30 has Started Off Well

Saturday I turned 30.
Really? I am 30?! Saying it & seeing it in print feel odd. But not a bad odd.

The day was wonderful. My father-in-law came super early to pick up the boys (as in he was at our house at 7:45 in the morning! And they live an hour away!). They were beyond excited and ready to leave Pat & I. They stayed the night with Pat's parents, and apparently didn't miss us too much.

Shortly after the boys left with Buppa, Pat & I hit the road. We traveled the Ohio Turnpike and went to Pittsburgh, a city where we have many fond memories from our college and dating days.

The weather wasn't nice.

Cold, rainy, windy...but we had NO KIDS! We talked in the car without interruption (even though after a bit, we missed those interruptions;). It's amazing how little food & drink you bring in the car with you when you have no kids. And how making it to the potty isn't as big a deal.

We drove straight to the Strip District downtown Pittsburgh, arriving in time for lunch at Primanti Brothers. I do believe it's one of the world's thickest sandwiches.

Your mouth gets a workout just eating it! It was fun. We ate at the original, ordering the original sandwich, too. (in case you're unfamiliar, Primanti Brothers is famous for the area, having been featured on the Food Network and Travel Channel).

We drove around downtown Pittsburgh, finding the places where we used to go, reminiscing, seeing how it's all changed. Carson Street looked much the same, all the yellow bridges did, too. Driving through the tunnel was great...so many memories.

We headed to Robinson Township and found a place to stay-Springhill Suites. It was right in the middle of everything-shopping, restaurants, and my personal highlight-Half Price Books. Why don't we have one of those around us?
We checked in and enjoyed going to the bookstore, picking up surprises for the boys. I was super excited to find ONE copy left of Boys Should Be Boys, excellent condition, and only $7.98! I snatched that up for myself. We bought Magic Treehouse books for Aidan, and a gigantic school bus puzzle for Brennan.

Traffic there was crazy--worse than Greenville's Woodruff Rd area during Christmastime.
I was craving Mexican for dinner, and knew I wanted a daquiri. So we opted for Don Pablo's for dinner. It was delicious. I had my strawberry daquiris, bean dip, and steak fajitas. SOOOO yummy.

The weather wasn't getting much better, and we were kind of tired (must be that old age of 30;), so we were in for the night. It was nice to have some time just the two of us. Long overdue!

Sunday we drove home via Steubenville, the town where we went to college.
The place where we met. :) It's been since October 2003 since we last saw the campus (driving to John & Erin's wedding!), and WOW has it changed! Sure looks like some alumni are making nice donations.

Our weekend concluded with our niece's 4th birthday party in Michigan. We also got to meet our new niece, Mackenzie. She's just precious!
It was a great weekend.

If my 30's have started off this well, I can only count on it being a good decade.

*I had more pictures to include, but blogger's upload kept failing. Boo to blogger*