Goodbye Jobblers, Hello Binny Gigs!

Oh furry friends, you bring so much excitement to a home! Poppy & Buttercup, the girls' beloved gerbils graced us with their presence for 2-3 years before we said farewell. More on them later. Petless for awhile, which I kind of liked, we added two new furry friends to the Nest over the weekend!  

Meet Daisy & Delilah, our new Guinea Pigs or as Arlo starting off calling them "Binny Gigs." Definitely didn't want to correct that one, ha! We knew we were ready for another pet and though we want to enjoy a family dog, now is certainly not the time. When our kids say we are grumpy, all I can think of is how incredibly more grumpy we would be with a puppy! We look forward to it (I think) when the time is right but for now, these little ladies will provide the snuggles all the Valentine children desire! 

Prior to life in quarantine we began discussing the possibility of a furry addition or two to the family. Initially, it was the girls requesting. They had chosen the names, Sugarplum & Honeysuckle, had a plan for where their cage would stay & could hardly wait to pick them out. After some discussion and the realization that Guinea Pigs live for 5-7 years, I was excited at the possibility of pushing off the dog dilemma a little further but it meant that the boys would not have a pet. Our decision was that we would get two and they would be family pets. You can imagine how well that went over when we delivered the news.  After the girls regained composure, all agreed that it sounded fun!

Robby has kept me laughing through this entire process. Early on in quarantine, we did not know how long it would last. He kept telling the girls that if we got guinea pigs & things got really dire, there was a possibility that we would have to eat them. We all giggled about it until the meat plants began to shut down. Over the course of weeks, I spent some time looking at cages & reading about how to take care of these little creatures. All the people in our home thought I was a little insane & I might have been ; ) I want to be a responsible pet owner. I will admit that the search for the perfect cage was a little out of hand. I came across one for a bunny called a Wabbitat that was quoted to work well for our animal of choice. All said and done, we settled on something else but I sure loved the name "Wabbitat!" For as much time as a I spent looking, I should have practiced saying Guinea Pig instead of Gerbil. It was ridiculous. Everyone was constantly laughing at me. In fact, when I went into the store Robby said, "you better not come out with gerbils!"

We held out until Mother's Day weekend when it felt a bit safer to be out....it was not an essential trip right? Although, it was essential that we needed some entertainment around here.  Apparently, the rest of DFW felt the same because there was a piggy shortage by the time we were ready to make our purchase! Who knew they were so popular! Robby said, "See, I told you. People are eating them." Hahaha, maybe he was right! 

My first online search for Guinea Pigs pulled up a rescue group. They had dozens of pictures of named ones that I should have not let the kids see. They were attached to a trio & we were a firm 'no' on getting that many! I called the place & they said people were on a two week waiting list & to submit my application. Well, we looked through the application & I read the questions aloud to Robby in the kitchen one night. It was a little too extreme like we were adopting a child and they would need to perform a home study. Robby said that if I let him fill out the application we could rest assured that we would not be cleared for an adoption. One great question, "How much are you willing to spend in a Guinea Pig emergency?" Hmmmmm..... nada? 

This pushed us on to Petsmart & Petco.  The cage arrived Saturday and once we put it together I thought I would call a store or two.  Zero available. The search turned into nine calls. Robby joked saying that customer service was calling other stores to report me, the crazy lady that was anxious to make her meat purchase." Maybe he wasn't joking. We all cheered when we found out that the Rockwall store had two boys and a girl. The kids were shocked that we said, "Hurry up! Get in the car!" It's really a delight to be fun parents every now and then! We raced there & joked that everyone was going to beat us there and we would be left pig-less. We wanted two girls but the kids thought it would be fun to have a boy & a girl. Robby said we could teach them about the "pigs and the fleas" instead of the "birds and the bees."  We pulled up & I jumped out of the car as we rolled past the entrance.  The plan was to text pictures & let the kids vote. Robby texted back and said everyone was arguing so I could pick. As I was making my decision, a dad plus two kids walked up a little too excited to get the same pets as me. Thankfully I had first dibs or I might have gotten into a fist fight. Robby would have been pleased to see me escorted out in cuffs.  No cuffs, just a mask. A sign of the times!

I arrived at the car & presented the newest member of the family who would later be named Delilah. She is about 9 months old & brought a squeal to all the kids! Arlo has been calling her July-lah. She looks a bit like a possum.....

