Entropy

Wednesday dawned well, and I no longer felt so pukey. Daddy was still pretty sleepy so Papa and I loaded the children up and took them to a McDonalds with a playland. The kids had a lot of fun playing. Then around 10:30 we drove back to the house to get Daddy.

This is where the adventure begins:

We drove downtown and looked around for place to eat. And then a place to park. The best spot we could find was a one hour parking meter. So we parked. Then we walked a few blocks to Sree's "curry in a hurry" restaurant.

They had four vegan menu options and one chicken dish. You could choose 3 vegan entrees or the chicken plus one vegan option. So we got two meals (covering all of the entrees) which was enough food to feed all of us (we did order some extra rice and naan). It wasn't totally authentic, but it was pretty decent food. And to feed 6 people (7 if you count Omi) for $12 seemed to be a pretty impressive feat.

After lunch we slowly ambled toward the van and we stopped in a really neat looking toy store. We found these great tools (broom, rake, hoe) that we decided to get for the kids. It was going really well until I looked at Isaac and noticed he was wet. Then I noticed the puddle on the floor underneath him. So I took him back to the van to be changed. Then the guys wandered off with the others to explore the toy store.

Across the street from the van there was a man playing a tenor sax. The music was quite lovely. I got Isaac changed. Then I checked the meter. About four minutes left. The guys weren't back yet so I searched for quarters. None. So I sat there with Isaac and Omi and waited.

A meter reader came by. Our meter said 1 minute left. But I guess we looked like we were about to leave so the reader went on and let us go. 10 minutes later Paul and my dad finally returned from the toy store.

Then we drove out of downtown to Carnegie Mellon so Paul could visit the campus.

When we first showed up we walked around the student union. Then my dad ended up watching the kids in a lounge while Paul and I investigated further (which included buying a book in the bookstore). Then Paul went to visit the robotics department while Papa and I watched the kids outside. It was a little wet and chilly. So Papa ended up taking Omi inside while I played on a playground with the others.

When I came back in Papa was sound asleep on a chair, with Omi wide awake on his lap. So I took the others into the little convenience store nearby. The stores was named "Entropy" which is a fairly good description of what it sold. The truly amazing thing was the rather large selection of gluten free foods. Who'd have thought.

So I bought the kids (and myself and Papa) a snack and we sat outside at a table (pictured above) to eat. The kids were pretty wound up and ended up in time out. And Papa went back to try and find more snacks.

Finally Paul returned. It sounds like he made some good connections with the robotics department. And he is even more excited about the possibility of going to school there. And he got to ride a segway.

After that we drove back to the house so the kids could nap. And I made some pasta for dinner. Since we only had one pot I had to get a little bit creative.

Then after dinner we drove down to station square. We got a little bit lost, since Paul was determined to cross the Smithfield St. bridge aka the fish bridge. But we did eventually get there. Then we had trouble finding a place to park. So we made it ten minutes after the last boat tour left for the evening.

So we decided to walk around Station Square and then ride the incline.

Inside station square was little train for the kids (and Papa) to ride. They loved it! After the ride the "engineer" gave them each a coupon for a free lollipop. But we had to walk to the candy store to redeem them. This was great except then we were in the candy store. So daddy and papa both ended up buying almond bark, and I had a cookie doughlicious ice cream cone.

Then we walked over to the incline. Only to realize we didn't have the right amount of cash. So Paul ran back to station square. In the five minutes we had been gone %90 of the stores had closed. So it took awhile for him to get the right change. But he did. And then we took the incline up Mt. Washington.

It was beautiful. The kids loved the incline. Papa and Isaac sat on a bench and looked out over the city while Paul and I walked around with the others.

It was really late by the time we got back. But everyone settled down pretty well.