Science Museum, Part Two

We went back to the Science museum last Sunday and came upon a HUGE crowd. I guess everyone had family in town and went to the museum on Sunday morning. We went upstairs to the 4th floor which was the only level we hadn't seen the previous visit. They had all the basic elements of a basic children's museum and the children had a great time.
Grady of course enjoyed the ball area where they have a series of pulleys and buckets to bring all the balls to a large container up above which periodically empties out. They all played in there for a while.

Alice decided to make a room with these large blocks.

Pryor LOVED the water table and spent the most time there. They did have bibs, but he still got sopping wet.

Pittsburgh Creche

While we were downtown we walked to visit the Pittsburgh creche that I had read about. They had Handel's Messiah playing. The "stable" was huge and really breath-taking. I just looked up info about it and thought I would just cut and paste it below:

The Pittsburgh Crèche is the world’s only authorized replica of the crèche erected in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. First erected in 1999 through the work of the Christian Leaders Fellowship, the Crèche features larger-than-life-size renderings of the Holy Family, the magi, an angel, shepherds, animals and a stable, along with a professional sound and lighting system. Pietro Simonelli, sculptor of the original Vatican crèche, created the figurines, which have lifelike hands, feet and faces made from clay and weather-proofed papier-mâché placed on a wooden frame. The stable design is also taken directly from Vatican blueprints.

Macy's Pittsburgh T-giving Parade

We had a fabulous (albeit cold) time at the parade on Saturday!

Pryor was transfixed by all the activity! Unfortunately we were sitting past where the TV crew was - so we had lots of gaps when groups were performing at the Macy's.

Alice was wearing her new Christmas outfit that I got in January. She was wanted to wear it all year and so did not want to cover it up with a coat (although it was 25 degrees! ) She did not want to wear a hat to cover up her bow or gloves. Needless to say she was cold! A slave to fashion at 5! She was the one who requested to go to a Christmas parade.

A brush with a celebrity! For those who don't know, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was taped in Pittsburgh. Mr. McFeely (the mailman on the show) was in the parade! Not sure who the panda is supposed to be, though.

We loved seeing all the floats and big balloons. They also had several dog breed clubs - interesting. The children had a great time looking at everything! We got really cold sitting outside for 2 1/2 hours, so we decided to go into the Macy's to get warm. I was trying to get a better view of the parade by getting close to where all the action started. Well, while we were in there we heard that the parade was over!! We made our way out of the building just in time to see the big man himself! Phew!!

The day was saved by an official viewing of Santa!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

We had an unpleasant surprise - Grady got the stomach flu Wednesday night! He ended up feeling better by lunch but still didn't eat much.

Stephen's parents arrived Thursday afternoon while I was in mid-meal preparation. Patti brought a bunch of sides and I did the turkey, dressing and both potatoes. The Oeders, family friends who live nearby, were unexpectedly unable to join us so we had enough food to feed the masses!

I got a fresh turkey from the local farm and reserved a 19 pound turkey since I wanted to be sure to have leftovers. Well, I guess they were all really big this year and I ended up bringing home a 21 pounder!! We ate it all weekend, gave some to the Oeders, made turkey soup and just put some leftovers into the freezer!

We had a great time with the Arnolds: hit the mall early Friday morning, cut down our own Christmas tree Friday afternoon and went downtown to the Macy's Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Day Parade on Saturday morning. I'll post pictures of that later. They babysat for us Saturday night so we could go downtown and see Spamalot. It was excellent!!

The rest of the story is that Patti ended up with the stomach flu Saturday night, so she was out of commission on Sunday! So sad! We ended up going back to the Science museum with out them just to give the Arnolds some space. I've got some good pics I'll post later.

It was the first day of deer hunting today so the children had the day off of school. Of course! We actually had a very pleasant day and the children enjoyed watching White Christmas for the second time in two days. Gotta love Christmas movies!

Pryor sings the ABCs

Need I say more?

Carnegie Science Center

We went to the Carnegie Science Center on Sunday after church and since they didn't have Sunday school we were able to get downtown just before 11 AM.

It was just FABULOUS!!! The children hadn't ever been to a nice science museum. We saw three floors and didn't even visit the top floor where they have the water table and other typical children's museum exhibits nor did we see the naval submarine docked outside.

We saw the Sky Above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood show at the digital dome theater. They have an aquarium area and a model railroad exhibit. Of course Grady loved the K'Nex exhibit - yes, they really have a k'nex exhibit!

We saw the Meringue Madness show at the test kitchen. Alice and Grady raised their hands and particpated in the show - see the pictures below. Of course, my favorite part was the sample at the end!

Breaking News, Part Two

The tooth fairy has been very busy here recently!

His smile looks so different! It's crazy! He is so excited. He seemed surprised that the tooth fairy brought the same amount that she had for the first three! ($2.00 - coin dollars)