Plop.

Pittsburgh is a great place for kids. Just a great city full of fun. Especially when the weather gets nice. Last week it was the International Children's Festival in these parts. I had heard of it in years past but we hadn't visited it yet, but when we saw The Caterpillar last month, Colin saw an ad for it and we HAD TO GO.

In particular Colin had seen a picture of an apple falling in a big pool of water and splashing everything and he wanted to go see THAT. "That" was a play called "Plop." So I did my research, enlisted Uncle Willis to accompany me (I'm not so crazy as to take the kids into a giant festival alone), and got us tickets to see "Plop."

There was great excitement for many reasons: 1. We had to drive into the city (FUN), 2. We parked in a parking garage (BIG fun!), 3. We were seeing an Uncle (WAY fun.), and 4. Splashing apples (SUPER fun). Pre-show fun and excitement:



(Gillian had self accessorized with silver sparkle stars that day)

"Plop" was in a small theater in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It was intimate. And we sat on the floor about 4 feet from the action (Uncle Willis took advantage of a small stool nearby claiming he was too old for the floor. Whatever.). You can see in this picture some tubes above a tank of water; totally central to the plot.

Basically, the story was that these people were on a picnic next to the "lake" and kept hearing a bear. The bear was played by this HILARIOUS DJ guy on the side of the stage. He had all sorts of microphones, recordings, sound effects, toys, and whatnot to make audio for the production. So, the bear was scaring the people. He would pull the rope handle, we would hear, "PLOP, Plop, plop, PLOP!" and then SPLASH down came an apple. At first the people were frightened but then they discovered all the fun things they could do with the apples, like toss them, float them, hit them, cook them, and so on. It was FUNNY. Finally the bear came after the people's pie (made from the afore mentioned apples) and the people snuck over to the handle, pulled it, and scared the BEAR. Preschool hilarity, I assure you. Excellent theatrical selection Colin!

After the play we explored the Cathedral a bit and then headed across the street to see all the festival happenings. Like giant bubbles:




We also hit up the petting zoo for some baby animal attention. The goats REALLY liked Gillian's necklace. A lot.

The one place I wanted to check out was a giant (like football field sized) inflatable maze that was set up for the festival. It was supposed to be a "quiet, contemplative" space with no running or yelling. I'm not sure WHY it was set up a Children's festival then! The kids did enjoy it. So did Willis and I, even though it was HOT in there! The pictures don't do it justice.

Shots of the ceiling:





A side "nook":


Group shot!


After the maze I was trying to convince the kids it was time to head home. No one was pleased with that suggestion. We did walk back towards the (SUPER fun) parking garage, but got distracted by the carousel. Ok fine, ONE time on the carousel. Colin really wanted to ride the "spinning tub" seat and thankfully some nice little boys shared with him.


And Gillian was VERY pleased to get a bejeweled bunny to ride!


THEN I had to drag them kicking and screaming to the car. And that's why it was so awesome that Uncle Willis came along! Along with the pleasure of his charming company! Fun, fun day. We'll put it on the calendar for next year! Although I'm already having trouble convincing Colin that "Plop" won't be back next year! Oh boy!