Let's play catch up - Holiday season

Percy got Thanksgiving and I get Christmas.  Now there was a lot of excitement about this Holiday plus someone explained to us about Hanakkuh as well.  Both sound pretty special.  We understand about the dreidal, the menorah and the tree - but we're a little confused by the pickle. Hopefully someone will explain it to us.  Anyway we had our friend Ricky with us for the Holiday and it was fun to share stories.  The Holiday season were we come from is during the summer months so its quite different.  The sun is shining, its gets really warm so that sometimes we'd go to the beach.  Ricky says here it snows and gets cold and he mostly sleeps.  But though we had different customs it was fun to share. 


Oh I do have to tell you - we got a present for the Holiday.  It's a paper tree.  We're not really sure what to do with it.  Miss Renee says the idea is for us to play with it by pulling the paper branches.  I think she's a little crazy.  Percy and I haven't touched it yet and honestly I'm not to sure about it.  Anyway, I can't think of anything else to write so I'll sign off.


Percy and I will try to be better about writing on a more constant basis.  But you know being a sneaky bird isn't always easy.

Let's play catch up - Thanksgiving

Okay so the last post was Halloween - then cam something called Thanksgiving.  We've heard a lot about something called Turkey.  And we have discovered that a turkey is a large bird.  It made us nervous for a while there to discover that there was a holiday about eating bird.  But Miss Renee explained to us that Thanksgiving is not about turkey but about family.  She explained that most people but not all ate turkey - but you can eat other things as well.  She also said that no one ate finches for Thanksgiving except for maybe a cat.  We were rather relieved - though not really happy about the cat idea.  But we understand that family is very important.  Back home in Australia we live in huge flocks of families.  We're a very social bird and we don't like to live by ourselves.  That's also why Kyp and I live together - even though we occasionally fight we would be terribly lonely without each other. We did get a treat on Thanksgiving - eggs.  Miss Renee made them special for us.  We love scrambled eggs.  I know it seems weird that we're birds and we're eating eggs buts it is quite normal.  If we had families we would clean our nests by eating the egg goo after the babies were hatched so its not really that different.  We get them mixed with a little seed and that makes it delicious.  You should try it sometime - maybe without the seed unless you want to try it that way.

It's been a while

Sorry it's been a while since our last post.  we haven't really had time to get to the computer.  There has been a lot of stuff happening at the library in the evenings.  Occasionally on a Friday - the librarians stay late and invite a whole mess of teenagers into the library after hours.  Needless to say we don't get much done - since no one is suppose to know about us leaving our cages and using the computers.  Obviously this blog lets you know we do that - but we don't want anyone knowing how we do it.  Yup, its our little secret! Plus there have been visitors during the weekend and we've been busy entertaining.  I'm not sure you've meet our friend Ricky - he's a raccoon and he moved in temporarily a couple of weeks ago - for the Holidays.  We've been taking the time to get to know each other.  He does a lot of sleeping during the day so we don't get to chat then - and since we sleep mostly at night we don't get a lot of time to talk.  He's a rather nice fellow though and we've enjoyed our talks.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is coming and kids have been telling us about costumes and candy.  While we don't really understand what candy is (though kids seem very excited by it) - we are beginning to understand costumes.  Last year we saw lots of kids dressed as kings, superheroes, princesses and all kinds of animals.  Did anyone come dressed as a bird though - NO and we were disappointed.  So this year we have our feathers crossed that we'll have a bird costume. 


We have been doing a little reading about Halloween so if you are interested try one of these titles.
By the Light of the Halloween Moon by Caroline Stutson
Halloween Night by Elizabeth Hatch
Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet by Diane DeGroat
Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman

Back to School.....back to story time

Miss Renee read us a book yesterday called Back to School Splat.  It was fun, but we were wondering what it meant.  Apparently it means that all the kids we've been following all summer won't be in as often as they have been becasue you'll be going back to school.  We don't know what school is really.  We're told its a place where you learn things, but we do that here so...... Miss Renee says there isn't anything we can do about back to school it's just that time of year.   We're a little sad about that - you guys are fun to watch.  But Miss Renee told us that in a couple of weeks story time will start again - and we'll be able to see all the little kids just like last year.  It may mean we have to retrain them about what we like and don't like but it'll be fun.  Little humans are strange creatures.

