labor day weekend

this week is awesome because we had Monday off for labor day, and Friday off for preparations for Nicole's wedding Saturday!

Josh and I spent Sunday & Monday with our good friends and newlyweds Mike and Katie. Josh and I went to the Omnimax theater at the Carnegie Science Center before getting to Mike & Katie's house. first, however, we got lost in the ghetto of Pittsburgh (both my google maps and mapquest directions had the wrong address. yeah, that was awesome). then my phone decided to be an idiot and be really crappy with it's GPS abilities. we eventually made it to the science center, $10 later for parking with 5 minutes to spare before the movie. the movie was fun, though i'm always scared i'm going to fall into the screen with Imax/Omnimax movies.

we went to The Melting Pot for dinner Sunday night. I was SO excited to go there! and it was pretty much every bit as awesome as i could have imagined. we all decided we could eat there every day. i mean, if we didn't have to pay of course.

kt & mikey j


oh my josh! and me


cheese fondue in action!


awesome dippers for chocolate fondue


awesome.

we had so much fun with our lovely friends :)
thank you for opening up your house to us (and for cooking us awesome french toast breakfast!)

Nicole's Bachelorette Party

a few weeks ago we kidnapped Nicole and took her to Canada for her bachelorette party. i can't believe she's getting married NEXT WEEKEND!!!

our trip to Canada was fun, including:

• getting "lost" and on the wrong road, trying to go to the wrong duty free shop, all resulting in us going through the Canadian border check for a second time...to the same border patrol guy...it was pretty awesome actually.
• Niagra Falls, Maid of the Mist, and a weird restaurant where a "kid's hamburger" was practically the same size as a regular one, but 1/2 the price...
• hotel in Toronto and trying to check in 6 girls though we only said we had 3...
• THE PICKLE BARREL. seriously amazing. one of my favorite restaurant experiences ever
• the Toronto Zoo, including walking 4-5 miles, the amazing Canadian Domain, and failure to find the entrance to the Mayan Ruins exhibit where there were also reindeer...also it seemed like 1/4 of the animals were "not on display"
• Steam Whistle Brewery - tried to get a tour, but they were all booked, so we enjoyed the atmosphere and some drinks, and puzzled over how they moved a giant wagon without us seeing it leaving (not that surprising i suppose, as Kristen never even saw it when it was there!)
  
• Chinatown, which included about 4-5 miles of walking to get there and get back and successfully purchasing chopsticks for Kristen!
  
• dinner at Jack Astor's
  
• drinks, a pool table with 4 balls and a defunct pool stick, so crowded we almost got in a fight, and blaring music at Devil's Martini
• traffic-free drive home

getting excited about going on the maid of the mist!



after the boat ride


at the pickle barrel. this was a "dessert sampler" of 6 different desserts!
Oreo cheesecake, tiramasu, strawberry cheesecake, key lime pie, chocolate cake, and chocolate & white chocolate mousse

cheesecake sampler - Rocky Road, Strawberry, and Turtle Brownie


in our own "private booth"


ready to embark on our zoo trip

excited about the Canadian Domain. total bummer. sorry, Canada.


at the brewery. 5 of us received 2 free samples of their beer!

ready to go out Saturday night

staci & i slept on the pullout Friday night, katie & i slept there Saturday night.
we decided the three of us could fit there though.