From river boating to river tornado

Most of you who know me, know that I've got to have things done according to 'routine' and order (if there is such a thing with 4 little ones-haha). This week has been anything but. Elisha has had a week-long robotics camp at the Carnegie Science Center, so I was prepared for a bit of a schedule disruption, but the week has very far from typical. Wednesday we all had a great day of boating with our friend and his daughter and son. Elisha was even chauffeured to and from the science center by boat- that's pretty neat if you ask me. :)

They're ready to go!

Austin- this picture is JUST for YOU!!! It's your very own view of Heinz Field from the river- and hey Austin... it's a new season, a new coach, and you didn't place any mojo on the stadium for this season, so look out bud!! They even won their first pre-season game :) (Which really means didley, I know- but it's a sign- I just feel it)

While Jacob loved the boat, he REALLY disliked his lifejacket.

Our boat's faster than your boat :)

Pittsburgh does have a beautiful skyline- preferrably viewed without funnel clouds.

Don't let Mark fool you in this picture... That's more like it :)

DEFINITELY nap time!!! It's so neat to go everywhere via boat- this city is almost more accessible. The kids love the Station Square fountain- Those ducks just love little hand-outs thrown to them...hmmm, they kind of resemble my children. :)

When you're done, you're done :)

When we returned to the dock, there was a beautiful rainbow overhead, but my camera batteries died :(

Thanks for the great day Dom!!! Can't wait to do it again!

Now, after Wednesday, we were very glad we had our outing then, rather than Thursday. Taking Elisha into his camp in the morning, we stopped for breakfast. Coming out of the cafe, it was like night, and it felt like you could touch the clouds- never quite seen anything like that. Very strange, but didn't think anything of it- had to get Elisha into Pittsburgh. The heavens let loose, and you know the old saying...rained like cats and dogs. The weather man said it dumped 5 inches in 1 hour.

It cleared of a bit and the rest of the day was cloudy, very much like our boating day. Dropped off Elisha, and Lydia and I headed for an all-over Pittsburgh shopping day. East End, Strip District, then back to CSC so she could play. We had to park in a spot I made at the farthest place in the lot, so at 2:30pm we went out to the car to move it to the drop-off/pick-up zone. While moving the car I heard on the radio there was a tornado warning for Allegheny county- thinking they meant watch instead of warning I didn't think much of it because it really didn't look that bad outside- just a normal grey storm cloud- and I didn't even hear any thunder or see lighting. Lydia and I headed inside and within 5 minutes we heard glass shattering and looked outside to see all kinds of things flying by horizontally. Now most of you who know me, also know that storms aren't my thing. Surprisingly I did well, just got a little panicked because I didn't know where Elisha was- his camp classroom was on the third floor. So I headed up the ramps, not knowing we weren't allowed on them, just in time to look up and see another window being blown out- there's my claim to fame: I was there on the ramp when the CSC glass was shattered. Elisha was fine, and all of the teachers had the students in the concrete stairwells.

While I don't know if it was actually a tornado, and don't want to make it out to be more than it was, it was a bit strange/scary. We're just very thankful we weren't on the boat because it would have been docked on the river with Dom, his family, and Jacob/the girls waiting for Mark and I to get Elisha. No one would have known it was coming, and there would have been no where for them to go. As is stands, a section of wall was blown off the outside of the building, and windows were blown out/broken. The CSC is closed for 2 days while they survey the damage and decide when to reopen. Don't know when or if Elisha will get to go to his last day.

And there you have it - 2 days in the life of summer camp in Pittsburgh... like I said, there is never a dull moment here :)