Anyway enjoy the rest of your summer - make sure you visit us.  Then have fun going back to school.

Percy and Kyp's Summer

It is so not fair that we weren't allowed to go with Marie and Charlotte.  But we have been having fun with the kids.  Book Buddies has been very busy and we've been easedropping on the kids stories.  Lunch bunch has been great - we are getting some extra special birdseed during those classes so we don't feel left out.  Craft was the most amazing though.  The kids totem poles came out awesome!  We kind of wish we had fingers so we could make one.  Well hope everyone is still reading.  You're doing great on your books.

Parrot Vacation Pictures - North America Part 2

Hi All, After the American West we decided to visit the last American frontier - Alaska.  It took some flying but we made it.

Our first stop was Ketchikan, Alaska were we meet some friends

Alice and Henry are Bald Eagles.  They showed us around.



This is a totem pole.

We understand you kids made totem poles for craft.

Well this is a real one that Henry showed us, while we were looking for lunch.

We were told to visit the Glaciers when in Alaska.

Are they something to see.  The ice is actually blue and so was Marie's beak.



Hubbard Glacier

We traveled inland after that.  Denali National Park and Preserve was a great place to rest.
We even meet a moose.  Jack was very entertaining.

Our last stop was Mt. McKinley.
The tallest peak in North America.

It looks a bit like clouds but that is the top of Mt. McKinley

Well hope you liked some of our pictures.  We also visited Canada a bit and then
flew down to Mexico.  We've been in South America all week.
Hopefully we'll get you those pictures soon.

Hope you are all having a fun summer.  Keep reading!
Marie and Charlotte
Your Parrot Friends.

Parrot vacation Pictures - North America part 1

You all meet one of our friends: Charlotte and Marie - both parrots from South America. They were taking a world trip this summer just like us. Well we have finally gotten some of their pictures. They visited North America just like we did last week.

Hey library kids, We decided to share our America picture with you.

One of our stops was to visit our friend Paul, the road runner.

He lives a a mostly desert like area but that doesn't mean its boring

Look below these rocks are red.

These are the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona
This region is known for its red earth. And yes it is red, this is not the sun

We also saw the most amazing thing

Houses and villages built into the cliffs

Native Americans used to build their houses into the cliffs
in this region for many reasons.



While we were in Arizona we stopped by this fantastic place

The Grand Canyon.  It was HUGE!

We flew over this and it was quite a trip -
the wind can really blow over areas of this



Once we left Arizona we saw a variety of things - the Hoover Dam,

Las Vegas, miles of country with horses and natural wildlife.

The best though was Yellowstone National Park

where we made some new friends.

Buffalo. This is Harry and Matilda with their family
Buffalo are popular in Yellowstone where they are protected
from everything except photgraphers.





Books now have trailers just like movies

Percy and I found out this week that books have trailers just like movies.  Trailers are those short little clips that give you a sneak peek of the movie - well books have them too.  Check out the new kids media wall for some great books that are coming to the library soon.

http://auburnkidsmediawall.blogspot.com/

Percy and I can't wait to see the clips and to read the books.

Children's Choice Book Award

I'm sure many of you didn't know but Kyp and I have been following the Children's Choice Book Awards.  Though we weren't able to vote we did have our favorites. 
For books by level:

gr. K-2: Hot Rod Hamster by Cynthia Lord

gr. 3-4: Bad Kitty vs Uncle Murray: the Uproar a the Front Door

by Nick Bruel

gr. 5-6: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

(We didn't vote for teen because well - we don't travel that far)

For Author of the Year we disagreed I liked Rick Riordan but Kyp liked Jeff Kinney

For Illustrator of the Year we liked Mo Willems

If you visit our Children's Choice Award Winner page you will see that some of what we picked were winners and others weren't.  But it was all tons of fun.

