Thursday morning started even slower than normal. Keith had a late class to start, so he slept in (until 8!), which meant the kids slept later than usual too since he wasn't waking us up getting ready. Happy faces all around here! The kids and I headed out in the late morning. This day we were walking mostly, no car for us!
We started by walking down underneath the convention center Keith's been in all week. As we drove by it we could see a walkway and a fountain the kids have been interested in, so we walked out our hotel and down. The fountain was really cool. It was a peaceful waterfall with a winding walkway down to the river. We followed the walkway on the river all the way down to Point State Park Fountain. The boys have been itching to see it up close since we've seen it from many different angles across the river. They've even argued with me MANY times over which side of the river it was on. The day before, they spent telling me it was on the other side of the Monongahela where we were. They were so adamant about it they were furious I wouldn't take them to it while we were on that side of the river. Today on the walk their they were trying to tell me we needed to cross the Allegheny to see it because they could see it from the Science Center which was over there. Apparently they'd forgotten they could only see if from across the river over there!
We did finally get there and they enjoying getting sprayed by some of the over spray. The mist did feel kind of nice on a warm day! From there we walked through the grass and the kids ran around a little bit until we got to the Block House. Then we went inside the block house for the kids to try to look out and see; they weren't tall enough to see much, but liked it anyway. Then we took a slightly longer than necessary walk to Market Square.
We had lunch in Market Square. We'd been there a few nights before for Primanti Brothers. I knew it was within walking distance and remembered there being a lot of options, so thought it would be a good stop. When we were there Sunday night it was so quiet and a peaceful place. Lunch time on Thursday, however, was a VERY different story! There was a farmers market in the center and everything else was bustling with people on their lunches from surrounding downtown businesses. I was certainly in the minority there with the kids in tow! We did have some Moe's Southwest Grill for lunch though at a table outside. It was a nice shaded lunch spot to eat. The boys liked playing with the birds that were around searching for food.
We ate slowly and enjoyed our little spot on the sidewalk before walking around the farmers marketing and selecting some cookies for later for an afternoon snack. After that, we headed over to the PPG Plaza. I learned about this place on the Duck Tour the afternoon before. I grabbed a smoothie on the way. I was thirsty, but we were really looking for a restroom for everyone. I thought we'd buy something from the Cafe Mocha and use their restrooms before we headed over to PPG, but they had no restroom, bust!
We went to play in the fountains anyway, and each of the kids ran around in the fountains enjoying the water! After they were soaked I knew out next stop was the hotel again! We did stop after playing in the fountains to eat our cookies on the plaza too.
Then it was back to the hotel for a nap for Elinore and me too while the boys played on their video games and watched cartoons. We woke up with less than 45 minutes until we expected Daddy back so a few more cartoons and we waited on him to arrive back for the day.
Once Daddy arrived we decided it was time to take the kids on the incline, much to Mommy's disappointment. Heights and I aren't really friends; they scare me. BUT we did it anyway. We drove over to the Duquesne Incline. Other than Caden constantly saying "don't look down, down look down!" Everything went smoothly. We sat in the back by the track. We spent a little time on the observation deck before heading back down. I spent my time keeping Elinore back from the edge so I didn't have to go there, which she wasn't so excited about.
Off the incline we spent some probably 45 minutes driving around trying to decide on dinner. We drove out of downtown and everything, but never did decide. We ended up back at our hotel for the restaurant in our hotel, The Original Fish Market. Keith had heard good feedback on it, so we thought we'd try it out too. It was probably our most expensive meal of the week. And it was a lot of fish. Granted, I expected it to be with the name, but my other selection choices were VERY limited. I had breaded and fried shrimp, and fried shrimp isn't really my thing. The sides with it were very good though. The kids enjoyed their shrimp, and Keith had swordfish, which he enjoyed. I tried it and it wasn't too bad for fish!
Then we headed down to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream and a walk back to the hotel for sleep!
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