Dear Diary,

April showers bring May flowers and festivals in Pittsburgh. Each year, Caitlynn and I look forward to the warm weather and exciting activities, including our favorite–the EQT Children’s Theater Festival  in
Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. The festival includes

  • Featured performances from the United States, Northern Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Scotland!
  • Over 40 FREE hands-on educational and cultural activities!
  • Family-friendly gallery installations, public art and interactive art!
  • FREE outdoor pop-up performances featuring local and regional artists!
  • Frog Stop Scavenger Hunt throughout the Cultural District featuring a free, fun prize!

Children's Festival 3

Since Caitlynn is a sticker addict–I mean collector, the scavenger hunt was the biggest hit. She collected stickers from all five locations on her festival program and received a sweet treat from Katie’s Kandy on Liberty Avenue.

Children's Festival 2

Her second stop was the Kidsburgh table, where she colored and participated in a hands-on circuitry block activity. Some tables even allowed us to take home coloring pages and crafts, to keep the fun going even after the festival comes to an end.

Mermaid Theatre_Goodnight Moon. Photo by Margo Ellen Gesser.

What Caitlynn looked forward to most of all was the Goodnight Moon and the Runaway Bunny performance by Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. Goodnight Moon is a celebration of familiar nighttime rituals, while The Runaway Bunny’s pretend tale of leaving home evokes reassuring responses from his loving mother.

Children's Festival 4

Caitlynn even brought a copy of her favorite bedtime story as a baby to the show.  There’s still time to catch a show. Click here for an events listing.

Disclosure: Diary of a First Time Mom received two complimentary theater tickets to facilitate this post.

Hey DFTM Fam–What festivals is your family checking out this summer?

 

About The Author

Vlog Mom/DFTM Creator

Not long ago, Heather Hopson hosted a television show in the Cayman Islands. Today, she's back home writing a different kind of story as a new mom. In her 15 years working as a professional journalist, this by far is her best assignment! Growing up, she dreamed of becoming Oprah Winfrey. She was the features editor for her school’s newspaper and a teen talk show host for her city’s most popular radio station. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Michigan State University. After graduation, she worked as a television producer and reporter at CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates throughout the U.S. Instead of heading to Chicago to join Ms. Winfrey on her set, she bought a plane ticket to the Cayman Islands instead. She arrived five days before a category five hurricane! She lived in paradise for seven years, hosted an award-winning television show and traveled the globe with a government delegation. She also served on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters and spearheaded a Send a Kid to Camp campaign. Then, she relocated to Washington, D.C. to obtain a teaching certification and instruct 8th grade reading at a high needs middle school. She later returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA to raise her daughter Caitlynn, now 4-years-old. During her 10-month-stint as a stay-at-home mom, Caitlynn inspired her to create this blog, and Diary of a First Time Mom was born on Mother’s Day 2012. Two years later, she expanded the family to include 20+ writers. Currently, Heather serves as the communications director at Allies for Children. In addition, she is the owner of Motor Mouth Multimedia, which ranked #49 in Startup Nation’s Home-Based 100 Competition sponsored by Discover Card and Sam’s Club. Recently, The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments selected Heather to receive an Emerging Black Artist award to develop Diary of a First Time Mom.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.