critters aplenty

In May, we took the kids to a kiddie festival where Curious George got his first pet, a goldfish. He was so excited, especially since he has been asking for a pet of his own. So we came home with Punky (I have no how CG came up with this name but it's very fitting since Punky has a black streak on top near his head and looks like a punk). Before we even got home, we had a fish tank kit and some accessories.

Here is Punky now thriving in his ever cloudy water.



Punky has been a part of the family, he even plays with Curious George. But he isn't quite playful on this video though. We figured he was hungry.

Then, Curious George got into frogs. He found one in the backyard and nearly gave me a heart attack when he showed it to me. Thankfully, we've been able to convince the boy to let it go at the end of the day. But then one day, while CG and I were out of town, Daddy found a Grey tree frog. As a surprise for CG, Daddy and Nana bought a tank and a supply of crickets to feed it. Curious George was so excited! He named the tree frog, Cricket. He has found many frogs after Cricket, but we've only kept Cricket so far as the others seem to be very common.

Tonight, while catching fireflies (we've been catching fireflies most nights for a few weeks!) Curious George found a Grey tree frog on his own. Daddy caught the little critter and placed it with Cricket. Now Cricket has a friend, Grasshopper. CG came up with this name, but kept forgetting it. So while in bed, too excited to sleep, Grasshopper's name was changed to Hopper.

Here is Hopper after he was placed with Cricket. Daddy gave him a cricket to eat but he was too afraid. Cricket ate it instead. Cricket hunting for his crickets have been a source of amusement for all of us. (Of course I can say this since they're inside a cage where they can't jump on me!!)



Oh, I almost forgot about the lizzard Daddy caught. Curious George was playing with it while it was in a container and it bit him. I don't think he was too enthused about it after that. Yay for me!

Frogs, frogs, frogs everywhere

You would not believe the self-restraint I am practicing just to take a picture of this ginormous hibby-jibbies, more commonly known as a frog. Being here at the in-laws has been nothing but pure excitement to a 4-year old. He has caught frogs, bugs, and things I do not even want to know about. I am teriffied of these things, but I am trying not to show it (though I know I am failing miserably at it). Thankfully, for my sake and the good of the creatures, we've been able to convince Curious George to let them go before bedtime.



While Curious George and I were at home in VA, Daddy found a special tree frog that has the ability to change color. He and Nana bought a terrarium, and food for it (it eats crickets! So they bought a whole village of crickets to raise and feed to the frogs - which by the way, are small enough to escape the little container/cage they came in so we've been finding them here and there much to my dismay).



And just now while I am busy keeping the kids busy outside while Daddy is having a phone interview, a big frog happen to jump where they were playing. This one left merrily on his way thankfully. The dogs are outside so I convinced (yay me!) Curious George to quietly let it go before the dogs get to it.







Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

with friends at the botanical garden

Curious George and P were the leader and the rest just followed along.
(Thing 1 in blue, Thing 2 in pink)

It's not an easy task to get all these kids to look at the camera at the same time.

Building a sand castle that is complete with animal gardeners, butlers, and other workers.

Looking for fish (Coys, I believe they're called).

It was a great day at the botanical garden. The weather was unusually warm. The kids, ranging from 7 months to 5 years old all had fun being outdoors. Curious George and P was the leader of the group, always ahead of everyone. Thing 1 and Thing 2 did very well walking on their own. They even made the trek (uphill ramp) all the way up to the tree-house. Unfortunately, no sooner did they reach the top, the bigger kids were already on the way down. Oh well. But for such little Things, they kept up with the big kids very well.

Trip down memory lane

In August 2006, we went to Disney World and had an absolute blast with our then 18-month old little man. I told someone that we spent most of our time in the Animal Kingdom because our son loves animals. This person had disappointment in her voice, "awww, that's not fun!"

On the contrary, it was a ton of fun. Sure, we didn't get to ride on roller coasters. It was quite a surprise how much fun we had watching our son "ooooh" and "aaaah" at everything he saw and experienced.

We evolve. As a single woman, my idea of fun was a lot different than my idea of fun as a married woman. And now that I am a mom of 3 little children, my idea of fun has changed yet again. Does it mean that I have lost myself? Heck no. I am more of "me" now than I ever was before, and not so surprisingly, my husband has confessed the same thing to me.

So, here is our little Matty enjoying all the sea creatures, big and small. And if you listen closely, my husband and I, are just as excited.