Primanti Bros.

As promised, the post about Primanti's (the locals prounounce it Prah-MAN-ees, no T involved!) restaurant in Pittsburgh. There's a lot of history behind the place. The food, well, it's AWESOME. They have great pizza. It's a local favorite. They support the local sports teams (Go Steelers!).

But the best thing about the place? The sammiches (sandwiches!). Here's where you can read a brief history of Primanti Brothers

This restaurant chain has been featured on the Food Channel as one of the best places for sandwiches. They tell the story as follows: Truckers used to stop in for lunch on their way in and out of the Strip District. They wanted to be able to take their meals with them, so the owner of the restaurant put the fries and coleslaw right on the sandwich.

Now - this sounds kind of disgusting at first. But listen closely, and your mouth will WATER:

My favorite sandwich is the cheesesteak.

Take a thick slice of freshly baked Italian bread, about 1 inch thick. Add a slab of meat and cheese (the meat is not a chopped thin steak, it is more like a slice of meatloaf, but it doesn't TASTE like meatloaf). Top this meat with home cut, FRESH french fries, skins still on, cut right at the restaurant. Add a large pile of the special Primanti's coleslaw, which is not a creamy, mayonnaise-based slaw, but a sweet and sour version. Add other toppings if you'd like (I stick with tomatoes, but you can put onions on too). Top all of that with yet another thick slice of Italian bread. It's not served on a plate...it is served on wax paper. This is a meal worth savoring.

The Primanti Bros. Sandwich

Halfway done - great cross-section!!!!
We took Scotty in for his very first visit to Primanti's. Hannah wanted to stay home and eat pancakes at grandma's instead. Of course I photographed him enjoying the place! Of course I will share these photos!


Daddy and Scotty - not the greatest shot of the boy, but Dad looks handsome!!!
Scotty concentrates on coloring - natural light shot!

St. Louis

This was one of my favorite pictures of the Arch. I took a lot, but this one stood out. Photographing the Arch is NOT easy, by any means. It is incredibly immense. I took many angles. I lay on the ground beneath the Arch and shot upwards. Still could not capture the essence of it. The only two "whole" arch pictures I took were both movement shots, cluttered with trees and signs.

But this...well, it was taken just after we came out from under the arch (where you can use the bathrooms, cool off, see the museum, get your "ride to the top", etc). I turned around and there it was...perfect.

the trip...

Here's a general synopsis of our trip, broken down by day:

Friday, June 15:

• Left at 6:00 a.m. Stopped an hour into the trip (in Topeka) and ate at IHOP. YUM. put movie in for kids - and OFF we go!
• Noticed a tickle in my throat (kids are both sick with colds...great.)
  
• Stopped outside of St. Louis (about an hour out) for lunch. We had packed a picnic lunch and the kids really enjoyed it.
• Since we were doing so well on time, decided to make an unscheduled stop IN St. Louis and visited the Arch (my first time).
  

my first view of the Arch....

Didn't stay for long, didn't go up to the top, but it was STILL awe inspiring nonetheless.

Me and the kids at the arch - see the "graffitti" over our heads? Homeless Wonders....Ha Ha!!!!!

• Arrived at hotel in Terre Haute, IN at 5:00 p.m. WHOOPS...forgot the time change. It was really SIX...sigh. Ate a quick meal, took the kids to the pool. Scotty and Hannah shared a bed for the first time. They did well.
• Can barely talk now...not for a sore throat, but LARYNGITIS!

Saturday, June 16:

• Can not talk...can only whisper. Not good in a car with kids asking questions constantly...sigh.
• Nothing really big happened this day. Nice trip. Got to Grandma's at around 3:00 p.m. or so.

Sunday, June 17:

• Still can't talk. NOT good.
  
• Kids are excited about being at grandma's house...digging in all the toys, having a good time.
• Gave MIL her birthday gift. A digital picture frame. I've spent HOURS compiling photos for this memory card. Get it set up...and the card is corrupted. Yay. Don't know what happened. I had SIX HUNDRED and SEVENTY-SEVEN pictures on that card!!! LUCKILY, I was smart enough to create a folder on my desktop, with ALL the pictures, so I will get a new card and reload the photos.
• Gave Scott his Father's Day cards and gift. Whoops...forgot to get him a card from ME. sigh. What is UP?
• Went to SIL's house. Hannah, Scotty and Jenna played in the sprinkler, played DDR and had an all around good time....until "THE INCIDENT"

Jenna, Hannah and Scotty in the sprinkler....Grandma and her grandkids

• Discovered that Scotty's probably allergic to BEE STINGS. Yeah...that's "The Incident". He was happily swinging on one of the swings in the yard...but apparently, wasps had built a nest INSIDE the seat of the swing (one of those hard plastic swings). And one got him on the neck. We got him away before he got stung again. Grandma called for a paste of baking soda...we sat him on the floor and helped him stay calm (a good popsicle can do that). He broke out in hives...just a few. Thank goodness Uncle Bill is a doctor - he had benadryl and we gave a crushed-up tablet to the Boo...

