Moving to Monroeville from Kansas City and Need to Know

I noticed that a few people have already given you a bit of information to take in. I'll add a little to it. In Monroeville, you are right by the Parkway so you are (depending on the time of day) 15-30 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has a lot of wonderful places for kids and families. There is the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Acquarium, the Children's Museum, The Carnegie Science Center, the Center for Creative Play, and the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library to mention a few. There are, also, a few more museums which are part of the Carnegie Museums group. While there is a charge for most of these places, most of them, also, offer memberships for the year where you pay a set amount and visit as often as you want. There are, also, a lot of parks and a lot of free activities in the parks as well. Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh are free as well. They offer story time for kids as well as other activities. They also have some wonderful kid sections with puppets and other activities for kids visiting the library.

Some information that may come in more handy for you is that there is a chapter of the MOMS Club in the Monroeville Area. There is, also, a chapter in the Pittsburgh East area should you move closer to the city than Monroeville. I am a member of the Pittsburgh East Chapter. MOMS Club offers activities for Moms and children. It offers a place for Moms to get advice from other moms as well as companionship. In our chapter, we have playgroups for kids, book clubs for moms, a Mocha Moms Club, field trips and other activities throughout the year. The website for the Monroeville Chapter is http://www.geocities.com/monroevillemoms/index.html.
The website of the Pittsburgh East chapter is http://www.geocities.com/momsclubpittsburgheast. Also, feel free to contact me via email if you want to further discuss Moms Club or if you have any questions about the area. I know moving to a new area can be a bit daunting. My husband moved here from Kansas City to attend college. He met me and stayed. =) I've been to Kansas City on several occasions. My sister-in-law is still there. I hope you find Pittsburgh as welcoming as my husband did. BTW, my kids are 7 1/2, 3, and one due in August. When you get here, if you want to attend one of our public events through our MOMS Club, let me (or one of the contacts on our site) know.

Hi A.,
I grew up in Monroeville. Boyce Park is in Monroeville. It is a nice park to take the kids to. There is also boyce Park Wave Pool. If you want to go to a nice community pool with a large baby pool try Bel-Aire. It is at the end of Saunder Station Road. There is a Chuck E Cheese in Monroeville and a nice mall.
Becky

Hi A.! I live about 10 minutes from Monroeville and go there for alot of things. Monroeville is a good place to live if you are new to the area cause everything is right there! Babies R Us is in the center of everything so that will help alot! I visit that place once a week! My sons pediatricians have an office in Monroeville... East Suburban Pediatrics, Dr. Trainer is great with kids! Like the others said, the mall has a great playcourt in it, Once Upon a Child is a nice consignment shop, there is a big Goodwill that has nice stuff for cheap, I find Baby Gap jeans barely used! The Pittsburgh Zoo is only about 15 minutes from there in Highland Park, you can buy a family pass good for a year for only like $80. It really is not a bad place to live, you will like it, good luck and if you need anything else, feel free to email me!

If you need a pediatrician (which I assume you do, lol), Dr. Apel at Children's Community Pediatrics in Monroeville is absolutely awesome. We live in Verona/Penn Hills (about 15 minutes away), and go to Monroeville a lot for the mall (which has a decent play area inside for rainy/wintery days) and for Babies R Us.

A.,

I live in a southern suburb of Pittsburgh about 30 minutes from Monroeville. While I am not familiar with what is available in the Monroeville area, here are some links to websites that I visit to find events and Pgh information. Some of these websites contain other useful links.

Kids activities
http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/kids/a/family_fun.htm

Visitor information request
http://www.visitpittsburgh.com/crm/index.cfm?action=ViewF...

Links to Pittsburgh websites
http://pittsburgh.about.com/sitesearch.htm?terms=pittsbur...

Pittsburgh events guide
http://www.pittsburgh-downtown.com/events/

Kids activities
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oi...

Also, look for free publications such as “Pittsburgh Parent” at the grocery stores. They usually have them near the exit.

Welcome to Pittsburgh!!

Hi A.! Welcome to Pittsburgh. I'm originally from the midwest also (Council Bluffs, IA....2 hours north of KC!) Anyway, there are several parks in the Monroeville area. The Monroeville mall has a nice play area for children (Mr. Rogers Neighborhood).
As for consignment shops, there's a GREAT one in Monroeville! It's called "Once Upon a Child" and it's on William Penn Highway (Route 22) a main road in Monroeville.

Good luck on your move!!