We didn't really have a schedule for the day as far as when we wanted to get to the zoo (which is insane if you know Christi!), so we took the morning pretty relaxed. Everyone had breakfast from the buffet downstairs (Christi and I took turns bringing up plates) and we eventually got dressed and headed out for the zoo. The kids were excited to see some baby bears and Christi and I were excited to see the Pittsburgh zoo because a few people had told us it was better than Cleveland's. Seriously, after the first couple exhibits through Asia, we agreed : )
The PB zoo just seems to have more of a natural feel throughout the park and the exhibits seemed to get you closer "inside the habitat" as opposed to a viewing station. One of our favorite exhibits was the elephants with two babies that were wrestling while we were there! The kids loved it and showed their approval by impersonating them : ) At the back side of the elephant exhibit, there was a sign that said you could get your picture with an elephant for a small donation to the zoo. It started at 12 and it was somewhere around 11:45, so we decided that we'd come back. Well, we got nervous that we might miss the opportunity so we hurried back to the sign....sure enough, we started a line of dozens of people wanting to get their shot with Victoria, the 10 year old elephant. We're so thankful that we went back:
You can't tell in the picture, but Ella was screaming about 2 seconds before this. I think the sheer size of it scared her. Another funny thing was that when we walked over to her, Victoria put her trunk on Christi's leg to "say hello". Got a little laugh out of Christi, that's for sure!
The penguin exhibit was our next favorite b/c there were some show-off penguins that swam right up to the glass and did their thing! The last comment I'll make about the PB Zoo was the new underwater viewing of the Polar Bear exhibit and the Sand Shark exhibit. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the polar bears from underneath, but the sharks were amazing. It's a surreal feeling to look up and see the sharks swimming over you like you're in Jaws : )
After the long day at the zoo (without napping), we tried to come back to the hotel to get a nap in...no way! This time it was Ella that was the one that kept everyone else awake and we decided to just move on to dinner instead of fighting it.
We took the hotel shuttle to a nearby recommended restaurant, Union Grill and it was a great choice! The service was fast and friendly and the food was really good. It's really funny to see the different reactions that people have when we're in public - some are "awe, how cute", some are "wow, that's a handful", some are whispers overheard "I think those are triplets", and some are complimentary "your kids were amazing". We are both extremely proud of the way these guys have handled the trip and the break from routine, etc. They are extremely well-behaved in public, so that's definitely a plus. Sometimes I wish that would carryover to home, but I'll take the lack of fits in public as a positive!
Since we saw the entire zoo, we're using Sunday as a pool day and relax day. I'm looking forward to it!
Paul
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