Feathered Frienemy

The Pitty is growing on me. It's a slow growing affection and I would be lying if I said the onset of winter hasn't slowed the pace even more. But as I keep telling my friends and family, I don't hate it! One of the things that I love about the city are all the things to do and see. We have made our rounds at the museums and the zoo. We are always ready for something new to do! So, when one of My Favoritest's coworkers invited us to visit the National Aviary with she and her son, we said sure.

Now before I go any further I will admit I don't love birds. I think they are beautiful and I love to look at them.

 

I do not however like it when they fly anywhere near me. They are unpredictable and erratic and they make me nervous! And right about now, you are wondering why I agreed to go to a place where birds fly free. The answer is I have no idea. I guess part of it was that I don't want to pass on my fears to Doodle and SJ. The other part of it was that I want us to start making friends and putting down roots. So... of to the aviary we went.


It is a really neat place and I am sure a bird lover would have had a perfect morning. As for me, I enjoyed the company and the rooms where birds didn't really fly. It was a little stressful worrying about running over birds with our stroller and dodging their dive-bombing flights in a few places. These little boogers were very guilty of the dive-bomb!

 

I was also a little unnerved about the flying birds, because SJ was taking her maiden voyage in the top seat of the stroller!

 

As for the birds and Doodle, I think she is a little to busy to really enjoy them. She doesn't really see the point in staring at birds. So pretty much we made a high speed pass through every single area. She did slow down enought to participate in the children's activity they had set up. The kids picked a card with a bird at the top. The card then listed all the things that bird ate. The kids had to gather all the things and put them in a bowl. Of course it was lots of fruits and veggies, but Doodle's bird also like to eat mice. It totally cracked me up that they had a stuffed rat/mouse for the kids to put in their bowl.

The only other area that Doodle was willing to slow down and enjoy was the lorakeet feeding room. I was totally suprised that she was willing to go in and get that close to birds. Needless to say, I made My Favoritest take her!

This moment alone would have been enough to make me pee my pants and flail like a wild person all at the same time!

Santa also happened to be there that day. Doodle was totally against sitting in his lap, but did agree to talk to him if I held her. She only agreed to that because she wanted to see the penguin that Santa brought with him!

And speaking of the penguins, that was my favorite part of the whole thing. And my favorite part of the penguin exhibit is that they are all named and wear bands with their names on them:)

 

All in all, we had a nice morning with some friends. I didn't get pecked by a bird. Doodle talked to Santa. SJ proved she is big enough to ride in the big girl seat. And we escaped the gift shop exit without purchasing a stuffed bird purse (which Doodle was begging for). Not to bad for a morning spent in my own personal hell!

 

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Snow Night, Snow Day

The holiday season has been busy and bright and wonderful and I have much to share, but I wanted to start with these pictures and make my way backwards through the month. We have been dreading WINTER since we found out we were moving to Pitty. Everyone has reminded us about how much it snows and how cold it is. Well, in the last few days we have learned the reality of WINTER.

We have had several dustings, but nothing that really stuck. Until the day after Christmas. We had big plans for a day at the museum. Everyone was up and dressed and we were almost ready to walk out the door when some form of frozen precipitation started falling. That quickly turned to snow and quickly covered the yard and streets. We ditched our plans for the museum and instead made a list of fun things to do during the day. Aside from playing on the computer and Ipad, the coolest thing we did was make a volcano. Doodle was pretty interested in putting in the baking soda

And she was pretty excited to add the food coloring. She was excited to add the vinegar too.

Until.....

Even though it scared her a little bit, we played with the volcano for a good while. Only after the first time she would only watch the eruption from a safe distance.

 

 

Doodle spent the rest of the day checking the progress of the snow out of the window. She begged me to take her out to play. I did not have snow pants and wasn't really interested in going out until the snow stopped. So I made her wait it out until after her nap. It just so happened that it was dusk by the time she got out to play. I didn't have snow pants, and Bubbie didn't have snow boots, so we weren't really so fun! But Doodle didn't seem to mind!

The next day the roads were clear and we spent the morning at the mall. Bubbie and Zayde got snow boots (and I got a second pair). By the time we got home and Doodle took a nap, it was dusk once again. And although it was late, I had bought snowpants, and Bubbie and Zayde had boots so the snow was a little more fun. And because it was getting dark, it was a little more magical too!

