davisn456
Member
This year's family vacation trip was to Emerald Isle, North Carolina, and I've been working with Frankie all summer to get her ready for the big trip. She did incredibly well in the car the entire way down. Once she gets used to the motion of the car, she becomes fascinated by the scenery. She pretty much kept her back to me the entire trip, looking out the passenger side window. When we got there, we explored the house a bit and oddly enough discovered macaw-themed decorations all over the place. At the back of the carport was a little bar area by the pool (we called it our Tiki bar). Right on the wall behind the bar were two macaw sculptures hanging on the wall. I had to get a photo of Frankie at her bar of course (attached).
I put Frankie's stand right in the living room so she would get plenty of attention, and put her travel cage in my room downstairs. My parents, aunt, sister, her husband, and my two nieces were all staying there. Frankie immediately took to one of my nieces. She learned very quickly that Emilee would give her treats, so every time she entered the room, Frankie would run down the back of the couch to get closer to her. Eventually, Emilee was waving to Frankie and saying hi, and Frankie would do the same thing back. It was priceless! Frankie also let Emilee pet her whenever she wanted, with supervision of course.
The really amazing thing was how much more affectionate Frankie became on the trip. You'll see in pic 3 that Frankie actually came over and fell asleep laying on my shoulder. I was pretty surprised that she would do that. She was so comfortable that she just passed out for close to an hour while I was relaxing on the couch. That was the first really long period of time we had together, so we became a bit closer I guess.
Frankie also absolutely fell in love with my aunt Barb. It got to where Frankie would beg to see her when she would come in the room. Barb isn't much of a bird person, but towards the end of the week she broke down and offered to pick her up. Frankie jumped right on her arm and sat on her lap for close to 2 hours while they were watching TV.
It was really an amazing experience all of us. My younger niece who is barely talking learned Frankie's name, and I think the whole family learned how intelligent Frankie really is. I also feel a lot more confident letting my parents babysit her now too, as well as being able to travel with Frankie.
I put Frankie's stand right in the living room so she would get plenty of attention, and put her travel cage in my room downstairs. My parents, aunt, sister, her husband, and my two nieces were all staying there. Frankie immediately took to one of my nieces. She learned very quickly that Emilee would give her treats, so every time she entered the room, Frankie would run down the back of the couch to get closer to her. Eventually, Emilee was waving to Frankie and saying hi, and Frankie would do the same thing back. It was priceless! Frankie also let Emilee pet her whenever she wanted, with supervision of course.
The really amazing thing was how much more affectionate Frankie became on the trip. You'll see in pic 3 that Frankie actually came over and fell asleep laying on my shoulder. I was pretty surprised that she would do that. She was so comfortable that she just passed out for close to an hour while I was relaxing on the couch. That was the first really long period of time we had together, so we became a bit closer I guess.
Frankie also absolutely fell in love with my aunt Barb. It got to where Frankie would beg to see her when she would come in the room. Barb isn't much of a bird person, but towards the end of the week she broke down and offered to pick her up. Frankie jumped right on her arm and sat on her lap for close to 2 hours while they were watching TV.
It was really an amazing experience all of us. My younger niece who is barely talking learned Frankie's name, and I think the whole family learned how intelligent Frankie really is. I also feel a lot more confident letting my parents babysit her now too, as well as being able to travel with Frankie.
