Be Vewy Vewy Quiet......

I went on a parrot hunt today.

This morning I heard a lot of squawking from my backyard. On any given day this is normal for my house. But today the squawking sounded different. I went outside to investigate and found a small flock of wild parrots in our neighbor's tree.

A few people in our neighborhood mentioned they had seen them but we had not - until this morning. I am very excited they have chosen to come and visit us. I decide I am going to use this as an educational/nature adventure for my kids. I am very impressed with myself. I am going to teach them about how the parrots got here and they'll see what a smart Mommy they have. In reality, I was not exactly sure how they got here, but I figure I'll Google it and fill them in later.

I grab my camera and call out to my children "Hey guys! Come outside and see the parrots!" Everyone comes running. Everyone is excited. "Pawwots!" shrieks Henry. I don't think he knew what he was looking at but he is very excited about being excited. The two parrots on the lower branches take one wary look at us and fly up to a higher branch. "Shhhhh" I whisper to him. "Let's use our inside voice. We don't want to scare the birds away". "PAWWOTS, PAWWOTS!" He shrieks even louder. Sigh. So much for telling a 2 year old to be quiet. The birds take another few steps farther away from us. Truthfully I can't blame them.

I keep trying to get a good picture of them (Are you happy Linda?) but I can't get close enough. I decide we are going to walk around to the next block so I can get a better shot. "OK everyone - go and get your slippers and robes on - we're going to the next street to take more pictures". Everyone is excited to be going outside in their PJs. I feel like Elmer Fudd in that Bugs Bunny cartoon when he is out hunting for "wabbits" and he says "Be vewy, vewy quiet - I'm hunting wabbits". Except we are hunting "pawwots".

The troupe heads out. I invite my husband - who at the moment is more interested in fixing our wireless connection. "I'll be right there" he says absentmindedly. Translation: "I'm busy and I'll probably get around to joining you in about 1 hour". I decide to head out without him. As I start walking down the street with my entourage, I'm questioning my great idea. How am I going to keep an eye on Henry and still take pictures? I decide to enlist the troupes. "Let's everyone hold hands" I suggest. There is a squabble about who is going to hold who's hand. "Forget it let's just try to keep an eye on Henry". Jessie volunteers to watch Henry. "That's strange" I think to myself. Jessie is not Henry's biggest fan. She tells me she is going to make him her dog and proceeds to tie the belt from her robe around his neck. "Whoa - wait a minute". I suggest she tie her belt around his waist. Jessie ties the belt from her Hello Kitty robe around Henry. He does not object. Phew.

We are back on our way. I'm hoping our neighbors are still sleeping otherwise they will think I am insane for walking through the neighborhood with my children in our robes and slippers. Actually they already think we are insane for having a 4th child after having one daughter and then twins. So - truthfully I have nothing to lose I comfort myself.

We make it to the next street. I hear a loud voice call out "Hey Virtues - where are you going?" I look up to see one of our backyard neighbors Ricky. He and his partner Rick (yes, their names are Rick and Ricky) are a fantastic couple in our neighborhood and are lovers of small children and rescue dogs. "We're out on a parrot hunt" I tell them. Ricky leans back into the house to call Rick. "Come on out - we're going on a parrot hunt with the Virtues - get your robe and slippers". I assure him he can wear his regular clothes, but he says that won't be any fun at all and goes inside to get his Spiderman slippers.

Our newly expanded group walks down a few more houses and we find the parrots. Ricky decides we should all squawk like parrots. My children are only too happy to oblige. Henry and Rick are the loudest. They are best buds. I am hoping the grouchy old neighbors down the street are not in the process of calling the police.

With my new found babysitters watching my kids, I finally got some shots of the parrots. Not great but enough to record this fun memory anyway. Never a dull moment in my house. Now I need to go to Google see if I can find out how the parrots ended up here after all.

Back to Cupcake's lessons learned from an earlier post. Sometimes I should enjoy the journey - bumps and all - because things seem to all work out in the end.