The Birthday Triplet Times

Our friends, the Birthday Triplets, have some very exciting news.  In fact - the news is, they've got a new newsletter and are offering a free subscription to all of their fans!  If you haven't heard of these three fabulous sisters, read our review of The Birthday Triplets: Granny Rose's Amazing Magical Day here!

The newsletter is available by email quarterly, and includes feature stories, games, fan photos and more!  It's the perfect little something for all the lovely girls in your life to look forward to receiving.  Fans of the book on facebook can also receive a free personalized birthday card - since we know these girls love birthdays!

Sign up at their website - http://www.thebirthdaytriplets.com and click on "Free Newspaper and Cards."
Visit them on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheBirthdayTriplets

We can't wait to get our next issue!

Pittsburgh Free for Kids Link-Up

This summer has been so fantastic in finding free or inexpensive activities in Pittsburgh.  We were thrilled to have found Curious Little Kid's "20 Things to Do in Pittsburgh for under $20"  and Macaroni Kids whose resources offer great suggestions for families.

I've seen so many great Pittsburgh posts recently that I thought it would be fantastic to start a Pittsburgh Free for Kids link-up to bring many of them together!

So have you written a post lately about somewhere you've been that was free (or nearly free) that you'd like to share?  Fill out the form below and share with us!

Just a few requests to keep the party fun:

1 - Click the link below, and a new window will open for you to enter your post title and link.  Once completed, come back here to confirm that you're added to our list!

2 - All posts should be about places within a 2 hour drive of the City of Pittsburgh.  All posts should include information about free or inexpensive activities (under $20).

2 - Consider including our Link-Up button (linked below) in your post!  Copy the code under the image and put it into the HTML portion of your post.  Not required, but we'd love to be included!  We'd also love for you to pin or tweet this post to help us help you get more viewers!

3 - Click around and visit some posts to find even more fun things to do with kids in Pittsburgh!

4 - Come back and link again next time you post another great activity!  We'll keep the button in our sidebar so you can find it easily.  

Thanks for visiting, and we can't wait to see all the places you have to share!

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<a href="http://www.mytaleswithtwo.com/2013/08/pittsburgh-free-for-kids-link-up.html" title="My Tales with Two"><img src="http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s408/MyTalesWithTwo/smlPicPittsburghFreeActivitiesforKids.jpg" alt="My Tales with Two" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Western Pennsylvania Balloon Quest: Field Trip Friday

Every so often, my mind used to wander to a time when, as a child, we'd been coming back from my Dad's company picnic, and had the pleasure and surprise to see numerous beautiful hot air balloons floating through the sky above us.  We'd stopped and taken the time to enjoy them, and the memory has lingered throughout the years.

Brayden just adores looking at Balloons (especially shiny Mylar ones) and I thought he might think that seeing hot air balloons was pretty cool too. It turned out that I started googling local hot air balloon festivals at just the right time, as our local one was just the next weekend after my search!  The Western Pennsylvania Balloon Quest  is an annual event in New Castle, PA on the fourth weekend in July every year, and is done in partnership with their local fire department. It's very well established, having been operating since 1989.

We arrived right on time to see about fifteen balloons inflate, lift off, and drift over the horizon.  All in all, it was a pretty quick experience but one WELL worth the hour drive up there - we'll definitely visit again!

From our experience here's a few things I'd share:
- Get there early!  There were a billion people and they all have to park.  We were so close to missing the action that next year we'll definitely get there earlier.
- Many people bring lawn chairs and settle in.  There's tons of room to get a good view so there's plenty of room for all.
- Bring your camera!  People were all over the place with DSLRs.  So glad I had my camera with me for some beautiful shots you don't see every day!
- The event happens all weekend with a balloon glow on Thursday night, and launches Friday Night, Saturday morning and evening, and Sunday morning and evening.  Plenty of time for everyone to check it out!

website: http://wpaballoonquest.webs.com/

address
UNION TOWNSHIP VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

304 SOUTH SCOTLAND LANE

NEW CASTLE, PA 16101

After the balloons drifted out of site, we checked out the carnival happening on site.  There were numerous rides and food vendors, but nothing really "for us" with tiny kids that I am still super cautious with.  We did make our way to the fountain and duck pond right on site and had a great time checking out the ducks and munching on a snack.

We had a fabulous time and will definitely be making this a yearly tradition.  Perfect event for free family fun in the Pittsburgh area!

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