This and That...

For Memorial Weekend this year, we will be going to the cabin. I can hardly wait except that there will be a total of about 21 people there! Talk about crowded! We've already staked out the trailer, so everyone else is on their own this time. The weather isn't supposed to be that great but no matter how the weather is, I'm sure we'll all have fun. We were a little worried the other night, Bear woke up screaming and when I picked him up, he felt like he was burning up. I gave him some children's tylenol and then put him to bed with us. Almost immediately his temperature went away and he was ice cold to the touch. Then about an hour later, he was burning up again. All night he was talking in his sleep from the effects of the fever, so none of us got very much sleep that night. But the next morning he was bouncin' off the walls again, just like normal. So I guess everything is fine now. We recently got a fire belly toad for the kids... Of course we didn't let them touch it, we know that the toads have toxins... He was just a neat thing to watch... Well, after about a week, the poor thing died. Not uncommon since most animals from pet stores get sent home sick. We could have easily taken the toad back for a refund, but we saw the perfect opportunity for a learning lesson for the kids, so we took the kids into the back yard and had a funeral for "Patch". That's what we had named him because he looked like 2 different frogs patched together. Anyhow the kids said their goodbyes, and now Patch is resting peacefully in the flower garden. We will eventually be getting a new fire belly toad but not until we buy a larger habitat for it. Since we have this tiny little frog enclosure and no frog, we've decided that when we go to the cabin this weekend, we will catch a lizard and bring him home so the kids have a new pet. Everytime the kids walk past Patch's cage, they say "Poor Patch, I'm sorry he died." I know they don't understand death yet, but they do know that when someone or something dies, they wont be coming back. It's a start in the experience of explaining the ways of life to them. A small step on a LONG road!!!