Our family bowling outing I mentioned in this post was a success! There’s not much cuter than a two-year-old in bowling shoes, am I right?!
Both kids were big fans of bowling! We ordered pizza, played a game, and guess what! Jimmy, Mordecai, and Sadie all got strikes!! Somehow, both of my kids beat me fair and square in bowling. How embarrassing is that hahah.
For any Pittsburgh locals wondering where we bowled, we went to AMF in Mt. Lebanon and had a great experience. There were 52 lanes (!), slide things that help kids send the ball down the lane, games, and all of the workers were so helpful and kind, especially on a busy Friday night that also happened to be a holiday.
We figured out that the last time Sadie had been bowling was in May 2022. Check out this post to see a little Sader Tot bowling in the Outer Banks. She didn’t remember it at all!
After bowling, we went to Millie’s Ice Cream, one of our favorite local ice cream shops! Forget the fact that it was in the 20s out, haha. The kids love that the store has books in the back for kids to read, so we always order our ice cream and sit down to read a few. I love making these memories with the kids 📚🍦
Also, remember when Mordecai was a newborn and we took him to Millie’s? How does time pass so quickly?!
Enjoying Three Countries in a Day
On Saturday, Jimmy’s mom and step dad watched the kids for a few hours! I decided to transform the house from Valentine’s Day decor over to St. Patrick’s Day decor to surprise the kids when they got home. I started by filling their sensory bins with all things green.
Then, I pulled down all the Valentine’s Day decor and replaced it with a few things I crafted and collected!
I think my favorite decoration is the set of faux cupcakes above on the shelf on the right. Of course 😂
Sadie had also painted a shamrock picture, so I put it in a frame and she was so proud when she saw it! She had a blast exploring the house once she got home. I love moments like that!
We’ve also been reading a few St. Patrick’s Day kids books: The Itsy Bitsy Leprechaun and The Berenstain Bears’ St. Patrick’s Day. I have a bunch more to share, so I’ll have to round them up in another post once we’ve gone through them all ☘️
So, country number one of the day was Ireland 🇮🇪
At one of my recent midwife appointments, the midwife noticed Sadie was wearing a Hello Kitty shirt. She told us that if Sadie is a Hello Kitty fan, we should check out one of the Japanese stores in Pittsburgh. So, that’s just what we did! We drove to Squirrel Hill and visited Ebisu, a Japanese lifestyle store.
There were fun things like craw machines and stuffed animals, but also just basic groceries from Japan! It was so cool to basically step into a Japanese grocery store for a bit. I saw so many cool flavors of Oreos that we definitely don’t have here in U.S. grocery stores!
We left with a Cinnamoroll keychain (Hello Kitty fans will know who this is 🤪) and a Pikachu… snack pouch? We bought the pouch thing for Mordecai but Jimmy and I also tried it and we actually liked it a lot! It was kind of like Jello?!
So, country number two of the day was Japan! 🇯🇵
We walked across the street and stumbled upon Gaby et Jules, a French patisserie that specializes in authentic Macarons. I had heard of Gaby et Jules in “best of” lists for Pittsburgh, so I knew we were in for a real treat!
Guys, Jimmy and Mordecai fought over those macarons!!! We should have ordered a 12 pack, hahah. Jimmy was especially hooked/impressed with this lovely shop! He was literally eating a leftover macaron the next day and dancing around the house because it was that good.
Country number three for the day was France! 🇫🇷
Shout out to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh for being the coolest. You can hop from shop to shop and eat Thai, visit a Judaica bookstore, grab French macarons, and so much more all on the same street. Jimmy and I want to go back for a date night when it’s warm again!
That’s a peek at our weekend! Bowling and visiting a few countries 😉 Now it’s Sunday! I’m under the weather and just hanging out and trying to get some laundry folded and put away.
This week will include homeschooling, computer coding class for Sadie, a chiropractor appointment, and a prenatal checkup for me. I’m sure lots more will be sprinkled in there, too!
Do you have a favorite food from a different country?
I am big into kimchi (Korea!) and anything Indian!











wow! What a cool post!! I had no idea that squirrel hill had a section of town that was so amazing! I def want to try the macarons!
into glad you all had a fun night bowling, and your st pattys day decor is awesome 🤩
I’m very basic as far as ethnic foods – good ol American cuisine is my fave, with Italian as a close second.
love you,
Madre
Thank you! I think you would love the macarons! Squirrel Hill is so neat and unique. My only wish is that parking was easier, haha. Thankfully Jimmy is good at parallel parking!
Now that you mention Italian… I want Pasqualino’s ha!!
Love you!