Our Visit to Pittsburgh (by Alida and Terah)

Alida: This Christmas we (Kali, Terah and I) went to Pittsburgh, PA to visit our aunt Christie and uncle Mark. We left on Christmas Day and stayed until the 30th. Mommy and Daddy came on the 29th and then brought me and Terah home on the 30th, leaving Kali there for 2 more weeks. We had fun! I felt a little sad on Christmas Day leaving home but I perked up pretty quickly. I made multiple stuff animal friends at their home.

Terah: What I felt when I was leaving was that I wanted Mommy and Daddy to come along as I was worried I would miss them. I was happy but also sad. I was excited and very quickly once we got there had fun. I got to ride in their car, which is an electric car. We stopped to charge the car two times, one of those times we had a snacky lunch. We chattered and talked a lot and saw some tall buildings on the trip.

Alida: It was dark when we got there. We mostly looked around the house, ate dinner, settled in and went to bed. Here are some of the highlights of the 3 days we spent without Mommy and Daddy:

• Making friends with Samantha (the stuffed tiger), Jumpy Mouse (the stuffed mouse), the stuffed penguin, and Seal of Approval (a large brown stuffed seal). I made special friends with Seal of Approval and Samantha.
• Watching some movies on a big pull down screen and projector.
• Learning to play What the Golf, a silly video game.
• Having a very fancy tea party and making cookies.
• Playing many pretend games - e.g. going on a boat to Australia and being baby twins with Terah
• Eating lots of yummy foods including baked mac and cheese, spaghetti, and we ordered pizza one night
• Mark also took some recordings of me and Terah singing using his recording equipment

Terah: A lot of those were my highlights too. And I also liked these things:

• We all walked the Lucy Loop together - Lucy lived on one of the roads we walked
• Playing outside where I was an angel that they didn’t know (except Alida) - there was a perfect little backyard we could pretend was the angel’s home.
• We saw a lot of buildings that were REALLLLLLLLLLY tall on our driving tour. That was really fun.
• I made friends with all the stuffed animal; Jumpy Mouse, penguin and Seal of Approval were my favorites (but especially Jumpy Mouse).
• We did an improv musical - I was an angel again too. There was a lot of fun and I was different creatures, some were scared but the angel wasn’t scared at all. Alida was a scared creature that had gotten lost.
• At dinnertime when I was full I said, “I hit the mark.” Alida was sitting next to Mark and she started whapping him.
• Alida made Seal of Approval lick Mark and Christie, and sometimes me.

Alida: Mommy and Daddy came on Wednesday and stayed overnight. I was kinda sad about going home. It was hard to leave the stuffed animals and Kali and Mark and Christie.

Terah: I was missing Mommy and Daddy and I was happy when they came. I smothered my mother in hugs and kisses, and my father. We introduced Mommy and Daddy to What the Golf and had supper. When we had to leave, I was sad to leave the stuffed animals and Kali and Mark and Christie.