May 24, 2007

Apparently I don't need Ariel to have adventures, as yesterday proved. Dad came over after a doctor's appointment and while we were waiting for Laura and Hannah to show up for pictures, there was a knock at the door. A woman with a stroller asked us if we had a bird, because there was a cockatiel under our neighbor's car that was parked in front of our house. Now no, we don't have a cockatiel but we figured it must be a lost pet as cockatiels are native only to Australia (as a later internet search proved) so I figured we should get it off the street and call animal control. I got the bird on my finger and then into a box and we took it inside.

While I was looking up animal control's number, the bird (hereafter to be called Fagel, per Dad's request) decided that the box was a pretty shabby dig and hopped up onto Dad's shoulder:



And there Fagel stayed. Any time I tried to move him, he hissed at me and made threatening gestures. But he was a very pretty bird:



And then the inevitable happened, Dad got crapped on:



It took animal control over an hour to get to my house. Poor dad :( And then when animal control did get here, we had more excitement. Dad had decided that Fagel couldn't fly, as he hadn't yet, but he was proved wrong. Mr. Animal Control got the bird off my Dad's shoulder and onto his own, but when he tried to get him on his finger, Fagel flipped out and flew over to my shoulder. Mr. A. C. tried to get him again, and then Fagel flew all the way up to the top of the 8' high book case. When capture seemed close, he flew back down to the door and Mr. A. C. coaxed him into a pet carrier. And sometime before Mr. A. C. arrived, Laura and Hannah did and I shot her 2 month session:

Hannah

That's about as good as I can do with a a two month old who just had her two month check up and her two month shots.

And to round out the day, Ellen and her crew came over and we took a bike ride with Ellen's new tag-a-long. Sam didn't particularly enjoy the new third wheel and screamed all the way to the park that's next to my house. We decided that was far enough and had our picnic there. And then we practice the tag-a-long on the tennis court until all the boys, including Sam, were comfortable with it. And then it hailed and we went home.

7:00 Drop off

7:15 Changed a poopy.

7:30 Breakfast

8:30 Ariel went down for a nap, I put a video on for the boys and then I took a walk. I was able to do this because Jeremy was working from home due to having the plague. Well, not really the plague, he has a sinus infection and pink eye. Yay!

10:00 I got home and Ariel was still sleeping so I took a shower.

10:30 Ariel woke up and we left for the adventure of the day (which had to get us out of the house until 5:00 so Jeremy could work).

First stop, got gas. I went to the dumb gas station that cuts me off at $50, I could have put another 4 gallons in. But I felt somewhat lucky to pay $3.24/gallon instead of $3.29. Next stop, snack at Jamba Juice. Ariel was very excited by all the balloons in the store. And finally, the real adventure, the Nature and Science Museum.

We did a lot at the museum. We saw the space stuff first (of course) and then did gems and minerals (Alex apparently lives in a crystal cave) and then the Hall of Life (too crowded with school trips) and then dinosaurs (which Ariel appropriately roared at). We finished up at the children's discovery center, which was blissfully empty.

Ariel looking at dinosaurs:



Ariel "digging" for dinosaur bones:



3:00 Left the museum. Ariel fell asleep in the car.

3:40 Got to the pool for Alex's class. Much excitement, Ted was at class too.

4:15 Becky picked up Ariel from the pool.