Dino Zoo and Festival Fun

A while ago we got a mailer for the Pittsburgh International Children's Festival.  I took the kids last year and we loved it.  This year they were offering a play called Dinosaur Zoo (advertised as a dino petting zoo).  And, well, how could I NOT get tickets??  Turns out we could go on a Friday that Daddy was off, so that was even better!

As usual, we didn't tell the kiddos our plans until the last minute (like at breakfast that morning).  Oddly, Colin said he didn't want to go, he wanted to stay home and play Legos with Daddy.  We convinced him to come along anyway.

We drove into the city, parked in the parking garage, went to the wrong building first, and then found our theater!  And waited, rather impatiently, for dinosaurs.





Then it was DINOSAUR TIME!  What a fantastic play! As soon as the main actor said they were from Australia, Colin was HOOKED.  Then they brought out "baby" dinosaur puppets and let ALL the kids pet them and we were ALL sold.

These were Colin's favorites.  They were spunky and naughty and spilled water!



Then they brought out their DIVA. A juvenile t-rex!  She was an impressive puppet!




Colin volunteered for every audience participation opportunity, but he was never chosen!  Poor kiddo!  When they announced the end of the show, Gillian told me, "NO!  I want MORE dinosaurs!!"  So, yes, we really liked it!

After the show, we wandered over the Schenley Plaza for the rest of the festival activities.  Gillian immediately got in (the long) line for face painting.  She missed it last year and remembered.  Of course she did.  Colin didn't want to face paint, so he and Daddy went off exploring.

After a long wait, G had her turn.  She chose a crown in pink and purple.  Of course.




Daddy reports that Colin found the Boy Scout tent and built and raced car after car built of Legos.



We met back up for some tattoos.  Pigeon tattoos.


And G needed to try some Lego racing.



We grabbed some lunch, found a giant diplodocus and moved on to the petting zoo.








Daddy and G then went off to the "Balloon House."  They had one last year at the festival, it's a big, inflatable house full of color and music.  Colin didn't love it last year, so he declined a trip through it this year.  So we went back to the diplodocus for a while! Daddy and G saw this:







After we met back up, we grabbed some Ritas and headed for the car.  We stopped off at Matt and Rachel's place to drop off some goodies and meet our new cousin John!  So, dinosaurs, perfect weather, festival fun, family, and a new baby! PERFECT Friday!