Backyard Adventures

Well, it's summer time, ya'll! That means I am a full time Mommy of two active, energetic, and very very LOUD boys. 99% of the time I wouldn't have it any other way... okay, wait, in the interest of full disclosure and complete honesty, I would change that to about a 75%, there is a good portion of almost every single day that I am counting down the minutes till bedtime, or looking at the calendar to see just how many more weeks until school starts again.  That's just me being real, yo! I love my boys, more than any thing else on the PLANET, but there are times.... there are times...

I have found one of the very best ways to increase that percentage is to spend a good portion of our day enjoying the good ol' outdoors.  We have a fabulous backyard, and are blessed enough to have been able to furnish it with a super fun trampoline, and a schnazzy swing set, but it seems to me that after they clock about five to ten minutes on the expensive equipment, they are ready to move on to something else.  It also seems to me that they find the most enjoyment out of the simple things, the things that have stood the test of time, the things that I played with as a child, and many generations before me as well.  Add to that the occasional visitor to our well populated back yard, and you've got the makings of a pretty great Huckleberry Finn type summer!

So far this month we had the pleasure to meet a backyard critter that probably wouldn't have made the parent's top ten list, but the boys sure enjoyed him.  Larger Child and I were in the yard making a bug habitat.  He had made a pretty great home, and we were just looking for the perfect bug.  That is when I noticed Smaller Child and Olivia playing with something in the grass.  SC kept laughing really hard, and Olivia would run off.  That's when I noticed something hanging out of her mouth.  It was a snake. Joy.

Luckily, it was a small ringneck... and it happened to survive the mauling.  Larger Child begged me to allow him to put it in the bug habitat, and being the sucker I am, agreed.  Thus our family pet, Craig, entered our world. 

 

He was a lot better than the other snake we found this month... this guy was in the street.  He was probably close to three feet long.  No amount of begging and puppy dog eyes would convince me to keep that monster.

I told LC that the one stipulation would be that he had to remain outside.  He agreed, and Craig lived on our patio table in the aquarium for about a week.  That was when I went out there one morning to find the tank empty, and Craig no where to be seen. I had to break the news to my broken hearted child, I assumed that a raccoon probably got in to the tank... but he said that maybe Craig escaped and had reunited with his family somewhere.  Yeah, lets go with that. 

Later that night, I was on the porch watching the storms roll in when Olivia had something under the picnic table.   Yeah, you guessed it.  Craig did escape, but he didn't make it far.  Poor guy.  LC still doesn't know about that part.

The next week on a walk down to the mailbox, I found this guy!

Learning from my previous lesson in reptilian pets, I told LC that we could NOT keep this guy.  He needed to stay in his home, and we would just find a safe place to put him.  After a good five or ten minutes of admiration and "awwwwwes" we let him go.

Now, not all the critters we find in and around our house are so cute...

I'm just saying... (shiver)

Now, back to the story at hand... despite (or perhaps because of) the creepy crawlies and the cold blooded friends, the boys do spend a good portion of their day outside.  Today, we decided to drag out the plastic kiddie pool and play.

If that's not "joy" I don't know what is.

throw in a silly sprinkler, just for kicks

and of course, it turns in to a gun

gaaah, they are just too handsome

A day of fun, sun, and splashin (and no snakes, or spiders. Though we did get bombed by a couple wasps.) Every day is an adventure in our backyard! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings... then again, maybe I can.