News

Hi everyone - we are back!  The heat is finally back in the children's room and so are we.  I hope you all didn't miss or worry too much about us. 

Oh, our contest ended a couple of weeks ago.  So remember to bring your sheets in.  Miss Renee will post them around our cage and you can pick up your prize.  Your prize is a pin with yours truly on it.  We hope you enjoy it, we had fun making them.

Antarctica

We must be in Antarctica.  Its just so cold we have to fluff up and sit on our little feet.  Miss Renee came in this morning and immediately moved us someplace warmer.  She told us it was too cold in the children's room.  No kidding like we didn't know that - did we mention Antarctica?  Anyway if you visit us today we won't be there.  Miss Renee put us in the back room where it is much warmer.  We will be back in the children's room once it is warm again.

We're in trouble

I don't know if you've heard Miss Renee scolding us lately.  She seems to be doing that a lot lately.  But Percy and I have a bit of spring fever and like everyone else we've been picking on each other.  You've been picking on me more than I've been picking on you.  Have not.  Have to.  Anyway.  We didn't want you to worry.  Everyone gets a little crazy in the spring.  Plus for us spring is an important season.  It's mating season when we find a female friend and settle down to have a family.  It makes us a bit cranky because we like to pick a spot that is just our own.  Which is hard to do when you share a cage.  See if you can talk Miss Renee into getting some girls in here.  We'll promise to behave.

Contest Update

Hi everyone.  Our contest seems to be of interest.  All our contest papers are gone.  Don't forget they are due back at the end of the month.  You have 6 days left.  Miss Renee says the bird books inthe library seem to be "flying" off the shelf.  Hahahaha.  Hope everyone is enjoying our contest.  We look forward to seeing all your hard work.

We're throwing a contest

Kyp and I have decided to throw a contest for kids in grades K-3.  It is going to be very simple.  We've asked Miss Renee to create a list of bird books both non fiction and fiction.  It's easy to join - just pick up a sheet by our cage starting March 1st and follow each week's instruction.  Every one who finishes the contest will receive a special prize from Kyp and myself.  Happy reading!

Snow days - YUCK!

Okay one snow day that was okay.  Two that's pushing it.  And I don't want to talk about the possibilityof three.  But cheese louise it feels like its been forever since kids have been in the library.  We had two days in a row with no kids - it was boring.  I mean we did do some reading (you should check out our snow day books in our list) but when its just the two of us it gets boring.  There was that one day though where we heard all kinds on noise above us.  Miss Renee said they were cleaning the roof of snow. But listening is not as fun as watching kids.  Especially where they come in all bundled up so all you can see are their eyeballs.  It scared us a bit at first but now its funny. Anyway promise there won't be any more snow days.  We don't like them any more.

Our Snow Day

Well we did it.  We decided to investigate the library again since no one came to visit us.  It was rather interesting.  Though be careful - Kyp was a little too interested in Miss Renee's plants I think he did something in one of them  (I did not!)  Anyway we spent the day eating seed, sleeping under the lamp, and reading all kids of books.  I decided to check out a book about weather to see why it snows.  Kyp choose a book about sledding and we both read a great chapter book where we could choose the ending.  Check out our booklist for our titles.  It was an interesting day.  Maybe snow days won't be so bad.

Snow Day

Snow days - we've heard from kids that these are a lot of fun.  We tend to disagree.  Whenit snows kids get to miss school, go outside, build snowmen or forts, go sledding, get to watch movies and drink hot chocolate.  Do you know what we get when it snows?  BORED!  Especially when the library is closed.  Oh don't get us wrong Miss Renee takes good care to make sure that we have plenty of food and water, that we get some light and heat from our lamp and if possible gets someone to check in on us.  But it still leaves an entire day with no kids to watch, no noises to cheep at and no Miss Renee to bother.  Its just us.  All day with nothing to do.  Maybe its time to break out of the cage and explore more of the books again.  We're told that its suppose to be a snow day tomorrow, maybe that is what we will do this time.