It's pretty black and white, penguins are adorable. It's hard not to pass up an opportunity to meet one.
I joined a crowd of kids and adults in their pajamas at the National Aviary's Penguins and Pajamas after-hours event on Thursday.
[ PHOTOS: Families explore the National Aviary in their pajamas ]
"They actually volunteered to come out," Schlott said. "We focus on positive reinforcement here at the aviary. I went up the steps, called and whoever volunteered to come out is who I got out."
For the first meet-and-greet session, families gathered around a table with DJ the penguin perched on top. Kids munched on popcorn with wide-eyes as the aviary's Cathy Schlott shared fun facts and answered questions.
I was curious myself. How do they pick the special penguin who gets all this attention? The answer was surprising, but also adorable.
I quickly ran into some pretty big penguin fans. Wyatt Herschell wore penguin pajamas, slippers and had penguin stuffed animals to accompany him.
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His mom, Cheri, from Zelienople said he's loved penguins ever since he was 3 years old. It was then that he met Happy the penguin at the aviary during a paid close encounter and the rest is history.
Maura Mummendey from Sewickley brought her son Caiden to see the penguins.
"When I was pregnant with him we couldn't figure out a name," Maura said. "So we came to the aviary with my husband and we saw a little arm band on a penguin named Caiden, and we fell in love with it because it was different. So, this is Caiden!"
The next meet-and-greet event will be Vivan the sloth's first birthday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 22.