The Adventures Never Cease

Oh my Lanta! I cannot believe it has been so long since I have caught up with all of you. It seems that I am always saying that! Sorry, once again, I have been out of town and then trying to get myself and the kids back into the swing of things has proven to be more difficult than I thought it would be.


Well, I thought I would quickly tell you about yet another fiasco that happened but this time it was while we were on vacation. I really was hoping that the adventures in mommyhood would take a break while we were gone. pahhh... ya right!

We were visiting my mother who lives in the Northwest. It was a lengthy trip, about 3 weeks, and it was much needed. I love my Mother. Seriously, like my best friend. In high school I may not have openly admitted that, but I'm an adult now, and I have no problems telling this to people. She is awesome! Super funny, stylish (but not in the "I'm holding on to youth" sort of a way, warm and inviting, and the life of the party. Love her!! Anyway, I hate that we live so far apart, and lengthy trips are just what I need when it comes time to go visit her.

One afternoon we decided that the kids would have so much fun if we took them on a ferry ride. My kids love all trucks, boats, planes, so we knew it would keep them entertained. We walked on and took the ride across to an island. Since the ride was much shorter then we thought it would be we decided to get off and find a park on the island and let the kids play until the ferry came back.

It all was working out beautifully. It was a gorgeous crisp fall day, mostly cloudy but no rain. The park was right on the beach so the kids lost interest in the toys and decided they would rather walk the beach and explore. As we walked the kids started finding things that they hadn't ever really seen before, like crabs, seashells, seagulls, drift wood, etc. It was like wonderland for them. Being in the desert you don't see much tree's and grass, let alone ocean and sea life! Corbin had decided that it would be grand to pick out a seashell to take home from our travels and give to Dad as a gift. I said that was a good idea but only a couple. Before I knew it his little hands and arms were full of shells! There were purple shells and blue shells, and large smooth white shells, and large white shells that were covered in barnacles. As I stood there watching him try and decide which shell he wanted to keep and which ones he could part with I felt that I needed to interrupt him. I looked at him and said that he could go ahead and put them all in my purse and we would take them all home to Dad. He was so happy and quickly shoved them all into my bag.

Before I knew it the day had come and gone. By the next morning I was tired and sleepily walking around my mothers kitchen preparing some breakfast (aka cereal) for the little monsters to eat/spill all over my mom's floor. As I went about my business I started to notice a strange noise. It sounded like snapping, crackling, and since I hadn't poured bowls of rice krispies I knew it was something else. I slowly and quietly stalked around listening intently for where this weird noise was coming from. I put my ear to the fridge... nothing. I put my head close to the dishwasher... nothing. I listened to the drain in the kitchen sink... Nada! What was making this sound?! As I got closer to the bar the noise seemed to become clearer so I knew I was on the right track. After a minute it became clear that whatever that sound was, it was coming from my purse. I opened it up and started listening to a sound that could only be described as... like, when you put pop rocks in your mouth and chew for a second and then open your mouth. It sounds like a symphony of pops.

And then it hits me, OH MY GOSh!!! THE SHELLS....THE SHELLS ARE ALIVE IN MY PURSE!! Why hadn't this occurred to me at the beach?! Heaven knows I wouldn't have put them in my purse if I would have thought I could wake up to this! I was scared to grab them. (Don't laugh it that... I really was scared of my purse filled with hissing shells!) I got a paper towel, as if the thin paper product that was between me and the shell would act as a shield and protect me from being bitten. LOL I started grabbing out shells and putting them on the counter.

Now I could see that it wasn't all of the shells that were making this noise. It was only the ones with the barnacle's. They were alive and the barnacle's looked like little open mouth's with tongue's stretching out of them and then sinking back into itself. Now what, I kept asking myself as I was shrieking and trying to figure out what to do with them. Any normal person would have probably thrown them in the garbage or something. But Corbin was behind me wailing, "No, don't throw them away Mommy! They're for Daddy! Don't throw them away!"

So naturally the next best option was to try and get them to die off so that I could bring them home. I opened up an ice chest that was conveniently on the kitchen floor from our camping trip the weekend before and tossed the shells in! Next step? Pinesole.... yup lots of pinesole! I didn't know what else to do and was in a panic. Hindsight is 20/20 and I can think of several things that would have been better then an ice water Pinesole bath.

After a couple of days I went to check on the shells. I opened the lid of the ice chest and caught a whiff of the pinesole, saltwater creature mix and closed it right back up. At this point I didnt care if they were alive or dead.... I wanted nothing to do with them. After being back home for a few days I heard that my mother had encountered the mess left in her cooler. Poor woman! She is braver than me!!

Until next time lovely's