Another Nice Day...Mostly.

Yesterday was another sunny day, so I took the kids outside to run, ride bikes and wear them out good. We started with a bike ride at the park. I need to get my bike fixed because they are so fast now I can't keep up on foot. After the park we ran a few errands and went to lunch. They played on the toy at the restaurant as well, expending even more energy. After lunch we came back and played with the bubble wands Amelia had so generously bought everyone.





Then we moved on to playing on the big toys at Amelia's school. The favorite activity there was picking up the pea gravel, carting up the stairs, dumping it down the slide and then sliding down after it. They were pretty dirty by the time I called them back.







We decided after a quick snack we'd finish off the day with a walk around the nature park. This park has a couple ponds, a small canal, footpaths and ducks. We started down the path parallel to the canal. The sky was blue, the breeze was refreshing and life was good. Until The Incident.

I was holding the kid's hands (hello, water nearby) and Amelia was on my left. I heard a rustling in the dead grass to my left about three feet away. It startled me, so I looked over, thinking I'd see a small furry something. Nope. More like a nasty medium-sized snake. Now, I'm not necessarily AFRAID of snakes, I just don't like to be around them. Ever.

I may have let out a very lady-like yelp and pulled Amelia away from the evil creature. She, alerted by my startle and yelp, looked over and spotted the snake. Her yelp was more of a blood-curdling scream. I pulled her further away, trying to shush her while keeping an eye on the sinister serpent. This was more difficult than it sounds, as she was trying to climb up my body to my shoulders, crying loudly. Added to everything was Cooper trying to go back and FIND the snake so he could say "Rowr!" to it and scare it away. I told him Amelia's screams probably did the job just fine.

Moments before the incident.


This is the face Cooper said he'd use to make the snake laugh if scaring him with the "Rowr!" didn't work.


I finally got Amelia calmed down and we elected to go to a nearby playground, since all the fishermen were now glaring at us. They played for awhile, and I convinced Amelia to go for a quick walk, far away from the previous sighting. I talked myself blue the whole time reassuring her that the horrible little creature was more scared of us, probably soiled his little snake pants when she screamed and was long gone. (However, I did keep a sharp eye on our surrounding area for the remaining time we were there.) She seemed okay, but walked in the middle of the path the rest of the way.

By then we'd all had enough of nature so we came home and watched a movie. You know, where it's safe. Whew. Stupid snake.