Wow, today was so different from what we're used to around here. Normally a Friday afternoon would have consisted of Abby and Daddy doing what they could to give Mommy peace and quiet as she struggled to do hours of paperwork for Saturday clinicals. But today, I got off work early and after a few things, the three of us were able to go to the park together, the mall, and the SPCA (or the pet store, as Abby refers to it). It was awesome - no schoolwork to worry about or anything looming over us. Well, there's always the move and everything, but it was nice to enjoy a few hours of family time.

The playground at this park was just about the coolest thing to most of the kids there. Abby was having a blast on the slides and swings, but soon realized that there were a few caterpillars around. Well, more than a few. All of the kids were picking them up by the handfuls. It didn't take long for the adults around to realize that the majority of them were dead - unable to take the heat of the rubber-gravel turf or whatever the heck it was the ground was made of. But some of them were crawling frantically, trying to find a spot of shade where the ground wouldn't scorch their many little feet. This would cause half a dozen kids to gather as they either tried to grab it first or see who was brave enough to grab it. Now, Abby is not fond of bugs. Not even cute little fuzzy caterpillars. In the beginning, she was running from them. Typical little girl. But after watching the other kids, she got brave enough to start touching the "sleeping" ones. Even picked one up, and promptly dropped it with a nervous laugh. Finally, she pet one that was crawling around. She was so proud of herself. We were, too. It was awesome to watch the progression of being totally scared of them to being able to touch the live ones. We attribute it to watching the other kids do it and realizing that they were okay. Ahh, the power of peer pressure.

When we got home, Abby was playing with a small rubber elephant and monkey that she had. She stuck the elephant in her mouth at one point and spit it out. Pretty gross, we said, now it's all dirty and yucky. So she went to the bathroom sink to rinse it off. She was gone for a bit, then started crying. We rushed in, worried she may have slipped, but she was upset about something else.



Yep, it fell in. We took out the little stopper-plug thingy in our sink because it was too short and wouldn't allow the water to drain properly. So we had to set out on a rescue mission to get the poor thing. Everyone knows that an elephant stuck in a drain pipe can only end in tragedy (but for who?)

Mommy gets the tweezers to pull it out (it hadn't fallen very far in).




She was holding the elephant in this picture, but it took me too long to actually get the shot- and the dang thing slipped out.


Uh oh!



And it's no longer visible. Fell to the U-bend (the same place where moaning myrtle used to...I mean, *ahem* let me get my tools)

And Daddy saves the day and rescues the elephant!
So after a thorough washing, Abby and elephant were reunited.



So now that nursing school is done, we can focus on housing. Where to live? I think some sort of domicile is important. At least school and work will want an address, so we may need one eventually. We may go to Richmond tomorrow to look around and see what can be offered. One nice thing about Richmond is that they actually have an Olive Garden!!! So lunch tomorrow may be a special affair.