Meet Luke Skywalker!

This is Luke Skywalker.

Luke is the newest member of the growing zoo at our house.  

(To date, we have 2 dogs and 2 turtles.)  

The story of Luke Skywalker and how he came to reside with us is one of desperation.  The story began months ago.  Joey has been struggling with reading.  One day, we were in Petsmart getting turtle food.  Our trip to Petsmart is never complete without a look at the birds.  Tyler loves them.  Standing in front of the cage, Joey began his plea to have one.  In an act of temporary insanity mixed with an overwhelming desire to encourage his reading skills, I heard myself promise him one IF he started reading better.  The promise was quickly forgotten...

until yesterday.  

Joey strategically reminded me of this promise.  The kid is sly.  After reading a story to me, he smiled up at me and said,

"We need to get me my bird now."

I tried in vain to list the reasons we should hold off on the bird.  He countered all of my excuses with some kind of Jedi mind trick.  Before I knew it, we were standing in front of the bird display with a cart full of bird supplies.  My only victory to this bird buying excursion was refusing to buy him the $400 Conure.  He happily settled on the $20 parakeet (blue, not green) and after the sales lady explained these birds must be read to for an hour everyday (it is amazing what sales people on commission will do to make a sale), we loaded up in the van to bring Luke Skywalker to his new home. 

This afternoon, Logan and Joey wanted to get their new bird out of the cage.  I could hear them upstairs playing with it.  After a little while, I hear the following:

Logan: Wait, Joey!  He just flew under your bed. 

Joey: Do you see him?

Logan:  Yeah, He is way in the back I can't reach him.  I don't know how we get him out.  

Joey: Call mom.

Logan: No. Mom said she was absolutely not chasing this bird down to put him back in this cage.  Remember?

Joey: Oh, yeah.  What are we going to do?

(silence)

Joey:  Wait! I know!

I hear Joey tearing down the stairs and he starts running from room to room.  Finally, he comes to stand in front of the chair I am sitting in and sweetly ask,

"Mom, Where's the vacuum?"

 Yep, Luke Skywalker is a lucky, lucky bird.

(No birds were harmed in the Campagnone Petting Zoo today.  The Keeper of the Zoo retrained the animal trainers on bird retrieval)