Monday, June 17:

• Got a bit of my voice back. Gave my friend Michelle a call. I haven't seen her in two years - we were such good friends in Georgia, but we moved to Germany and she moved to Korea. As God works wonders, he sent them to Pittsburgh, and so we would be able to see each other again!
• Made a lunch date with Michelle and her kids. Hannah and Colton were best of friends in GA. He is STILL so sweet and adorable!

Colton the cutie....Scotty getting ready to throw a water balloon!
After lunch, headed to her house. The kids played with water balloons, played in the
creek behind her house and we caught up.

Great action shot - Michele got drenched!!!!

Oh, yeah, did I mention her sister, Tammy and her three kids were visiting too? They
arrived that very morning, after a 3 day train ride! One of her sons had pink-eye. yuck.
But we all had a great time and made plans for at least one more visit before we headed
back to KS.
Tuesday, June 18:

• Hannah tied her shoes all by herself! BIG accomplishment, because she is pig-headed and doesn't want me to teach her. We learned a quick and easy way, and she can do it now!
  
• Ate at Chick-fil-A. I was MAD, because there used to be one in the South Hills Village Mall...but it was gone. I didn't know that they'd built a stand-alone store just down the road. Discovered this yesterday and made SURE I got at least ONE visit in. Oh YUM!
• Went to the mall. Wanted to go to Victoria's Secrets for their "semi-annual bra sale", knowing how quickly some of the high-priced stuff goes (I prefer the Ipex, which costs $45 normally). Found a few that I liked.
• Hit the Disney store, since they were having a great sale. Got the kids a t-shirt, flip-flops and a little "something".
  

Wednesday, June 19:

• Still not well in the voice department. Oh well.
• Called Lori, another friend. I met her thru my husband. Scott and her husband, Brian were college roommates. Lori and I hit it off the first meeting, and we've always enjoyed getting together.
  
• Took the kids to a park by Lori's house and they played out there for several hours. Lori's got 2 boys, one just a bit older than Scotty, and one a year older than Hannah. But the older one was gone to church camp, so we didn't get to see him :-(

Hannah at the park

• Called Michelle to see about getting together for dinner at Primanti Bros on Thursday. All the kids at her house (hers and her sisters) are sick with fevers...and the boys ALL have pink-eye (this began a conversation about whether our kids would get it, but I knew they were safe, as they were not exposed to the one with pink-eye to begin with!). This made me sad, as I was hoping to see Michelle one more time before we left. Hopefully we can get together again the next visit!

Thursday, June 20:

• Scotty's got some tummy issues. I'm hoping it's not a virus - NOT what we need 2 days before heading home. He's okay, then his tummy hurts, then he poops, and he's better again...but it's on all day. Poor kid. He took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. That's how I KNEW he was not feeling well.
  
• Did laundry, since the weather was not too great either...
  
• PRIMANTI BROS!!!! This is an entirely SEPERATE post. Unless you're from the 'Burgh, you won't understand without photos!

Friday, June 21:

• Got the suitcases reloaded with clean clothes. Ran around looking for things forgotten. Remembered to grab the 2 bottles of scotch we'd left there before going to Germany (one's almost 30 y/o and the other's almost 20 - Scott's stuff, not mine) AND remembered the Pack n play (half of the pieces were here in KS!)
• Took the kids to the park with Grandma. They had fun. Nice cool, breezy day.
  
• After supper, let the kids play outside one last time. Uncle Kenny (Scott's uncle) came with his wife and son. Scotty started calling Kenny Mr. Pooky (don't know WHY!), and then calling Christopher (who is 14) Christopher Robin. The names stuck, too. Way too funny!
• Got the kids down one last time, loaded the car (mostly) and got rest.

Saturday, June 22:

• Left Pittsburgh around 6:00 a.m. Drove into Ohio before stopping for breakfast. Had a relatively uneventful day.
  
• Just outside of St. Louis (in Illinois) we hit the BIGGEST rainstorm. The kind where you can not see the road, so we had to pull over. Thank God it was just outside our stop - I'd have hated to be stuck in that for a long time.
  
• Stopped on the west side of St. Louis for the night. Stayed at the DoubleTree. Not worth the $$$, sadly. Went to TGI Friday's for dinner. Kids liked it.
  

Sunday, June 23:

• Last day on the road. Short day, only about 6 hours, thank goodness. Scotty is getting tired of being in his seat.
  
• We decide that we'll stop on the WEST side of Kansas City (in KS) for lunch. Even though Scotty's whining and crying, it's going to make that last little leg seem SO much shorter.
  
• It was a good decision. Just outside of KC, MO (on the east side) there was a terrible accident. It happened about 1/2 mile in front of us, maybe 2 minutes before we got there. A roll-over. A lot of cars stopped to help. A tractor trailer stopped too, and provided a fire extinguisher. Just a terrible thing all around. Because we were so close ,we didn't get stuck in traffic. THAT was the good thing.
• Ate lunch at the worst ever Arby's. I swear, there were only 3 people working. Service was SOOOO slow. Won't be stopping THERE ever again!

HOME! We are FINALLY home! And we come into a nice clean house, too. I unpacked the luggage, put all the clean clothes away (gotta love doing laundry while on vaca!), got the kids' toys and stuff put up. Took a little break to check email (was gone for a week without computer access; it had PILED up!!!!).

Now I'm working on getting caught up on blogs, and getting back into the routine of things.