Our birds and their new home...

This is Cricket and Sky. Both males. Little Man has one too named Arrow. We think 'he' is a she, LOL.

The kids saved up (with a little help from me) and purchased this new bird cage for their birds. Dad requested that we have storage underneath and that it be 'hidden'. So we looked at different cages and found the one we have now. I found a coupon online at: http://www.retailmenot.com/ and then they had free shipping. Sweet!

Here is Vanna White showing off the latest in bird cages:

And here it is all set up (though we've added more toys and a couple of new perches). The birds love it in there and on the deck.

Honey Island Swamp...

My SIL, Tina, and my nephew, Kevin, came to visit this past weekend. They weren't able to stay too long, but we still really enjoyed being able to visit with them! They wanted to do something while here that they couldn't do in Ohio, so we found a swamp tour to take them on. We tried to make an appointment to see the Alligator Bayou here in Baton Rouge, but though they were open, they didn't have enough people signed up to do a tour...they wouldn't even allow us to do a walking tour...oh, well. Instead we headed out to Slidell to tour Honey Island Swamp. I didn't think we'd see too many gators and such being that it's been so cold. I was hoping though.

We did see a blue heron, other smaller birds, an osprey with a huge catfish hanging from it's talons, we saw lots of red-eared slider turtles and other swamp stuff. It was cool out, but the sky was blue (which it hasn't been in the last few weeks and of course today it started back up...did I ever mention how much I hate Louisiana's wet winters?). We did get to touch a young gator. It was neat.

Oh and on another note...Tucker, the boxer we were fostering, found a new home and a new pal. Kevin just fell in love with him and Tucker sure thinks the same of Kev. It was so funny to see the two of them play. My niece has been looking for a dog now that she's in an apartment. Kevin sent a pic and a little info to her via his phone and she wanted him immediately! We were excited here, she is excited there and Kevin will still be able to see and play with him! I'll also get to still see the goofy boy when we visit.

Honey Island Swamp...

This house was completely underwater when Hurricane Katrina hit. Only two families still live on this canal...there used to be more.

Avery Island...Home of Tabasco.

We decided to drive down to Avery Island on Tuesday. We went with my friend and her 2 homeschoolers. The kids were excited about it (really they were even though they aren't smiling in some of the pics...they were over the picture taking by the second one!) and kept asking the one thing that kids ask when your on a trip: "Are we there yet?"

We arrived and visited the 'Jungle Gardens'. The birds weren't there as they had already migrated, but it was still nice to see the 'gators, big oaks, and the Buddhist Shrine. It was neat to see that someone had left an offering of an orange at the door.

It was very pretty and not too hot. It's a little unnerving to watch the alligators swim right towards your vehicle as you drive up though. They do allow you to walk around and snap pictures...scary thing is, the gators are allowed in the same areas! We didn't see any really big ones, but there was a 3 1/2 - 4 foot one hanging out on the bank that I snapped a picture of.

Do you know how hard it is to get 4 wiggly, giggly kids to look, smile nicely and pose somewhat still for pictures!

The bird on the top of the sign cracked me up.