the Gettysburg National Cemetery.  From the parking lot we didn't see anything we were interested in getting out of the car to see. 

While I was putting together this blog I felt a little guilty about it so I googled some pictures to help finish up the post.  I didn't really want to finish a post about Gettysburg with a group of bikers. 

I can barely imagine what it was like to be at the Battle of Gettysburg more than one hundred years ago. It was interesting to see so many people who are so passionate about this time period. 

We were glad to have the opportunity to visit Gettysburg!  It was a great reminder of our rich history as well as the people and events that made the United States what it is today. 

Gettysburg Part One

We took a day trip to Gettysburg July 3rd which happened to be the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg which took place July 1st - 3rd in 1863.  It was very busy and very warm that day! 

The boys were really excited about seeing canons. 

Christine and I took the opportunity to play with the canons too!

I was glad we chose the driving tour instead of the walking tour because the battle field covers are very large area. 

We were still excited about seeing canons early in our tour.

Throughout the area where the Confederate Army had their camps and headquarters there were numerous monuments.  There were also many people dressed in Confederate uniforms.  Some were there to educate people and reenact some of the events of the Battle of Gettysburg while others were simply enthusiastic fans of the Civil War. 

Believe it or not...we did get tired of canons after a while.

The area was absolutely gorgeous!  I can't imagine such a brutal battle in this quite and peaceful place.

We of course had to take a picture of the Texas monument.  It was small yet proud.  We took pictures of others but posting them all might get redundant. 

Eventually we got to the area were the Union Army had their camps and headquarters.  They also had more monuments than I could count.  I can see why the Union Army had an advantage since they were situated up here instead of down there.

I'm not going to show all of the monuments because there were too many.  This one was pretty cool.  You could climb to the top and see an incredible view. 

I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the surrounding countryside.  More to come...

Pittsburgh Zoo Round Three

Though many animals were napping in the warm weather, the sharks were awake and active. 

They have an area where you can pet deer if they come close to you.  It was understandable that the deer stayed just out of reach. 

I didn't realize how big beavers are.  One was doing a little swimming but the rest were napping.  This was the biggest of them all. 

This is Otis.  I was a little jealously of his waterfall and relaxing lifestyle. 

I'm not a big fan of snakes but I liked the color of this one.

Mike and I have actually looked into having a pet turtle more than once but they live a really long time and require more maintenance than we thought so we got a dog. 

Two of the meerkats would not stop fighting.  They look kind of scary when they fight so I chose a picture of them looking sweet and docile. 

The seals happily enjoyed an afternoon swim. 

I liked the giant turtle statue even before I saw the giant yellow sign that warned people that the metal statue could be hot and burn you if you touch it or sit on it. 

Mike and Alex enjoyed making the rope bridge sway back and forth in order to bother the other people walking on it.  That is exactly why Christine and I chose to not walk across the rope bridge.  We really enjoyed visiting the zoo!