Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium

Before Eric and I became parents, there were things that we swore we would never do: let our child sleep with us (but what better place to sleep than between us sprawled out taking up half the bed???), nurse forever (eviction notice has been issued, but apparently he doesn't care), letting our child watch TV shows like Dora and Diego (we do it so WE can keep up with other parents, how embarrassing is it to show up at a playgroup and not know who Pablo is from the Backyardigans???). 

We never specifically said the following, because I'm sure it never crossed our minds...but had we given it some thought, we probably would have said it (and later regretted it): Go on a charter bus trip with a 1-year old for a day at the zoo. But we did just that, and we LOVED IT!!!

I joke with Eric that Samuel was excited to go to the zoo.  Why else would he have stayed up half the night and then gotten up for the day, WIDE AWAKE at 3:25 and refused to go back to sleep.  So momma started the day off tired.  But we arrived at the Family Center to ride the charter bus at the lovely hour of 6:45am.  Samuel was wide awake and smiling, Eric had his coffee, and I was barely awake, but counting on a nap on the bus...Samuel had to be tired, right??? 

WRONG!  Samuel was a saint the entire 2.5 hours it took for us to get to Pittsburgh.  He loved riding the bus.  He loved looking out the big windows as we rode, he watched the DVD that was playing, and he played with the toys we brought for him.  Samuel was just fantastic!!!  Not once did he cry, wiggle around, or try to get down!!!  And not once did he close his eyes for a nap!  We were AMAZED!!!

We arrived at the zoo around 10, and had four hours to explore the zoo and aquarium.  The Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium is an amazing place!!!  The two are combined, and really beautiful.  This was our first time at the zoo and aquarium and we were surprised at how large it was, and the variety of animals they had.

Samuel really loved the elephants (don't let the picture of him looking like he is sulking fool you!).  He loved it when the elephants would lay on the ground and roll around.  We talked about how big they were and that elephants have trunks!  Samuel even had an elephant on his shirt that said "Daddy's Little Peanut."

 Eric and Samuel sizing up next to a baby elephant!

We were walking through one of the exhibits, when we came across a wishing well. You drop a penny in it, and it spins around and around and around and around.  Eric showed Samuel how to drop the penny in...and 14 pennies later we finally forced Samuel away from the wishing well!!!  Here he is mesmerized by the spinning penny!!!

 Loving the wishing well!

Another of Samuel's favorites was the Pink Flamingos!  They made interesting noises, they were super colorful, and really active while we were there!  Samuel thought that they were just great...so great that we visited them twice!

Before we hit up the aquarium we stopped for lunch.  Cheeseburgers, chicken strips, and french fries!  Samuel enjoyed lunch because there were lots of birds hovering around waiting for bits of food to hit the ground.

I think he was telling me to eat my lunch!

 

The boys looking at another exhibit!

By the time we made it to the aquarium, Samuel was ready to get out of his stroller.  Samuel was fascinated by everything in the aquarium.  All the fish, plants, and water.  I don't think a single fish went unnoticed!

At one point, Samuel wanted down to walk through the aquarium.  Did I say walk??? I meant RUN like a crazy boy!!!  Samuel has lots of energy, and being carried and riding wasn't for him!  He and Eric ran EVERYWHERE!!!  Poor Eric!

The best exhibit though was the Polar Bear.  The zoo only seemed to have one polar bear, but it was amazing!!!  When we walked by it was sunning itself and taking a nap.  We meandered to the underwater observation tunnel, and as soon as we did the bear got in the water!  It swam right by us!  IT WAS AMAZING!  The bear was so graceful and beautiful!  It kept playing with it's toys and doing flips in the water!  Samuel was fascinated by it.  He and Eric sat on the observation ledge and watched the bear for at least 20 minutes...the only sound Samuel made was to point to the bear...AR! AR!

Once the bear got out of the water we found the...PLAY AREA!!!!  I'm not sure who enjoyed the swinging bridge more, Eric or Samuel...but they went across it at least a half dozen times!!!!

After seeing the Lions, Tigers, Bears, Elephants, Flamingos, the fish, and an enjoyable play time at the playground Samuel felt he had seen enough and FINALLY took a nap!  He slept all the way home! 

We had such a great time at the zoo and aquarium!  We all napped on the way home and can't wait for our next zoo adventure!!!