I took the kids to Phipps Conservatory with my mom this week and we all had such a nice time! Phipps is like a giant greenhouse and botanical garden in downtown Pittsburgh. I think the last time I was there was ten years ago!
Every night, Sadie asks me to read Night Night Pittsburgh to her and she is always interested in the different landmarks. I told her all about Phipps and the butterfly room (yes, there’s a room filled with butterflies!) and she couldn’t stop talking about going. So we made it happen! The photo below was Sadie’s face when we parked and I told her we had arrived.
Pure excitement!
We made our way through the winding building and I was surprised by how many kid-friendly things there were. Sadie got to plant kale and both she and Mordecai made butterflies out of coffee filters.
We truly had the best time exploring and then going into the butterfly room! Sadie wanted a butterfly to land on her so badly, but no luck. Maybe next time!
We popped into the gift shop (I picked up a bag of coffee beans from Redstart Roasters, a company that supports birds in how they source their coffee) and then we made a mistake. We went to the cafe at Phipps and I got food poisoning.
We ate and everything was fine. Afterwards, we walked across the street to a park and I told my mom “Something didn’t agree with my stomach.” Then I started driving home and was sweating and so nauseous. Both kids fell asleep on the drive home and I literally laid Mordecai in his crib with his shoes on because I was so desperate to lay down 😆
After a few hours of alternating between the couch and the bathroom and praying Mordecai slept a long time (he did!), I finally got up and Sadie was like “Mom! You’re standing!!” haha. So Phipps: I recommend visiting. Their cafe? Not so much. Thankfully my mom and the kids all got different food so none of them got sick! That night, I told Jimmy “I hate food and I never want to eat again” but I was able to have toast later on and am doing fine now!
Speaking of sickness, Mordecai caught some summer sniffles. He’s got a runny nose, temperature, cough, and some digestive upset. Poor buddy! Praying no one else catches it. Still, some sniffles feel like nothing compared to when he had croup, a double ear infection and COVID all at the same time or what I have mentally dubbed the plague in the spring. I’ll take sniffles over all that any day!
Oh and Niva! Want to hear about some husky woes? She escaped our fence three times today. I found the spot where she dug under our fence and put logs there. The logs didn’t work, so now there are rocks there. Here’s to hoping they do the trick.
I’ll end this post on a positive note with more pictures from Phipps!
Yes, she totally wore a flower dress on purpose!
Mordecai making his coffee filter butterfly! It’s still hard for me to believe he’s getting old enough to do activities like this!
Planting kale!
Living My Full Life 
Oh noooo!! Bummer about the food poisoning. I think feeling nauseous is one of the worst sensations of all time. I think I’d rather have pain than nausea.
We have a place in Seattle called the Pacific Science Center and I grew up going often. They have a huge butterfly room that is a lot of fun, but insanely humid inside! The whole place is really cool with a lot of science stuff for kids and adults.
It was not a fun experience but thankfully short-lived! I agree, nothing it worse than nausea!
I want to go to Seattle SO bad. I am going to add Pacific Science Center to my list (along with the Space Needle, Pike Place, whale watching… I am *so* basic lol).
The Phipps trip looked fun except for the bad food 😞. Hope you’re feeling better!
Niva is the great Houdini escape artist! Haha, no fun…
All the pictures are awesome!
Love 💕You!
Dad
🙂
It was a really great day (minus the food haha). I am back to normal!
Oh and Niva… she is a wild woman with escaping! Like, is it that bad here?!
Love you!
Phipps looks amazing. If you ever visit the UK, I think you’d enjoy visiting Kew Gardens (the Royal Botanic Gardens) in London. So sorry you got food poisoning though! Sickness and nausea is just horrible. I hope you’re fully recovered and can enjoy food again!
So sweet that Sadie and Mordecai can do activities together now. Time goes so fast! I’ve been reminded of that recently as Polly is growing so quickly — I want to enjoy all the puppy snuggles I can before she gets too big to be picked up and cuddled!
It’s a really lovely place! Kew Gardens sounds wonderful, too!! I agree, nausea is just so rough! I’m back to normal now. So glad it was short lived!!
It makes me so happy to see Sadie and Mordecai do things together now that’s he’s growing into a toddler. I need to see more Polly pictures! She’s just too cute. I hope all is well with her (and you!)!
Thank you 🙂 All good here, enjoying the summer. I’m planning a blog post for Polly’s 4-month-old update next week so I’ll make sure to share plenty of pics!
The Phipps pics are so cute! I’m so sorry for the food poisoning experience. It’s utterly miserable to be nauseous. I agree that the only silver lining is that at least none of the kids had the same experience– I can’t imagine what it’s like to care for yourself AND for sick kids at the same time. Moms are modern day superheroes
Thank you! We had the best time! Minus the food poisoning haha. I was SO GLAD it was me and not the kids experiencing that! And also happy for the mercy of Mordecai taking a long nap 😉
it was such a fun time- but we both ran into ‘after Phipps’ issues. Me locking myself out of my phone and trying to find my way out of Pittsburgh (STRUG-CITY), and you getting food poisoning 🥹🥹🥹. It is such a beautiful place, and I had a great time with you and the kids!!
love,
Madre