Happy Birthday, Mommy!

For my wonderful wife's birthday we headed to Pittsburgh to take in a Pirate's game. That's all she wanted... tickets to the game and to stay in the hotel across the street from PNC Park.

Sounds good to me!

It sounded good to the Little Olive, too! She was representin' her WVU roots! Hey, when you go to PITTsburgh, you have to stick it to PITT! She was ready to cross the street and head to the stadium.

Before the game we met up with a couple of my wife's friends at Atrias... a restaurant on the outside of PNC Park. Cool sidewalk seating is the theme there. It puts you in the mood for baseball.

 

By the way, those weren't my beers. They were left there by the people who sat at that table before us. :)

Are you ready for some baseball? Play Ball!

 

We had better seats than this, but we decided not to sit in the sun. Silly me bought tickets for a day game that were directly in the afternoon sun. Bad choice with a little girl and 90 degree heat. 

My wife was happy despite the heat. She's a real trooper. Put a beer and a Primanti Bros. sandwich in her hand and she'll have a good time anywhere!

 

Here's a closer look at the sandwich. It has french bread, tomatoes, french fries, coleslaw and meatloaf on it. That's a meal. 

 

Yummy!

The Little Olive got scared a number of times when exciting things would happen and the crowd got loud. She'd grab and hug whoever was holding her, but she never cried or got upset. 

 

Eventually the poor little girl got tired and fell asleep. She was tough, though. She woke up just in time to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

She was sweet. 

The Pirates ended up winning 10-3, which was the most runs they've scored all season. We got to see home runs from Garrett Jones and Andrew McCutchen. Back to the hotel we went...

After we got cleaned up and hung out in our room for a little bit, it was off to dinner at Jerome Bettis's restaurant. It was a pretty average meal and the service was sub-par.

 

My wife's real birthday treat was after dinner. As we were leaving the restaurant and walking back to our hotel we ran into Michael McKenry... the Pittsburgh Pirates starting catcher! We walked behind them for a little while as seen below...

Eventually his wife turned around and noticed the Little Olive and started asking questions about her. My wife got to talk to her and "Fort" McKenry for two or three minutes. It was the perfect end to my wife's perfect birthday.