We took her home, got her settled & headed out back for a Mother's Day Eve camp out. The next morning I thought we should get a jump on finding a sissy for Delilah so round two of searching began. Embarrassed (a little bit) to say that I called 15 stores before I found one! Who knew they were so popular! Again, we hopped in the car and made a mad dash to Frisco. It was the most driving we had done since early March and the Expedition was about to run out of gas. We were willing to walk to get her though ; ) 

The guy that helped me had a hard time catching her in the large, elevated enclosure she was in. He said, "excuse me ma'am" hiked up his pants and went face first, up to his waist, into the cage. Oh my goodness, I had a hard time not bursting out in laughter! Soon enough, I was exiting the store, a proud owner of another piggy! 

I happily presented Delilah's little sister, Daisy. Anson immediately started calling her Skunky due to her skunk like similarities. 

 Skunky is a perfect nick-name don't you think? 

So far, they have been mostly held or played with by all seven of us. Robby had some as kids & actually had the opportunity to learn about the "pigs and the fleas" when six baby piggies were born. I told his dad that our were both girls & he said that you just never know, ha! Let's hope we don't end up with a bunch of squeaking pigs! They are noisy & welcome snuggles. Daisy sat with me for a bit while I composed this post. Arlo REALLY likes them and covers them with hay any chance he gets. He talks sweetly though and thankfully hasn't given them too tight of a squeeze yet!

I have been teased that I am more excited than the kids.  Maybe it's true : ) 

I mean Daisy did help my write this post about her.

Here are a few snap shots of the last 48 hours...

 Arlo has been looking out for those girlies....inside & outside the cage.

Now let's back track to a few years to March 17, 2017 when we gave the rodent thing a try. I HATE the species title of "rodent!" I only remember the date because it was on Bella's birthday. What a horrible gift for her! The girls were convinced if the gerbils made eye contact with Bella that their hearts would stop beating. I think that was false. Here is Lolo at the check out counter. 

Poppy & Buttercup were the chosen names & belonged to Charlotte and Eloise.  The girls' buddies provided all the attention and affection needed while we were out of town & their five year old could not remember how to say 'gerbil' and kept calling them 'jobblers or jambles' hence the title of this post  : )

Preparation for a  presentation at school quickly began.

When the kids and I went out of town, Robby was put in charge with very strict instructions....

This is the contract they wrote up with promises and consequences. I'm pretty sure they broke every promise.

Soon enough, design and construction of a gerbil maze was in full swing.

There were lots of "helpers" and onlookers.

We were pretty impressed with the final product.

Some had to be restrained.

This picture was taken on their first birthday. At some point during their lives, the girls talked about how neat it was that they brought the gerbils in from the wild.  Robby said to me in private, "those gerbils are 10th generation Petsmart." Haha! They were well loved but super squirmy & they chewed holes in SO many of the girls' clothes. Speaking of chewing, if you put any piece of cardboard or paper in their cage, they neurotically chewed it to bits without stopping. SO creepy. The girls always swore they could tell them apart...I'm not so sure.

The boys were never allowed to hold them unless the girls were gone & I let them. They had a blast and we never told their protective owners. One time when the girls were cleaning the cage on the driveway, they could not locate the bucket in which they had left the pair in. I did a quick search & couldn't stop laughing when two year old Arlo came around the corner swinging the bucket like it was a ride at the fair! Those little rodents (yuck) were pretty durable till they weren't.

Poppy's life ended abruptly last August when she had what looked like a seizure then fell to the ground from Eloise's hands. It was quite traumatic. My friend Courtney was over with her three boys which always makes for an extreme amount of activity between all six of the boys. I ran from the room when Elo screamed and scooped Poppy up from the ground. Her life ended with both of them watching. I should have thought through the next steps before I did them. We put her back in the cage so Buttercup would realize she would be alone. This brought on tears from the girls. Chaos was going on outside the door and I had to sneak out to get a box. Courtney said, "What happened??" I told her & we both had wide eyes....sad but hilarious that they were all there. We put her in a box & once the girls dried their faces, they exited the room. Immediately, six year old Moses said loudly, "I'm sorry your gerbil died!" Owen & Anson, who had no idea what was going on,  were like, "What?? It died?!" We attempted a burial in the backyard but it was mostly rock under the spot we were digging. It ended with Charlotte putting the box in the freezer until we decided what to do. On trash day, she said, let's put it out there & let them take her. I was shocked and went with it! So, that was the end of Poppy.

