3/31/09

Feathers, Friends, and Maggots


I woke up at 7 too giddy to pull the covers back over my head. I'm almost embarrassed to say why. Cause I was psyched, like a kid waiting for Christmas, to see birds. Yep, egg-laying vertebrates with wings and beaks:)

The kids and I trekked to the Aviary today. And it was fabulous! We listened to stories, created pieces of art, and fed a 12-toed chicken out of our palms. We went nose to beak with Elvis the penguin, soaked up random bird factage (Rainbow Lorikeets always travel in pairs...hmmm...good principle?), and fed small birds large rocks (well, that was Adden. I caught the little man before we had a tragic bird homicide.)

But the highlight of the day had to have been the maggots. Well, that coupled with Selah's courage. My shy daughter volunteered of her own accord to feed birds in front of a large audience. This entailed me holding Selah as still as I could, squirmy maggots in our palms, and swooping birds flying in out of nowhere. One winged chap even chose to perch on her hand for a couple of minutes. I think I was probably beaming.

Anyway, if you're local and you've got little tykes, head to the Aviary! The building has some kinda weird configuration going on, you'll need to camp out with a bagged lunch somewhere (they don't have seating for that sort of thing), and it's a bit pricey. (I would suggest scouting around for a coupon. We saved $8.50 that way:)

Besides birds, our day ended with a great dinner and conversation with some new friends (new for me, old for Paul) who happened to be visiting from out of town. We indulged in Primanti's and walked around Ikea (without spending a dime - even better.) Our kids adored theirs so much that a pink bear was just recently named Lexi.

Incredible day, feathers and all.

5 comments:

Leah said...

Yay! It was so great to meet you also.

Great post.

Lexi thought it was so nice that a bear was named after her! :)

Ashley said...

Wow...I didn't even know that there was an Aviary in Pittsburgh. We'll definitely be checking that out someday...if for nothing else, the 12-toed chicken is a must-see creature :)

Brandy said...

Oh my goodness. That sounds like so much fun. Thanks for sharing. We are going to have to go there soon.

Anonymous said...

was this trip intended to tide your kids over as long as your bleaders? (blog readers, copyrighted)

i wonder if they're just as tired metaphorically hitting F5

Rose said...

OMGoodness! My kids love birds... looks like a really cool place! Our only aviary is our backyard not quite as exciting! :)

 

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