I have obviously been absent from blogging for a couple of weeks, so I have to back up a little to post about our quick trip to Tahoe. Friends of ours have a friend with a house in Tahoe who offered to let them stay there for a week. And they, very generously, invited us to join them. We turned the offer down at first because of full schedules, high gas prices, and the 9 hour drive. But, the more we thought about it, the more we thought that it could be a really fun getaway with friends that we shouldn't pass up. We knew that we couldn't swing a full week, but could probably pull off a few days. And, I am so glad we did. Although it is the end of May, there was a full winter storm happening in Tahoe, which made the weekend perfect for the kids. Let me just say that I am not a cold/snow loving person at all. I would more accurately be described as a cold hating person. We grew up vacationing on various lakes, waterskiing in over 100 degree heat, jumping in the lake to cool off every time the person skiing would fall. That's my idea of a good time. Bundling up in huge, heavy layers while lugging snow equipment up some big hill and freezing my butt off, is not. However, I will admit, that it was a really fun time, and we're so grateful to our wonderful friends for including us in their vacation. It really couldn't have been better. One of the main reasons that it was so fun, despite the cold, was because our kids were absolutely loving every minute of it. And, as a parent, that makes it all worthwhile. They never complained about the cold, or the hard work of traipsing through the snow to find a good sledding hill, or the lugging of the sled up and down the hill over and over again. They just had great attitudes and a great time. Jake immediately began turning his sled into a snowboard and declared that he has now decided to become a champion snowboarder.
Another one of the highlights of the weekend for them was this...
One of the nights I was in the kitchen cooking up some bacon for a breakfast casserole when I looked out the window and saw this bear RIGHT outside of it, just walking down the street. I don't think he could resist the smell of the bacon. Unfortunately, by the time I thought to get my camera, I only caught a little bit of his backside.
So, that explains the "Bears" portion of the title, but you may be wondering where the "Spiders and Snakes" come in. Well, a few days after returning from Tahoe, I had sent the kids outside to play. In what is a very rare occurrence around here, the entire house was clean - as in floors, bathrooms, everything - all at the same time, and I intended to keep it that way for at least the afternoon. So, I gave the munchkins specific instructions that if they wanted to come inside for any reason, they needed to talk to me about it first. When they came running inside without following these instructions, I was about to let 'em have it. That is, until I actually listened to what they were shouting, which was, "Mommy, there's a rattlesnake in the garage!" Over the past few years, we have had several rattlesnakes around the house and neighborhood, and I knew that Jake knew what he was talking about. Apparently, the kids were playing in the garage and Jake decided that he wanted to catch a spider to keep in his little bug catcher. The spider went behind an old mattress that we have leaning up against the garage door, and Jake was reaching his hand back there to try to catch the spider. Yes, that's what I said, REACHING HIS HAND BACK THERE, completely unaware that he was reaching in the very spot that a rattlesnake had taken up residence and was now feeling threatened by the fact that his space was being invaded. Addi was, as usual, right by Jake's side. That's when they heard rattling and looked and saw the head of the snake, and then ran in to tell me. Jake said that it wasn't a very big one, which is even scarier since the babies are more deadly than the adults. I called Jay and told him that he needed to come home and kill a snake. Jay has become kind of the neighborhood rattlesnake killer when anyone has one in their backyard because everybody else is afraid to deal with them. So, that's what he did.
The snake was hanging out behind that mattress in the picture and Jay had to use his "snake-killing" tools to pull him out from behind there. That, of course, did not make the snake happy, and he kept trying to strike at Jay.
Jay was giving the kids a little science lesson on the fangs of a rattlesnake and also on the way that the body continues to move even though the head has been cut off. Seriously, the body kept curling up and appeared to keep trying to strike at us even after his head had been cut off. Crazy!
Addi was going to hold the snake to pose for the picture until I told her that she would have to wash her hands after that. Then she decided that it wasn't worth it. She's a busy woman and can't be bothered with hand-washing. It was her turn to get to keep the rattle though, so she put it in a baggie and then proceeded to lose it within the hour.
Jake then buried the snake and built a little shrine for him.
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