Buttercup survived until a couple months ago when she likely had a stroke. We told the girls that she would probably die soon but she went on to live a few more weeks. The kids and I were out of town & Robby reported that she was doing fine but could only turn right. She got around okay but once we were home just a week before official quarantine began, things worsened. Eloise was devastated. We gave her some time alone to say goodbye. She watched her closely & reported her last breath had been taken. Robby went to get her out of the cage and she jerked a little bit. Eloise squealed, "She's still alive!" Robby told her that he didn't think she was but he wasn't a gerbil coroner and that she could ask me to use my stethoscope to confirm a time of death. I am so glad he is funny. In the end, I think she went out on trash day too.

Well that is a sad way to conclude this otherwise happy post! We will end with a picture of the proud "parents" of our furry pals......

Also, big thanks to the man not photographed often. He can be credited for being the driver, comedian, photographer & fun dad.

Sea World Texas style

Living in the Sunshine State, we grew accustomed to having Disney & Sea World at our fingertips. We actually spent more time at Disney pre-children but Sea World became a fast favorite when we were Robby & Lauren + 2. Once we twins arrived we basically only left the house if necessary....kind of like the current quarantine ; ) 

Sea World was just perfect though, small & within 15 minutes from the house. I have dreamy memories of Robby coming out of his office at 4 & saying "Let's head over to Sea World & catch the last Shamu show of the day!" We would grab snacks for the girlies, hop in the car and were there in no time at all! Shamu was always waiting for us along with the "rollie coastie" as Charlotte sweetly said. It was no surprise that I would feel great sadness over losing the around the corner entertainment once we moved back to Dallas & hoped that we could eventually take the whole crew back. Since a drive to Orlando was out of the question, Sea World San Antonio was the next best option & my birthday was the perfect opportunity for a fun filled day! It's funny how dreamy memories can be misleading....we had a lovely time but it was far from perfect! It included some rogue (disobedient) Orcas & me coming a little too close to punching a woman in the face in the lunch line.

We thought a slight drizzly forecast for the morning would keep people away but it did not. Humidity was on par for mid May in Texas which actually reminded me of Florida.  First stop was the PERFECT "rollie coastie" for our first time rider, Darling Arlo.  Owen & Anson had PTSD after we made them ride a mini roller coaster at Oktoberfest one year so they were a little reluctant to ride Super Grover's Box Car Derby, sounds incredibly intimidating right?

The best part about the rides is if you have a vertically challenged rider, mama or daddy get to ride along. Guess who accompanied Arlo? None other than yours truly, his favorite person in the world. I didn't mind riding next to him the 10 times we rode over the course of the day. He was so proud to be a big kid! 

I loved that the boys' car they liked best was called the "buddy buggy," perfect for twinkies. 

Another highlight of the day was riding Atlantis! We were shocked that Arlo, at age three, was actually tall enough to ride. It went up, then backward, then forward ending with a 100 foot drop & getting soaked. It might not have been the best idea but he did, twice! First go around, I rode with all the kids & he really liked it so when we were up for round two, Robby rode with a few kids then the rest of us took the next boat with Arlo as my assigned buddy. Once we started clicking up the ramp, he panicked & began screaming that he didn't want to ride & definitely didn't want to go backward. The people in front of us looked back probably thinking that they would call CPS when they disembarked. I wanted to yell in defense, "He already rode it once & was begging to go again!" I felt awful, but by the time we got to the final drop (10 seconds later) he was squealing with delight & afterward said it was his favorite ride ever. We were proud of the kids for trying something so daunting! Here they are looking at it upon arrival to the park.

 

 I took this next picture with our drone ; ) Just kidding, I found it online & just had to include to show how steep it really was.

Rides have always been extremely fun & it doesn't seem like too long ago that I would ride nearly everything. My how the times have changed! I was thankful for the man pictured below as he promised to ride with Eloise on Sea Swinger....the name says it all. It was swinging & spinning simultaneously up 3-4 stories high. Goodness sakes, I felt nauseous watching! Charlotte decided against riding last minute & then when she got the guts to ride, the ride was being tested after not working properly. Bummer for her...maybe next time! I consoled her by saying that I never like being the first rider after a "service the engine" visit from personnel.

All said and done, she loved it but as soon as she was locked in, she was REALLY nervous!

The girlies also rode their first real roller coaster that felt like they were on jet skis. They claimed it was the BEST!

Partway through the day, everyone was depleted & starving. Why do they have to eat so frequently?! We probably should have started finding a place earlier because by the time we had food, some had lost their marbles. This guy recovered quickly after a blast of sugar.

Inside the place where we were ordering food, there were some large school groups of kids in maybe 5th & 6th grade. Robby & the boys went to get those sugar drinks while the girls stayed with me. I think I was hot, hungry & a little grumpy because as one of the lady chaperones let more and more students cut in line just ahead of us, my blood began to boil. I tried to keep my cool but oh my. I finally said, "Are you kidding? How many more people are you going to let in line? I have five little kids I need to feed & you are holding me up!" She stared back at me & responded in a nasty way. I couldn't believe it was happening. I despise conflict & NEVER lay into strangers! All her students were looking at me along with my daughters. I felt ridiculous & incredibly rude. Once we got closer to the check out, I approached her & apologized. I said it was my birthday & I really just wanted to eat. Ha! We all got our food & it wasn't really that big of a deal. Before she walked away, she tapped my arm and said she really hoped I had a wonderful rest of my birthday. I guess she wasn't that bad after all ; )

After some greasy theme park food, we were doing all right again!

There was another tense moment when it was time to board a brand new ride called Riptide Rescue. It spun but I figured I would survive. I got in line with the big boys and when it was time to get on, they let Anson on but not Owen! They are just about an inch apart in height & I guess Anson barely made the cut. I was so sad for Owen & mad at the guy working as I thought, "C'mon man, you can see they are clearly twins!" Anson had a great time though and we talked about the importance of keeping his celebrating to a minimum.

All leading up to our trip, we talked up the Shamu show. It was magical in Orlando & boy was I excited to experience it with the whole crew. It used to bring me to tears & this time it nearly did the same for different reasons. Here are the troopers happily waiting for the show to start. 

This next photo just about sums it up. No Orcas showing their skills! They decided to do their own thing & every time the music came to an exciting part.....NOTHING! It was a little humorous as the show went along.  It was so bad that the employees came to dump buckets of water on those in the Splash Zone since the whales would not participate. Ha! After the show, we made a beeline for the exit. Hungry again, Chuy's was the next stop.  

Chuy's was just down the road & a strawberry margarita was awaiting the birthday girl's arrival. It was perfect after a long, hot day! We scarfed down ten bowls of chips & salsa then Elo's tummy ache began.  We ate as quickly as we could hoping to make it "home" before she felt any worse. Following the kids meal comes our crew's favorite part....orange push pops. We have a favorite video of Arlo at around 18 months battling it out with me when I tried to take his push pop away. Since Eloise was feeling crummy, we took them to-go along with her dinner. 

Robby got her up to our room for a quick bath & helped her into bed while I took the other four kids to the pool area to eat those long awaited push pops! We had played at the pool the day prior & it was super family friendly but the nightlife was a bit different. There were a number of nicely dressed people sitting poolside looking over the Riverwalk, a few swimming and ZERO children. I felt we had no choice though so I opened the bag to divvy up dessert. After our drive and our mad dash to the pool, they turned out to be a little melted...surprise, surprise! It was nothing short of disastrous with melted push pop not only coating the boys faces & hands but all over the table, dripping through the slats onto their legs. Charlotte & I couldn't stop giggling and all the shenanigans attracted more attention than I was expecting. I thought about tossing the boys into the pool to rinse off before heading upstairs but decided against it. I cleaned up the best I could then we scurried to our room in hopes to avoid any further shaming. 

Everybody got showered and sweet Eloise, who continually apologized for feeling sick on my birthday, was feeling a bit better. She ended up eating a burger & fries in bed while we watched a silly, family sitcom. It took us back to the days of Family Matters & Full House with the laugh track. I had my sidekick Arlo snuggled up with me. It must have been a cozy spot because he was looking like this pretty soon after the snuggle fest began... PERFECT end to the day.

After a good night's sleep, Texas shaped waffles dripping in syrup were in order before our trek home. Owen kept his Sea World key chain in his hand all morning. Again, those souvenirs times five kids meant that key chains were an economical purchase!

After breakfast we finished packing up then hauled everything down to the lobby, while valet went to get our car.  There were round metal tables that all three boys were treating as drums....it was time to go! I had been on the couch with my bag when the car arrived. We got all our belongings into the car, five kids buckled & I hopped into the front seat. My heart dropped when I realized my pillow (that I can't sleep without) was missing! I ran back in & lo and behold, there was a man on the couch asleep ON MY PILLOW! I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I tried to talk myself through how I should go about getting my pillow back.  I decided to tap him on the arm. He look surprised to see me & more surprised that he was on my pillow. It was great.

The ride home was complete with a stop at Collin Street Bakery, a bit of whining & a podcast about insects. I'd say it wasn't too bad! We were quite thankful  to sneak away for a few nights and enjoy time with just the seven of us. They are my favorite people.