The Ursic Family: Pittsburgh Trip

Our vacation this year was a trip to Pittsburgh with Brian's dad and his brother Eric and his son Ethan. Our kids had never been on an airplane before so they were very excited and talked about it all the time in the weeks leading up to the trip. Rexford was a little nervous but he was excited that his cousin Ethan was coming. Rexford really wanted to see where the Steelers play and they were looking forward to going to a Pirates baseball game.

THURSDAY

We left Thursday morning and the kids thought it was cool to drop the car off at a parking lot and take a shuttle bus to the airport. They loved the little monorail at the airport that takes you to the gate and seeing all the sights at the airport. They did really well and boarded the plane and buckled their belts and got ready to take off. They loved taking off and looking out the window of the airplane. Rexford's favorite part of the flight was getting to pick whatever drink he wanted :) When we landed we got our rental cars and then headed to Ohio to visit Brian's grandma for the afternoon. Brian's Uncle Ted and his grandma had set up a slip-n-slide and kickball field for the kids to play. It was great since it was so hot outside and the kids had lots of fun.

Excited for our trip!

Austin all ready for take-off

Rexford and Ethan ready to take off

Rexford and George Washington

Steelers!

The boys wanted to take a picture with the big T-Rex

Playing some kickball

Rexford and Austin playing in the water

Grandma Cavanaugh, Ethan, Rexford, Austin, and Uncle Ted

Grandma Cavanaugh, Eric, and Brian

Austin enjoying the slip n slide

FRIDAY

Friday morning we headed to Pittsburgh to see the city. The first thing we did was take a sightseeing tour of the city by boat. Then we went to find some lunch and the kids enjoyed a nice little train ride around the mall. Then we headed over to ride an incline up the mountain to get a nice view of the city.

Silly boys at the hotel

Heinz Field

PNC Park where the Pirates play

The boys looking at the sights on our boat ride

Rexford, Austin, and Brian in front a mural

Austin loved the little train ride around the mall

Ethan and Rexford and Eric too :)

We rode the incline up the mountain

The view going up

Here we are on top after riding the incline up the mountain

And then we hopped back on the incline to go down and it STOPPED! We were stuck inside the small, cramped car for about 15 minutes. It seemed like an hour! It was so hot that day and there were no windows in the car and only a few tiny holes for air. There was no A/C and we were all really hot. Rexford was very scared and cried most of the time. Austin did pretty well because he was too young too understand really but luckily I had his cup with some lemonade for him to drink. We tried to be calm but it got to the point where we were all a little worried about how much longer we could stay stuck in that kind of heat. Grandpa called 911 and was talking to them when the incline people finally got us going again. They brought us back up to the top and got us off. We searched for somewhere to buy drinks and ended up hanging out at an ice cream shop cooling off for a while. They sent a bus for us to get back down to the bottom but it took forever to come. It was quite the adventure!

After the crazy day we headed back to the hotel to cool off in the pool for a bit and then grabbed some dinner and headed back to Pittsburgh for the Pirates v. Cardinals baseball game. Normally tickets are easy to get but the Pirates were doing so well that tickets were hard to get and cost more than normal. But it was vacation so that's okay :) We all got free t-shirts but they only had XL by the time we got there. Rexford and Austin wore theirs anyway so that was cute. We stayed until the seventh inning and then everyone was pretty tired and it had been raining off and on so we headed back to the hotel for the night. The Pirates didn't win but it was still lots of fun anyway.

Austin was very excited about wearing his shirt

Rexford wearing his shirt watching the game

Austin cuddling with Daddy

Enjoying the game but getting sleepy :)

After the game in front of the ball park

SATURDAY

We finally found the boys some Steelers shirts in their sizes at Target near our hotel. I was able to get Austin to take off the huge Pirates shirt and put on his new Steelers shirt :) Then we drove over to see where Grandpa Ursic grew up. He showed us his grandmothers' homes and the house where he grew up. We saw his old school and football field, the park where Brian used to play when visiting as a child, and the bowling alley where Grandpa worked. Then we went to a park for lunch to meet Brian's two cousins and their families. The kids had fun playing in a little creek and running around. That evening we had to back to the airport to fly home. We got in really late but the kids did really well. It was a really fun trip!

Austin wanted to wear his Pirates shirt the next day too :)