Yet another busy week and weekend. Last Saturday we all headed out to Pennsylvania to visit with Laura and Thomas. I saved us some $200 by juryrigging our 2 car DVD players into one that would work with a screen for both kids, which involved an old license plate, nylon twine, a piece of wood, a stick-on hanging strip, and several rubber bands. I'm quite proud of it. We got to Laura's by around dinnertime Saturday (Did not miss the turn in Bucyrus this time). After dinner (grilled mahi, by request for my big 4-0 a day early, thanks Laura) we had a little birthday celebration for me. Sunday we all headed out to Pittsburgh and did the zoo for most of the day, then the Duquesne Incline in the late afternoon, after which Laura and Thomas took the kids back home and Beth and I stayed in the city. I got us a room at the Omni on Hotwire for a fraction of the regular cost ($88 instead of $260) and we stayed there overnight. We had a superb dinner at the Melting Pot and then walked around the riverside district a while before retiring. Monday morning we hit the Strip District, where we found a lot a cool shops and such, plus got a REALLY EXPENSIVE parking ticket, ate at a restaurant that had really poor service and lousy food, and brought back a gift of some Greek olives for Laura, who as it turns out hates olives (Really? You do? Since when? All your life? Huh.). We hit a science museum after the Strip, which we wished later we had saved for when the kids were with us. And the submarine was closed. We saw an Omnimax movie, but the one we had wanted to see (about Greece) wasn't playing because a moon landing one was playing that day (July 20) instead. We then found not much going on in the riverside district that we hadn't seen the evening before, so we headed back and got dinner at Pittsburgh Mills. We got back to Laura's just after the kids got to bed, and they were back up as soon as they heard us. Late nights for them was a common theme for the week. Tuesday, Thomas was at work all day so the rest of us took a campus tour and did some geocaching around town (Ben really enjoys it; Thomas should get a GPS) until dinner. We found a really nice park for all of the kids to play in that Laura didn't even know was there. Wednesday we all (except Thomas) went back to the zoo again (since Beth and I have the membership we got in Fort Wayne, it was free to us both times) to catch the parts we'd missed the other day, like about half of it. It wasn't as hot the second time, so most of the animals were more active. Thomas was able to meet us there for the tail end of the day and join us for dinner (at the Eat 'n' Park!) Thursday we all (except Thomas) went out to the country to pick blueberries and did a bit of shopping, then relaxing in the afternoon. Today we headed for home (a very boring drive through Ohio) and made it by late afternoon.