Frolicking in the Sunshine

Wow, the weather has actually been nice enough the past couple of days to dry up the soggy ground and give us some sun to play in last night. You don't have to ask Emily twice if she wants to go play outside. And, don't mention it if you don't play on following through... she'll hold you to it!

Last night's highlights involved running up and down the hill in the backyard. Rolling down the aforementioned hill and kicking a ball back and forth with Daddy.


Somewhere in there I found a slug in the grass beside me and let Emily pet it and hold it. She thought it was a little sticky, but thought it was pretty neat. She even proceeded to pretend to feed and water it after we put it back down in the grass.

The evening wrapped up with Emily getting to swing really high in her little swing. At this point in the season, she's still using a toddler swing and loves to go as high and fast as we can get it to go.

It really was a great evening for playing outside... grass clippings, dirt, slugs and all!

- - - - -

Fast forward to this morning and you'd find Emily and I in the car on our way to the babysitter's. About 5 minutes into the drive I hear Emily say, "Awwww, Hi! It's toot (cute)." I look in the rear view mirror and see her picking up a little spider-looking critter of some sort from the armrest of her carseat. Mind you: I'm driving, she's sitting directly behind me and we're going 65mph (honest, Dad!) on the highway.

Once we pull onto the off ramp, I'm thrilled to see the traffic light turn red. I pull to a stop and crane my body around in my best contortionist form and ask her to put her friend in an old receipt that I had laying around. As I glanced down at what she just shared with me, my skin did a bit of a crawl... it wasn't a spider. No... it was a nasty, disgusting tick that was just waiting to launch into the breakfast buffet at the Smorgasbord de Emaliya.

{And, NO, I did not actually get my handy, dandy camera and take pictures of our slug and tick buddies... that's just gross! I mean, who would do that... other than the people that actually photographed these beauties... and maybe my cousin Todd, or my friend Josh, or..... }

- - - - - - -

Note to self: Have a talk soon w/ Little Miss about good creatures to pick up and creatures that are better to look at from a distance...