Sara's Hat Trick

"What a good Mommy I am to my boys," Sara said, as she reflected on the day's events. The day began with Sara heading out the door for a run. She stopped a foot past the door and called to us. There was a lizard on the front steps. Zola was asleep upstairs, but Milo, Calder, and I ran out to see. With a little teamwork we scared it into a bush, at which point Sara grabbed it. Out came a red tupperware, and into it went the lizard:

Sara continued on her run. But we soon got a call. "I've found a snake," she said. With the lizard secured, the boys and I raced to the corner with a bucket. Sure enough, a foot-long snake was wriggling on the sidewalk. Amazingly, we were able to coax the snake into the bucket and bring it home. Into the skink's former residence it went:

We went online to research what kind of snake we had found, but with little luck. I e-mailed a query and some photos to snake and lizard expert Gene Ott. He explained that the reason we couldn't figure out what kind of snake we had found is because we hadn't found a snake at all. Instead we had found a "legless lizard." Of course, if yesterday you had asked me to define "snake," I would have said, "legless lizard," so it was surprising to learn that there is actually a distinction between the two. Our find is known as a "glass lizard." You can tell it is a lizard rather than a snake because, among other things, it has eyelids:

But that is not all, oh no, that is not all. For as bedtime approached, Sara returned in a rush from letting our neighbor's cats in. "Would you like to see a toad?" she asked. And out we rushed again. Flashlight in hand, we captured the toad:

Zola poked it disdainfully, and each of the boys had a chance to hold it:

Afterwards, we had some toad kids hopping around the house:

* * *

Epilogue: The green lizard escaped as we were photographing it. The glass lizard is still in the skink's old container. He will be released tomorrow morning. The toad is already hopping his way into the night. Oh, and the kids are in bed. Who knows what Sara might capture tomorrow...

Summer Fashion

Here's Zola, outfitted in her waterpark wear.

In unrelated news, Justin has a new hobby.

Summer Reading Club

As in summers past, the kids joined the summer reading club at our library. Today they received their reading medals and other prizes for reading a certain number of books. As in years past too, Calder was not nearly as enamored with the medal as Milo was. Zola received her very first reading medal today. Since Milo actually read some of the books himself, he was invited to write his name on the big kid award list posted in the library.

Goggles

Milo got his first pair of eyeglasses today. Wearing glasses has been transformative. I believe Milo now looks substantially bigger and older. Justin seems to think the glasses make Milo look smart. But he will never tell him so.

Two Wheelin'

Calder's now riding a two wheeler with training wheels. Like Milo on his bike without the training wheels, Calder took to his two wheeler instantly. It helps that the bike's logo, "Gravel Blaster," with its truck and construction worker, is so fitting for Calder. He's been blasting up and down our sidewalks. We've subsequently passed down the tricycle to Zola, who has been enjoying it immensely.

Strawberry Picking 2009

Like last year, we went strawberry picking with our friends Brittany, Gracen, Maya, and Cooper, at Cottle Strawberry Farm. And like last year, we picked quite a day to go strawberry picking. Not only was it a sunny and hot day (okay, I guess most days in June in SC are sunny and hot), but it was extremely muddy at the farm, due to all the rain we've been getting down here. Gracen, the eldest of the children, proclaimed that the muddier the patch the better the strawberries, and so all the big kids (i.e., Milo, Calder, Gracen, and Maya) went in search of the muddiest parts of the strawberry patch. Zola tottered along after her brothers, undeterred by the mud, the irrigation hoses, the strawberry mounds or anything else. Cooper, however, refused to go anywhere near the mud, staying on the outskirts of the field with his mother. While Gracen and Maya actually picked the strawberries they located in the muddiest rows, Milo and Calder just jumped in the mud. Yeah. I'll say that again. They just jumped in the mud. Milo even pretended to be stuck in the mud for a good half hour. And when they weren't wallowing in the mud, they were in search of four-leaf clovers. All four of them (Milo, Calder, Gracen, and Maya) found four-leaf clovers at the farm.

Zola was my biggest helper. She at least ate some berries and, all by herself, got the hang of picking berries and plopping them into our buckets.

In all the mud and muck I managed to catch a toad for the kids, which they toyed with for a while before letting him escape back to the strawberry mounds.

Rendezvous With Uncle Ben

Uncle Ben made a quick visit to the US and we got to see him for a weekend. The boys especially loved all their time goofing around with Uncle Ben, much of which was spent on bikes, and Zola loved all her extra hugs. Uncle Ben was quite a trooper with all the crazy abuse he received from his nephews and niece.

5:50 AM

On his first day of summer vacation Milo arrived in our bedroom at 5:50 am, bouncing, smiling, and ready to go. Why can't he do this, at all, during the school year, when we have to haul him out of his bed at 6:35 am, whining and moaning, and refusing to move voluntarily?