Birds, Birthdays, and Trains

A weekend or two ago (so behind on the blog) the kids were invited to their first "friend" birthday party by their classmate Alana. The party was at the Pittsburgh Aviary. We hadn't had a chance to get the kids to the Aviary before this, and for very good reason: Mommy doesn't like birds. At all. Unless they are well caged or on the other side of glass. At the Aviary they have free flying bird exhibits and that just sounded creepy to me.

The invitation was fortuitous though, as Colin has been BEGGING to ride the "new part of the trolley" for weeks. And lucky him, the new part of the trolley line takes you over to the North Shore and a nice, short walk from the Aviary. So, we combined two fun things into one day!

So, we parked at the local station and waited for a train. And it was chilly. Later in the day it was quite nice and warm, but the morning started a bit cooler than I had been expected. Colin took it well though:


We had a great time on the train and took in all the sights. We greatly enjoyed our trip under the Allegheny River, even though Colin was SURE that the tunnel was going to be like the polar bear tunnel at the zoo and we'd be able to SEE the water as we passed under.

Alana's party was a PENGUIN PARTY! We actually had a real, live penguin come visit our party room!



And we had some snacks. It was technically lunch, but Colin refused to acknowledge that and insisted it was a SNACK.


Gillian and I hung around the party and watch Alana open her gifts. Gillian and Alana have very similar tastes, so G was impressed with her haul! Colin was ready to move on though, so he and Daddy explored the Aviary for a while.

When they came back it was time for cake! Yum. Gillian really enjoyed that too. By then the party was winding down, so we headed out and all four of us went to see the rest of the Aviary. Which was quite stinky. Yet another reason to dislike birds. We did see some cool birds though. And none of them flew at me or pooped on me, so that was a success.

And look how cool these flamingos are!


So, now we've been to the Aviary. And need not return. We did have a good time on the trolley though! I KNOW we'll be back on that!