Bubbie and Doodle had a snowball fight!

And Zayde made her a number 8 to walk around! She thought that was pretty cool. Also, please not the glow from the neighbor's holiday display!

We awoke this morning to a fresh 3 inches of snow. Jenny and Stephen (who arrived a couple of days ago) were dying to take Doodle out to play in the powder. We all got geared up and got the snow tube blown up, thanks to Stephen and Doodle!

 

We spent the next two hours out in the back yard doing all things snowy! I am not sure who had more fun. Just look at the smiles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen and Jenny tried to get Doodle to help them make a snowman. This is as much as she was interested. At one point I think she even said "you can make the snowman and I will come look at it later! I am going down the hill again!"

Group picture with Shawn White the snow man with a snowhawk!

And even though it has been very very cold. And we have had to shovel. And taking the trash out is slightly more complicated. I am trying hard to hold onto these memories we are making and hoping those warm fuzzies will pull me out of the doom and gloom of the gray winter sky!

 

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The Week My Favoritest Left- Part One

About a month ago (I have been a little sporatic in my postings) My Favoritest had to go out of town for an entire week. Normally, I am okay with staying alone. don't get me wrong, I don't like it. I will admit that I am scared of the dark, things that go bump in the night, and I am pretty sure that anything I have ever seen on Criminal Minds will happen when I am alone in my house. All that being said, I usually can handle it. But, this go round I started to panic. I was terrified of being alone. It had very little to do with single parenting for a week, I mean I do that most days anyway. It had more to do with the irrational fear that something bad would happen and I would have no one to help me or take care of the girls.

In an effort to not have to be alone, I sent a sad and pathetic text to my friend Beverly. She loves to travel and is always up for an adventure. We texted back and forth swapping scheduling details and she said she would talk with her husband and get back to me. A couple of days later she called me and said she was coming for a few days! My heart soared from the relief and then I started planning all the fun we could have!

And fun is exactly what we had. SJ wasn't a total hot mess and we explored the city like we were both tourists!

We started the week off by enjoying a dinner without the girls. My Favoritest hadn't left yet so after I picked Beverly up from the airport we headed out to window shop and eat a nice dinner. It was heavenly! The next morning we dropped Doodle off at school, where we left her until 4:00. Have I mentioned that I love the existance of extended day! After leaving school we headed into the city to take river boat cruise. The weather was gorgeous and the boat ride was great. I took a ton of pictures and I am now going to bore you with a handful of my favorites!

Beverly, SJ, and I getting ready to sail away on the Monongahela River, or maybe the Allegany River, or the Ohio River. At some point we sailed on all three of them, but I don't know what it was when we started our trip!

Given the 3 rivers I just mentioned, there are a ton of bridged in Pitty. The river cruise was a great way to see them up close. They are all different colors and shapes. They are really pretty and when you go under them in a boat have a nice echo acoustic!

This sunburst is on one of my favorite pictures from the day. I love the sun, clouds, and metal all in the same shot!

The other intersting thing Beverly and I noticed was a church steeple on the top of Mt. Washington. It was visible from so many angles and I had fun taking shots of the same thing from different perspectives.

The next day we packed both girls up and headed to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Not anywhere near as cool as the Field Museum but lots to see and look at and even a few things for Doodle to "do".

Doodle "listening" to the information about digging for dinosaur bones.

My furture archeologist digging for dinosaur bones, before the museum docents told her that she had to wear the protective goggles if she wanted to dig.

And my Doodle after she put her goggles back on. I am in LOVE with this picture. It is truly my favorite in a long time!

We took this picture just for Zayde. When he was in college Zayde had a bob cat (creatively named Cat) as a pet.

After we left the museum we had a lovely lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then headed to the Duquene Incline. The inclines were used back in the day to get people from the city to Mt. Washington.

I took the picture of the Incline the day before from the river.

View of the city from the top of Mt. Washington

And while this isn't anything super interesting, I love this picture. It's a shot of a fence along the sidewalk at the top of Mt. Washington. I like it so much I am toying with the idea of having it printed on a canvas and hanging it in my living room. Whatcha think?

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