Newest Family Members

At one point in the midst of our teary eyed moved I suggested we get some fish once we get settled in our new house. I don't necessarily regret the thought...but I had to follow through on what I said since the girls immediately perked up at the idea.

So this weekend, while Grandma was visiting, we went and got our new fish. We had set up the tank earlier that week (its a 5 gallon corner tank and fits perfect in our kitchen). Despite preparing their environment for them in advance so the transition would be painless...we had 2 fish die in the first twenty four hours. The only surviving fish was Brooke's, and she wasn't overly concerned one way or the other. Baileigh and Mckenna were pretty upset despite all our conversations about how easily fish could die and the fact that we would go get more if something happened to one of their fish.

On our first trip to the pet store we were assisted by the fish Nazi. She was too knowledgeable about fish and very strict on what she would let us get! I seriously think she would have refused to sell us certain fish if it went against her suggestions for what is ideal in our tank. She essentially gave each of our fish the human equivalent of 1.5 acres to live on...when we returned to the store for our replacement fish she wasn't working so we got a few different fish and a few extras...now they are all living in the equivalent of single family housing on .30 acre lots.

Our biggest surprise would be our active snails. Oxymoron I know...but we got three large snails that are all over the place. We watched one yesterday climb up each step of our bridge and then down the other side. It took him about ten minutes but he made it and we actually all watched, completely intrigued at how he would make it up the next step!

Baileigh named her first fish, Uno. We encouraged her to name her second fish, Dos...but she stuck with Uno and said she would name her next fish Dos if this one dies soon. Mckenna named her fish, Belle...because she is beautiful!? And Brooke decided on Dorothy, like Elmo...which is funny to me since she doesn't really watch much of Elmo but somehow remembered he had a fish named Dorothy. She even picked out the most traditional looking goldfish of our group...just like Dorothy.