4th of July "Staycation"!

Hello hello!  I can't believe it's already Thursday!  With the 4th of July being on a Tuesday this year, I'm all mixed up on my week!

We had the BEST long holiday weekend from Friday to Tuesday!  I'm deeming it a "staycation" if you will - we were originally planning on going away for the 4th but then decided it would be fun to just stay home and do lots of fun stuff around Pittsburgh.  And that's exactly what we did!

...Friday...

Coffee outside, morning runs, delicious froyo, and fireworks!

We didn't want to keep Elijah up late on the actual 4th of July since he had to go to daycare the next day, so we found a nearby town that was doing fireworks on Friday and he loved them (for the most part... not a fan of the big boom ones)!

...Saturday...

Pool day!

We spent the day at a nearby pool that had a ton of water features for little kids (and a huge sandbox!) and Elijah had the best time!  And so did we!

...Sunday...

Morning runs, biking downtown, and more froyo!

We headed downtown and biked along the South Side/Station Square trail and Elijah loved looking at the river and watching the trains go by!  He LOVES his bike seat - which is so awesome because we love biking!  Oh, and do you like my new shirt?  "Powered by wine" :)

...Monday...

Moraine State Park!

We had such a fun day at Moraine - we brought our kayak and rented a canoe and Elijah loved it!  He kept saying "Momma, I on a boat!  Momma, I on a BOAT!"  He did SO well in the canoe.  We met up with Brett's family too and had fun hanging at the beach on the lake.  Elijah is definitely a water baby. :)

...Tuesday...

4th of july!

 We started the day with a 5k race (which Brett got 3rd place in his age group!!) in Brentwood, which was immediately followed by their 4th of July parade.  What a fun morning!  Elijah's favorite part was most definitely all the fire trucks.  :)  And then we had my family over for a fun little 4th of July BBQ.  Elijah and Pari (Eli's cousin) had a blast splashing around in the water and eating alllll the snacks.  :)  We didn't keep Elijah up for fireworks (since we saw them on Friday), so we just had a relaxing night at home after everyone left.

What a weekend!  So fun!

I love SUMMER!

Cheers!!*

Kayaking at Moraine State Park

We had such a great time kayaking on Sunday!  We haven't been kayaking since our trip to Smith Mountain Lake over 2 years ago.  So we were long overdue... :)  Here are a few more snapshots from our time out on the water... bliss!

Being out on the water all afternoon with the sun shining down and the sailboats passing by was such bliss.  And now Brett and I can't stop talking about buying a small boat or kayaks of our own.  We have so many great bodies of water close by, we'd be crazy not to!  We shall see... ;)

PS -- Thank you all for the birthday wishes yesterday!

Really feeling the love lately :)

Scenes from the Weekend -- Birthday Edition!

Today is my 29th birthday!*

And we've been celebrating all weekend long... ;)

Kickin the weekend off right with donuts from Bethel Bakery

Spent Saturday hiking around Coopers Rock - so greeen!

And Brett played on some rocks along the way :)

The Henry Clay Iron Furnace which was built in the 1800s!

Dinner and beers at Mountain State Brewing Co before heading back to Pittsburgh

Sunday was spent kayaking on the lake at Moraine State Park!

So much fun!!

And ending the weekend with dinner and beers at North Country Brewing Co (with the Hehers)!

What a great weekend!!  Brett and I were originally planning on going away somewhere for the weekend but then decided to find fun nearby instead.  And we did!  We weren't really sure what we were going to do all weekend and all of these last minute plans ended up being so much fun!  What a great way to kick off my birthday!  Cheers!*

Moraine State Park

I think I've officially caught the bug...

Lately, I cannot get enough of mountain biking!  My husband has been into it for a while now and finally got me obsessed too.  I got a bike last August and he's been showing me the ropes ever since.  It wasn't until just recently that I really started to get the hang of it and didn't want to cry every time I had to ride down a huge hill with tons of rocks and tree roots... but now I love it!  There's just something so exciting about getting on your bike and making your way deep into the woods away from everyday civilization.  I now catch myself staring into random patches of woods along my drives, wondering if there's a mountain biking trail back there.  I love it!

A couple weeks ago, we headed up to Moraine State Park for a nice 4 hour mountain biking session.  It was awesome.  There was barely anyone out and the weather was gorgeous.  After a few hours of riding, we found ourselves at this huge lake in the middle of the park and just took a moment to sit and enjoy the view.  Mountain biking with Brett is my favorite.