Tuesday, March 19, 2013

A Pittsburgh Weekend

Well St. Patrick's Day (aka baby brother's birthday) fell on a weekend this year, so OF COURSE we had to do things properly and go to Pittsburgh to celebrate his special day and one of our favorite holidays! The Mayer parents also do an annual bus trip to the casino in Pittsburgh for St. Patty's Day with their Elks Lodge, so it was all sorts of fun with family and friends.

Our beloved bday boy!

The original crew, dressed and ready to go!

Jason and Michael at the Tilted Kilt...think Hooters but Irish themed

Guess who didn't get his beer order in (my favorite pict of the day!)

Of course there had to be car bombs

Mayer Brothers

Sage older brother bestowing words of wisdom to the wee one....I am sure it was about beer

The Mayer Boys

Pam, me, Tammy, and Dar

Plus Johnna and Kathy!

Bday cake at Jerome Bettis Restaurant (36 was Bettis' jersey number)
Michael's only 27...

All of the troublesome boys

Bart and his Mayer girls

Adam and his other blondes


Sunday, March 10, 2013

A Day in DC

Adam and I absolutely LOVE Washington DC! It is such a wonderful city with over a billion things to do and we always have such an awesome time when we go down...which isn't often enough. Yesterday we ventured down to the DC Travel and Adventure Show (I know, the perfect convention for us right?!?!?) held at the Washington Convention Center just to start dreaming of all the places we have yet to travel to. We got lots of ideas and cannot wait to start making plans...if only we were independently wealthy and could retire now! It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day to be out and about DC on foot, bright blue skies without a cloud floating around, and it was 60 degrees...Spring might actually be upon us!
Afterward, since the convention center is right in the heart of Chinatown, we meandered around the area and stopped for a late lunch (how could we not!?!?) at Chinatown Express. They were making noodle from scratch in the window and we were hooked. We shared homemade pork dumplings, a bowl of noodle soup with shaved beef, and half a Peking duck....seriously, it was AMAZING. If you are ever craving Chinese cuisine and in the DC area, this place should be very high on your list. Further proof is that we were two of the VERY few non-Chinese people eating there and the wait staff really did not speak English.
As you can imagine, we were absolutely stuffed and needed to walk around, so down to the Mall we headed and ended up at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (it is one of our favorites). They had this amazing exhibit displaying the "Nature's Best Photography Winners" and it was breathtaking...some of the pictures brought tears to my eyes and overwhelmed my heart. The detail of such particular moments that these photographers were able to capture was enrapturing! Enjoy the pictures below of some of my favorites, keep in mind that these are pictures of other people awesome talent, please click the link to read more about the amazing artists that I have pure admiration of: