BOB...

"No! Don't kill it!" I shouted. "Well, what are you going to do with it?" my mom asked. "Keep it as a pet. Pleeeeeeease?" "Riley, no, we are not going to have a pet cockroach on our boat" "But Mom..." "NO!" "Fine, can I at least put it in a jar, and let it go next time we go to shore?" "Ok, Fine."  The family that owned the boat (we were visiting for dinner) was more than happy to send dinner guests home with a cockroach.

I was shocked. My mom was NOT the killing type. Especially when it came to bugs. I wasn't either (except for the occasional ant to magnifying glass trick). My sister, no. But my dad on the other hand, um... Yeah. He wasn't too happy when Wren ran up to him shouting "Daddy! Daddy! Guess what! We have a new pet! He's a cockroach!"

 It took a lot of persuading, 3 melt downs, 4 cheerios, and a lot of cabbage to get my new boat pet  in shape for being one of our family members.  I named him Bob.  Sorry grandpa, the name just fit.

My mom said that cockroaches are just about the worst boat pet you could have, But eventually, she admitted that he was "cute". My dad is still on the "throw him overboard to the sharks" side. Wren and I completely adore him.  I love how he cleans his antennae after every meal.  He feasts on a diet of cabbage and Cheerios. That is the one thing we have a lot of on this boat. We have been in the park for 9 days, so we can't get food until Nassau. We are conserving food.  He lives in a plastic container tipped on its side with food and a toilet paper tube. It's fun to experiment with the foods and to see which ones he loves to eat.

Take lots of pictures of the snow for me!

Love,
Riley