The Weekend - Part II

Saturday started out slowly. I woke up early expecting Dad and Grandpa to come down and have breakfast with me on the South Side. However, Grandpa was feeling sick, so they didn't come down. I couldn't go back to bed, so I watched The West Wing on DVD (I started a Netflix subscription...maybe I'll write about the West Wing at some point).

I found out everybody was going to come down to my apartment, which includes Levi, in the afternoon. This is why living downtown is so fun; it's like an event for people to come visit. They all came down and we showed Levi my apartment. Then we decided to take him for a ride up and down the incline. We went over to Station Square and Levi played over by the dancing fountains while we watched (or played, in Beth's case). He was also thrilled when a train came by.

Then we went to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. This led to one of the funnier things that I've seen in awhile. Beth was sitting there and she decided to do her Donald Duck impression. She did it, it wasn't that bad, but Levi remarked: "That kinda doesn't sound like Donald Duck." This was hysterical, as he said it only as a kid can say it, very innocently but matter-of-factly. Beth was devastated; the rest of us were laughing. I was laughing so hard that I almost fell off of the bench. Anyway, Levi kept saying funny stuff. After lunch was over, we went back up the incline, to my apartment, and Mom and Dad left.

Next, we decided to go to the Mt. Washington neighborhood pool. It was about 5:30 when we got there, and we found out two things: (1) the pool costs $4 for an adult and $3 for a child, and (2) it was closing at 5:45 that day. This is very disturbing to me. First of all, I thought it would be cheaper than this. How often can you afford to go when it's $4 a day? Probably not too often.

Now what is the purpose of a city pool? It's a service to the people of a city; their tax dollars go to pay for it. Furthermore, it's really a way to keep kids off the streets and keep them out of trouble. The cost becomes prohibitive in this regard. Are city kids more likely to hang out at the pool, or hang out on the street corner where it's free? Secondly, it's hours are horrible! The hours are 1-7:45 Mon-Fri and 1-5:45 Sat and Sun. It's barely even open! We battle the weather elements here in Pittsburgh, so the pool already will only be open for 3 or 4 months of the year. I just couldn't believe that city services have been cut so much that the pool is hardly open and it costs so much. end rant

So our next goal was to go see the movie Wall-E. We headed down to the South Side Works cinema, and we were really early. This was a good thing, because there was a huge street festival going on down there. We hung out and did the sidewalk chalk drawing contest (I think Levi will win). He went and did the other kid stuff they had. Then we went in and saw the movie. This movie was good enough to merit its own stand-alone post, so the review of the movie will be coming soon.

After the movie was over, we headed up to my apartment, where Levi and Beth dropped me off and headed home. It was such a relaxing day, it felt like we were on vacation. Here's to more weekend vacations in the 'burgh!