Hahaha - OF COURSE, if it's a PET!!! Jon and I were treated again to more "us time" as Larry swung by Friday afternoon from his own vacation down in VA and took the boys up to my Mom's. We got to attend a Pirates game in my company's box suite which was SWEET! Mostly because an incredible dessert cart, but a winning game, cooperative weather and great company (management and co-workers) as well.
The boys had a fun time up with my Mom and Larry too. Appparently Mom got some half sand/half water contraption out and need I say more? Our boys + our nephew Joey. She reiterated several time yesterday that it will be "JUST SAND" going forward...hmmm, I can only imagine.
Anyway, getting back to our new addition. Jon & I drove up north (and out in the country) to my cousin's camp. They had a graduation party for their second child. This is one of the first boys I babysat when I was young. Not only that, but the oldest child which was the one I watched the most just graduated from Penn State too!?! WOW! Anyway, they have a big pond and lots of woods. While Joe & Jess were busy throwing as many rocks as they could in the pond and Eric was off with cousin Jacob (born 5 days after him, if you might recall), I looked down and saw what I thought was one of Eric's plastic animals. In reaching down, it moved ever so slightly and I was like WOW - it's real! I quickly recruited Jon to pick it up and we found a cup to put it in and "deliver" to Eric. We hid him after awhile as to "preserve his captivity" which sounds harsher than our intentions. Eric was THRILLED and very thankful. The "merge" of this red-spotted newt (quickly identified through an internet search) and Toady happened after we got our sleeping kids in bed last night. They looked each other nose to nose and moved around quite a bit, but it seemed to go well. Then, I come downstairs early this a.m. and Toady's in the shell for his morning bath. I look closer and there's the newt too! How funny is that so we think it's a good match. They have a similar diet too so we're hopeful the arrangement will work out. He's more of an orange fellow than red but kind of cute. We are suprised how much Eric's plastic animals actually look like live creatures (rather than vice versa!). SO, that's the most recent scoop with us - quite the entourage!!!
