Pittsburgh

While Ben was out of school for a month, we decided to take advantage of the time off and take a trip to Pittsburgh. After the relatively short drive, we began our trip at the beloved IKEA where we picked up a few things for the house. After that, we headed to the zoo and aquarium, which took up a big part of the day.

Outside the aquarium. It's a pretty good one. I was impressed with the octopus and these amazing seahorses right inside the front door. I also pet a speckled sting ray. Super cool.

Rides. Ben had the barf bag ready.

Lions and tigers and bears....and rhinos and elephants and giraffes and apes.

We also rode on the famous Duquesne Incline. It is a trolley car on the side of a hill that factory workers used to ride to get to and from their homes in the neighborhoods atop the hill.

Before heading home, we ended our trip at Primanti Bros. This famous sandwich shop serves a delectable pastrami sandwich with about a pound of meat, a handful of coleslaw, two tomatoes, and a handful of French fries. Absolutely delicious and absolutely disgusting at the same time. Bravo for achieving such a feat, Primanti's!

2011 National Public Gardens Day

On this auspicious day, Ben and I decided to take advantage of the free admission and make a quick trip to the Botanical Gardens of Cleveland. We weren't there for long, but Ben snapped a few good pictures.

My favorite was the butterfly room. They were everywhere.

Ben Says: Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is below 86 degrees Fahrenheit. I cannot fly no matter what my temperature is.

Graduation

After flying out to Utah a few times this semester to take tests, I am FINALLY done with my degree! Hooray! I flew out to Utah for the final time at the end of April to take my final for Ecology, and then to walk for graduation. Because my final was on Monday and graduation (which included the arrival of my husband, parents, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law) wasn't until Thursday, I had plenty of time to play with my girlfriends that still live in Provo.

Commencement consisted of loads of pictures, goofing off, and a certain disregard for the rules. We decided that it was more important to sit with our friends than our colleges, and enjoyed each others' company maybe a little too much. It was really great to see everyone for what may be the last time in a long time.

Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was our commencement speaker. He gave a fabulous address, which I look forward to reading sometime soon. I was a little preoccupied during the ceremony, making it hard to stay focused on his words of wisdom.

These were our attendees. Aunt Christine, Ashley, Momma Cope, Kimber, Austin, Grams, Aunt Lynne, Uncle Dow, and Peter. What supportive family we have :)

I finally got to see my Benjamin after a week of separation. Momma Cope gifted beautiful leis to Lacey and myself afterwards. They smelled divine.

After Commencement, we all headed up to Le Hobble Manor where we had a fun grad party. We ate Italian food with yummy sauces from Gloria's on Center St. Mariah celebrated by playing her new Fazioli grand piano for most of the evening. My parents arrived from the airport and joined us for the celebration and the rest of the weekend's festivities.

My Convocation was Friday morning at 11am. The College of Life Sciences is HUGE, so it took quite some time.

The family fell asleep, but woke up in time to cheer me across the stage. Ben was on call with the camera, as usual. Love that boy.

Friday night we went to Zupa's for dinner, bowling, and to see a movie. Mom Cope and Kimber left Saturday morning, and we spend the rest of the day with my parents.

So that's it! I'm a college graduate! Back in Cleveland, and life is good.

Wing King of Cleveland

One of Ben's many talents is that he can eat remarkably fast. While at school the other day, he heard that there would be a buffalo wing eating contest held that evening at Buffalo Wild Wings. He decided to put his talent to good use and enter that contest. So when he got home he said, "Maggie! Don't cook dinner. We're going out!" We drove down to the particular location where this competition was taking place, Ben ate his heart out, aaaaaand he won by eating ~22 oz. of meat.

A few weeks later, we headed back up to Buffalo Wild Wings for the semi-finals. Unfortunately, Ben didn't "eat his best," but he was still able to pull off a 3rd place prize--a $25 gift certificate to Buffalo Wild Wings. Happily, that means we'll be back. Maybe next year he'll take the crown...

Puerto Rico

For spring break this year we packed our bags and headed to Puerto Rico with Austin and Lacey. The trip started off with a bang when Lacey told us in the airport that we were going to be an aunt and uncle. Hooray! Also in the airport on the way there, Austin made friends with a native Puerto Rican woman named Carmen who invited us to stay at her house during our adventure. This turned out to be very helpful because it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of trip, and we ended up needing a place to stay!

When we landed in Puerto Rico, we couldn't find a car to rent. This put us in something of a predicament that landed us in a nasty hotel in San Juan with a slight delay in our journeyings. The next morning we were able to find a car, and we loaded up and headed to the southern part of PR, a place called Gilligan's Island. Now this is not THE Gilligan's Island, but it was still a beautiful place. We took a ferry out and played for a few hours. The island was divided by a river that connected the ocean on either side. We explored this river and saw a water snake!

Boys will be boys.

Ben decided to grow a mustache for the trip. Oh so handsome.

After the adventure at Gilligan's Island, we drove to Aguadilla on the west side of the island where we found a nice hotel to stay in for a few days. From here, we visited the cave system of Camuy. There was a long wait (which allowed for these photo-ops), but the caves were breathtaking.

On this excursion, we also visited the Arecibo radio telescope in the middle of the jungle. Fancy.

After our time on the west side of the island, we headed back to San Juan, after which we enjoyed the east side.

In San Juan we visited the San Cristobal fortress.

We enjoyed some fine dining at Marmalade, a restaurant made famous for its white bean and black truffle soup. Seriously, the best soup I've ever tasted. Ever.

We spent the next few nights with Carmen.

From Carmen's house we visited El Yunque rainforest. The fauna was amazing. We had a lot of fun hiking around to different lookout towers and waterfalls.

On our last day (Sunday), we took a ferry out to another island: Vieques. We were planning on a lazy day on the beautiful beaches of this island and were delighted to find a church building across the street from the ferry station when we got off the boat. The members were in Sunday School and would be starting sacrament meeting in 20 minutes. We hung around and enjoyed the Spanish meeting. We were able to see a recent convert receive the Aaronic Priesthood. There was a strong spirit in this tiny branch, and I was thrilled to be able to attend church. Ben translated the talks for my benefit.

After our mormon rendezvous, we kayaked to an island off of Vieques's Esperanza Beach.

We swam and snorkeled around this island, observing the beautifully colored fish and coral.

Ben asks: What is red and smells like blue paint?
Answer: Red paint.