Our local library offers free passes to local attractions around Pittsburgh during the summer, so we have been taking advantage of that lately! So far, we’ve visited Phipps Conservatory, the Pittsburgh Zoo, and now the Aviary and Botanic Gardens.
Visiting the National Aviary with Sadie and Mordecai!
We’ve been to the Aviary quite a few times over the years, so we knew what to expect! We researched a few birds before we visited (I wanted to see a kookaburra and Sadie wanted to see a Palawan Peacock-Pheasant). One of the workers laughed when we got there and Sadie was tugging on my shirt so I would ask “Where is the Palawan peacock?” lol. The worker was like “That is a very specific bird to be looking for!” 😂
We visited all the different habitats in the Aviary (rainforest, wetlands, etc.) and were able to see flamingos, a sloth, Sadie’s beloved peacock, sea eagles, penguins, a kookaburra, owls, and much more.
Sadie and I recreated a photo by the vulture enclosure that we took in 2018 and 2021. How is she growing up this fast 😭
A few of the birds in the Aviary are free-roaming and very friendly. One was looking for snacks in Mordecai’s stroller and he got a kick out of that!
Hanging out with a friendly bird at the Aviary!
The Aviary is fairly small, so we made it around the whole place in about an hour. We grabbed lunch and then headed home! It was a fun way to spend the morning.
About a week later, we used our pass to the Pittsburgh Botanic Gardens and my mom joined us! The gardens are like 15 minutes from our house, so we didn’t have to fight any traffic–woo hoo!
The Botanic Gardens are so peaceful! It’s a pretty sprawling property and we just romaed around and enjoyed the great outdoors for a few hours. The kids loved it and the adults loved it. Win-win!
Other things from life lately
–>I saw this quote somewhere and I just love it. It said “God, help me take the time to enjoy my children and not just manage them.” I think I need to read it every day! It’s so easy to fall into the routine of telling them to clean up their toys, hurry them along to where we’re going, make their meals, but not take the time to really converse and play with them as much as I spend time managing them.
–>There was an evening festival in our town recently, so we brought the kids and Niva along and got to enjoy live music and a summer evening outside!
–> I met up with a speech therapist from the Deaf school I volunteer at with Niva! It was so much fun to make a new friend and go out for coffee and just chat. These types of things are hard to do as a parent, lol. Anyways, it was neat to talk about speech therapy with her, too, as Sadie benefitted from it so much.
–> I just finished reading The Unhurried Homeschooler and it was so good! I needed to read that. I feel a lot less stressed out as I start our homeschool year with Sadie this year. Mostly, I want to focus on fostering a love of learning and not burn us out before she even hits first grade! It’s definitely a balance to teach her the things she needs to know, but not overload her. I’ll probably do a separate post soon on our plans for this year!
–>Basically, life lately has been lots of enjoying summer, reading, and spending time with Jimmy and the kids!
Living My Full Life 
Lol the last pic of “2024 Sadie” and you trying to lift her in front of the exhibit! That’s so cute!
I won’t be able to do that one much longer LOL! She is more than half my height already! Maybe she can reverse the picture in a few years and hold me 😂
Also, I have a friend who aims to also homeschool her kids one day and I’m so curious about your reason for choosing to homeschool? For my friend, it’s that she loved being homeschooled and she thinks it creates independent thinkers, as well as gives children a chance to learn their parents’ values firsthand.
We aren’t loving what public schools are teaching these days, we want her to have a good foundation in our faith, and I can’t stand to be away from my kids for 8 hours a day! I feel like I can think of 10,000 more reasons, but those are the first that come to mind haha!
Your kids are so lucky to have you do that for them! ❤️
Thank you! I needed to hear that!
The Unhurried Homeschooler book sounds great. I know we’ve talked about this before, but I think that homeschooling can really encourage independent learning and exploring the individual child’s interests. I credit homeschooling for a lot of the paths I have followed in my life so far 🙂
Sounds like you’re having a great summer! I have been enjoying the summer with Polly, taking her out and about, and introducing her to friends and family.
It was very inspiring! I always love talking about homeschooling with you because you have such a positive outlook on being homeschooled. I hope Sadie and Mordecai feel the same in 10 or 15 years from now!
I would love to hear what a day was like for you as you were educated! I always enjoy hearing others’ routines and what they enjoyed studying and how they learned.
We are having such a fun summer getting out and about! I can’t wait to catch up on your post about Polly. She is so, so cute!
I love the first Pic! And all of them but that one is so cute!
Pretty crazy Sadie was asking for the specific bird; “Palawan Peacock”!
And the pic of you and Sadie in then same place all those different years, priceless!
Love You!
Dad
🙂
Aww, thank you! I love being with them! I think next time we recreate that picture I’ll have Sadie hold ME since she’s getting so big!
Love you!
I feel so bad I’m not a big fan of the aviary, but the Pgh botanical gardens was amazing, peaceful and so well maintained. We all had such a nice day there- thank you for the free ticket 😎
The unhurried homeschooler book seems like it has helped both you and your sister with questions and concerns about homeschooling! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it.
love you,
Madre