If there is a theme to be woven through the weirdness that has been the last 15 or so months, it's ... nature? I guess? We have most certainly spent a lot of time either hiking through nature, planting our own nature in our yard, or enjoying the nature that other people planted. I mean, we've been to Phipps at least 400 times. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but we have been there so many times that I've been half expecting the membership office to call me and be like, "Okay, you're cut off."
We've gone A LOT.
Back in late fall, a couple of stuffed creatures appeared in the gift shop at Phipps. They were a pair trolls named Fen and Ivy.
Mila has been obsessed since that first glimpse.
That child has thrown fits because she wanted those stuffed trolls, which was fine because I bought them shortly after their appearance and then gave them to Mila for Christmas. There was a period of torture in there, but I can handle the heat when I'm dishing out the torture. So Christmas came and went, and Mila was VERY happy with her new friends.
And then signs started to appear at Phipps announcing that Fen and Ivy would be the center of a bigger show.
YOU GUYS.
The Hidden Life of Trolls opened at Phipps this past weekend, so of course we had to go visit. I don't know that Mila has ever been so enchanted by anything. She ran up to every little hidden troll door. She visited the Fen and Ivy animatronics near the entrance FOREVER. She marveled at the super giant troll who sings for even longer than FOREVER.
Basically, Phipps done good.
Phipps did such a good job that now Mila is planning her next 3498671340 visits. We weren't even home from visiting on Sunday when she asked to go again. So, uh, Pittsburgh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that even though they have increased their capacity limits (unfortunately - it's now a tiny bit crowded which sucks since kids can't be vaccinated yet), you won't be able to get tickets because we have them all. ALL OF THEM.
Sorry.
Not sorry.
(This isn't a sponsored post, obviously. We pay for a membership, which at this point cost us something like $0.20 per visit.)