June Summer Fun

The kids called me out to the yard because a big black garter snake was shedding its skin right in front of their eyes!  Sure enough, it was slithering through the grass, leaving the smooth cylinder of skin behind it and turned a made a beeline for our front landscaping.  We were watching from the front window when Nolan hollered that it was climbing inside and within seconds the slippery bugger had completely disappeared inside our bay window.  It was absolutely panic inducing to think that we now had a large snake inside the walls of our house!  I called several different pest control companies, as well as a nuisance animal removal company and none of them offered any ideas of how to get the snake out.  In fact, one of them said that it would be impossible to get it out and suggested it could pop out from the ceiling tiles in the basement at any time!  Talk about nightmare fuel!  We took that as our cue to go spend the night at Steve and Patti's house, where we got some needed rest.  The next day I had a doctor's appointment, and while I was gone the snake reemerged.  Eric bravely "took care of it" and it will not be making any future appearances.  

The day after the snake debacle, I looked up under the window as I was backing out of the driveway and noticed their was a giant gray cat curled up underneath it.  I pulled back up and called to the kitty and she meowed back - clearly terrified, but accustomed to people.  I quickly called the Humane Society, figuring someone had lost their pet. The kids got very excited, thinking we might keep it, but after a day or two at the Humane Society, it was reclaimed by its owner.

We took a trip to Sand Lake with our buddies.  They found "dinosaur bones" in the sand, built sand castles, and tried to catch tiny fish in their buckets.  It was such a beautiful day!

We did a backyard campout, complete with a Simon-led storytime around the campfire of his favorite "Cat Party" book.

We spent Father's Day at Tom's house, enjoying the boat and some time together on the water.  We even took out the kayaks for the first time!

This is Boomerang.  He desparetely wants to live in our garage.  We have removed him many times and taken him back to the woods, but he keeps coming back.  I guess he lives in our garage now.

We had the most blissful night in Hodag Park, listening to the live music and watching the kids dance and play.