Pittsburgh 2011

We were invited to the commissioning of a friend of ours into the Marines.  Jamie was a student of mine at our first church.  I confirmed him and he also went on to be part of the Mensch Mill Committee which was something that was near and dear to me.  The entire Derr family has always had a special place in our hearts and we miss them dearly.  But, as this weekend proved, time and distance don't matter when you are truly friends at heart!

We headed out Friday night after Paul was done work and arrived around midnight.  Our hotel was nasty! We booked it on expedia and there was a night club attached and all of these completely drunk people wandering around the parking lot.  When we got to our room it smelled like a deep fryer and it was just gross!

We woke up Saturday and headed to the Soldiers and Sailors Museum bright and early.  I was waiting for Paul to park the car and Jamie walked up the steps.  He was HUGE! He was no longer a skinny kid but instead had grown into a robust and strong man.  I was shocked by his stature, but seeing him in his marine uniform brought tears to my eyes for the magnitude of his accomplishment.  We sat through the ceremony and watched with pride as he was commissioned.

We felt so blessed to be invited to this event.  We were there for their older daughter Ali's commissioning into the Navy a few years back.

After the event we waited outside to see the new officers head out for their reception.  The kids were trying to be patient, but there were too many places to run and climb!

When the new officers came out we got some pictures with Jamie and tried to recreate one that happened a few years ago with Ali

After the commissioning we headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo which was really awesome!  It was such a nice sprawling zoo with a wonderful array of animals.  There were 9 gorillas and 2 elephants and a baby elephant!  We had a fabulous time at the zoo... it was the perfect size.

We rented a cart for Maeve to sit in since we didn't bring a stroller.  She sat it in almost the whole time but she took a turn in charge (go figure)

The zoo in Pittsburgh also has an aquarium that recently added these AWESOME tunnels where you get to walk under the sharks and polar bears!  It was very very very cool!

Noah got to pet a stingray

And in the snake house there was a giant Baobab tree replica.  There was an exhibit about how this tree hosts so many forms of life.  The children were able to climb up and slide down a tunnel inside the tree!!!

After the zoo we headed back to the french fry room for some down time and to get ready for dinner.  The Derr family along with two other families were hosting a nice meal for 3 of the graduates at a local restaurant.  It was really really fun to spend time with their family and to talk to Jamie some more about his accomplishments.

I had heard that he was going to be a pilot in the marines.  When I asked him about it he told me that he was given choices of what he would like his post to be after graduation.  One of the choices was to be a back seat #2 pilot.  He decided NOT to apply for this position because he wanted something better.  He told me that he knew this was a risky choice and he might end up with nothing he really wanted.  A few weeks later a General in the marines called him!  He was invited to fill one of 7 open positions nationwide to be a Marine pilot (front seat).  Of course he said yes! 

At the meal a lot of wonderful memories and stories were shared from the friends and family.  I was so happy for Jamie and his accomplishments and just so excited to see the amazing man he had developed in to.

When it came time for the cake cutting the guys were invited to get their swords and cut the cake together!  So cute!!!

We couldn't think of a good gift for a young man entering the marines and thought we'd just give him money.  One night Paul and I came up with the idea that since he was going to be a pilot we would fold the money into paper airplanes.  Lo and Behold there was a book about how to fold dollars into 50 different kinds of planes!  This was the perfect gift for Jamie.  Paul did all of the folding, but it turned out wonderfully... these were very intricate origami folds!

The kids were great the dinner and so we really enjoyed this time with the Derr's.

We headed to bed after a long and full day.

Today we woke up and wanted to do some more things in Pittsburgh but the weather was iffy.  We promised Noah we would ride on the train and so we headed to the Duquense Incline.  They LOVED it!!!

Watching some cartoons while we packed... they are so stinking cute!!

Noah excited to go on the train!

Just generally happy!!

The Duquesne Incline is from 1877 (eek!) and is the oldest running incline in the states.  I have been on it before but it was super fun to see the kids excitement about being so high up!

We considered doing some other things but it was yucky out and so we just decided to head home.  The kids fell asleep peacefully and we all enjoyed the ride!!!

Thank you Derr's for inviting us!!!