Inhale, Exhale, repeat several times

For my birthday, yes in April, my husband built me a lawn pond.  It’s complete with a waterfall and bridge.  While it has taken forever to get to the point we are now, I do have to admit it is shaping up nicely!  All of our rock has come from the farm.  We have had a lot of fun gathering rocks and turtles and anything else the boys could determine as “clues.”  We still have to finish a little rock and then do landscaping.  We did decide that the pond should be “balanced” now and we would add some fish.  The kids were really excited about this step, that is until we go to the store!  I had heard that Petco carried some fish.  We just wanted some cheap goldfish to experiment with.  We weren’t about to fork over $20 for a koi fish just yet!  So, here we are a Petco.  As we walk into the doors, we are all GASPING!!!  Baker is about to hypervenilate, “Mom, what is that?  I can’t breathe, I think I’m going to be sick!”  The smell was overwhelming to say the least!  I was quick to use this as a teaching moment about why we don’t have pets.  Inside or outside.  Everyone was in total agreement, no pets for the Schell household!  We spot the fish and everyone is starting to breathe again.  Inhale, Exhale, Inhale, Exhale.  We pick out 20 goldfish, which cost like 14 cents each!  As we are making our way back around the store, Baker spots the amphibian section.  Did you know you could buy a tarantula for $17!  Scary thought huh?  This part of the store defiantly perked the spirits of the boys!  They totally forgot about the smell and were infatuated with the animals!  There were lizards, geckos, spiders, snakes, and frogs.  I was amazed at how little some of these things cost.  Overall, the trip ended up being ok.  We added the fish to the pond and as of this morning 14 are still with us.  I was told that was a pretty good number, we’ll monitor them and see if and when we can ever add the koi fish!  (I’ll post some pics tommorow)