Baby Bug and I have been up to some covert maneuvers. We were sent on a top-secret mission by my Grandmother to buy a canary for my Aunt Keren, for her birthday. It was to be a very big surprise. It’s been in the works for months.

We took our mission seriously. We looked high and low for just the right bird. Not a chicken, not a duck but a perfectly yellow canary. And of course we found him at the Magnolia Bird Farm—our favorite bird store.

A perfectly yellow, very young canary who can’t sing yet and so therefore was half price. Not bad. We got our bird and smuggled him home for the big birthday dinner on Sunday. No, we weren’t going to eat the bird! He was the big surprise birthday present!

I’m happy to report that our mission was a complete success. Not only was Aunt Keren completely surprised but she fell in love with her new little birdy on the spot. And Pavarotti (his new name) was happy too because he spent the rest of the day tweeting like a proper teenager canary who has not fully developed his singing pipes yet.

No stressed-out birdy here. He was very happy. I think he approves of the paint color in the dining room, don’t you?

Over and Out.

Poor Pounce, he is such a good cat. He puts up with her mauling him, being the target of some kind of cruel giant-red-ball-bouncing game, chased around the house, squirted with squirt bottles, smothered with blankets, being sat on, dressed in girl clothes…he is patient and long-suffering. I guess I can put up with him yowling for cat food at 5:30 every morning.

The last time I took Baby Bug to the zoo she was more interested in hanging from the railings than looking at the animals. It totally blew. But then again, she was only one. What did I expect?

What a difference a year and a half makes!

We hit the zoo early today with Bethany and Annalie and it was a completely different experience. First of all we were there in the morning so there were more animals awake. Second, there was no pressure to do the whole park in one day. Bethany has a membership to the Zoo and she had a guest pass for me. (Bug is still free since she’s under three.) Since we were there for free, we didn’t feel like we had to squeeze every penny out of our day and leave the park exhausted. This made a huge difference for me.

The railings were still a source of great interest but this time we actually looked at animals too and had a really good time. I think a lot of it also had to do with Baby Bug’s maturity and her willingness to do just about anything if there is an older kid to copy. She loves older kids. She also loves Annalie.

(above 3 photos by Bethany)

Good thing Annalie likes her back. Even if she is a big fat spider about to eat poor little Buzzy Bug.