I think X-man jolts from his slumber daily wondering what adventures we are going to encounter. Mom, however, after a night trying to soothe a sleepless Jilly Bean and then encountering a trembling dog pile of kids in my bed after a GIANT bolt of lightening shook the earth at 4 a.m....well, all she wants is a big fat nap. It seems, though, that adventure finds us and probably for the better. Stumbling upon "Swimmy" in the middle of an empty road on the way back from a quick errand this morning was just the adventure the boys needed and gave me a little pep to keep me moving until naptime...a caffeine stand-in.
You can probably see how Swimmy got his name. He was neatly tucked inside of his thick shell, far from swimming territory when I drove over him and a lightbulb clicked on. What a needed distraction! I whipped the van around and parked in the middle of the road, hazards flashing. The kids were alarmed and questioning their mother's sudden insanity as I jumped onto the road and scooped up the poor, startled slider. I poked him through the van door to show the kidlins, planning on giving them a quick look and then escorting him to the other side of the road to avoid the dangers that were awaiting him on his journey. It was X-man's amazed voice that changed the plan, "I've never seen a REAL turtle so close!" Really? Could that be possible with ME as his mother??? Well, in that case, we should just take him home and "science" him for a little bit before we find him a new, more suitable habitat than the middle of a road. I should explain that X-man uses "science" as a verb in place of "study". Just another of his little way of saying things that I cannot bear to correct yet. So, Swimmy joined us on our short drive home.
I promised them that we would take him down to our little neighborhood pond after lunch was cleaned up to introduce Swimmy to his new home. Their excitement was boundless and there were several arguments over who was going to carry him on the way. It was agreed that X-man would carry him for the first half of the trip and Gokey would take over from there. Two times on the way through the house to the front, however, X-man threw the poor creature to the floor when he flipped his clawed feet out as if to assist in the reckless flight through the house, so his turtle carrying privileges were revoked and Gokey, very seriously picked up the task. We loaded our red wagon with infant and toddler, X-man dutifully pulled brother and sister and Gokey pulled up the rear with Swimmy carefully clutched.
There was a bit of a squabble over who was going to set Mr. Swimmy free, but after reminding them that he may really start moving his little legs when the water got close, both boys chickened out and I had to heroically step in. Gokey was my cameraman to record the epic event...he may need a bit more training!? All in all, Mr. Swimmy made for quite the adventure and taught a good lesson in helping out where help is needed. Being able to science a turtle for an hour or so was pretty cool too. :) Thanks for the lift, Swimmy!
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| Jilly with a lure she found that needed rescuing :) |
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| More Cheesy D! |
