Santa managed to get 4 tickets to the December 28 game between the Steelers and Browns and put them in our stockings, so we made a stop off in Pittsburgh on our way home to MI after spending Christmas in NC. 

We arrived Saturday evening at the Omni William Penn Hotel downtown.  Here are a couple of photos:

We took a walk Saturday night and had dinner at Cafe Milano (there was a flyer in the hotel lobby).  Sunday morning we got up, failed to get a family picture in the hotel room without Finn blinking from the flash, had breakfast at Starbucks (which we had scoped out the night before), and then walked down to the stadium.  The weather was pretty good…windy and not nearly as warm as the day before but generally comfortable since our seats were in the sun.

Unfortunately, the game was meaningless since the playoff fates of both the Browns and Steelers were already set, but the Steelers coach had decided to play his starters to win anyway.  It was fun to be at the stadium with the enthusiastic crowd enjoying the domination by the home team.  The low point was the 15 minutes Big Ben spent on the turf before being carted off with a concussion just before half time.  Here are some more photos.  We're sporting our jerseys in the first photo: mine (Mwelde Moore) received this Christmas, Lisa's a Jerome Bettis that we recently picked up at Salvation Army here in Midland, and the boys wearing the jerseys (Polamalu and Roethlisberger) that they received at Christmas a year or two ago.

That last photo gives a good view of the Steelers hats Lisa made.  After the game we walked back to the hotel and then walked to McCormick & Schmick's for dinner.  Monday morning we got up and hit the road for Michigan but not before shopping for Steelers-gear at Goodwill and Walmart.

Here's some video:

I'm thinking we might try to make this the first of an annual pilgrimage to Pittsburgh for the Moore family.

A few weeks back Elliot played several songs on piano at a crafts show at the Midland Center for the Arts. Here is Rudolph.

We've had about a foot of snow over the last few days.  The boys had a couple days off from school, and here are some photos from one of them.

Last Saturday night we had dinner at Pizza Sams and then made our annual visit to the Santa House.  We usually go on a weekday afternoon to avoid the long lines, but for whatever reason the lines were short on Saturday.  Here are some photos:

Tonight we had our annual pumpkin carving session.  Here are some photos:

Last Saturday marked the end of the flag football and soccer seasons.  Coaching flag football was OK, but we weren't sad to be done.  We also went to Trunk or Treat at church.  This is the first year we participated in that because previously they had it on Halloween, and we wanted to be in our neighborhood instead.  After the candy grab, we went in the fellowship hall for additional snacks.  Finn was running around (like he's been told a million tops not to do) and slipped and fell and hit his head on the hard floor.  After we got home, Lisa ended up taking him to the emergency room because he was complaining of blurry vision in one eye.  It turned out that everything was OK.

Here are some photos from football and of the costumed boys.

The Sunday-before-last my sister-in-law and I ran half of the Detroit marathon.  Kevin got up early and drove us downtown.  It was cold and in the 30s.  Kevin let me borrow a jacket which kept me plenty warm after we started running.  It was kind of strange at the start with thousands of people packed together like sardines waiting for the run to start.  Several miles into the run, it hadn't really thinned out too much.  As we crossed the bridge into Canada, we actually had to walk briefly because there were so many people trying to run through one or two traffic lanes.  I passed Allison during a moment of high congestion and then didn't see her again as I dropped back to look for her.  That was just as well since it freed me to take it at my own pace instead of hers (faster).  Since it was my first long run, I didn't realize how much clothing would be left lying in the road as people discarded it.  I didn't walk any except briefly at the water stops to guzzle the liquid refreshment.  I slowed down quite a bit towards the end (a "competitive walker" even passed me at one point) and didn't really push it hard.  I finished about as fast as I expected (2:14).  By the way, the winner of the full marathon finished in front of me. :-)

Here are some photos:

More piano from the boys…

The Detective

Star Wars

Here are some photos and a video from last Sunday's bike ride and hike with the Jollys:

Finishing up this year's Grand Haven posts, here are some photos from the beach: