Pond Chronicles Part III

Evan and Todd keep working on the pond, and it is paying off. This past weekend I saw some lovely flowers blooming and just had to take a photo. A big change after the snail destruction episode! Thus, we now have these pretty plants and one orange fish in the pond.

Evan is cleaning the pump every day and had the idea that get a fish that eats algae would help. We made our way to the pet store and got the biggest one we could find. The store clerk warned us not to expect miracles, but Evan was okay with that.

Evan putting his new fish in the pond.

Since it looks like the pond is going to stay, Todd started fixing it up with some decorative slate. I'm impressed!

Pond Chronicles Part II

Evan's pond continues to be a learning experience for our whole family. Right after we put the huge snails in the pond, we saw some eggs on the side. We were so excited because all we could imagine was the fun of watching them hatch and have baby snails.

This past weekend there was an article in our paper about the snails, called apple snails, and how destructive they are to our area. At that point, we noticed the destruction that they had done to our little pond. Thus, we were convinced that the eggs and snails had to go.

Those snails destroyed all of our plants!

Snails right before their demise.

Todd got some new plants and we still have the tadpoles in the pond, so here goes our second try at a pretty pond!

 Pond do-over!

Pond Chronicles

Our pond continues to be quite an adventure. If you see the last photo on the blog I did on our new pond, you saw the pretty orange fish swimming happily around its new home. The day after I took that photo, I was walking Gwen and went to check out the pond. I peered into the pond and looked and looked and didn't see the pretty orange fish. I then looked to my side and saw it laying in the grass about 3 feet away, dead. We think that it must have jumped out of the pond and then died in the hot sun.

On the positive side, the large tadpole that Evan caught now has some feet sprouting and should be a frog soon. Evan and Todd also went fishing this weekend. They didn't catch any fish, but did come home with some huge snails. They are now residents of our pond.



This weekend, while Chad was hanging with his friend at at the mall, Evan and I went to the movies and saw the Smurfs. Evan, always thinking ahead, brought a bunch of quarters and couldn't wait to blow them in the game room.






Our Gwennie girl is still the sweetest dog in the whole world. Here are some of recent pics:







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Happy Birthday Chad!

How time flies! I can't believe that you are 15 years old today! I have watched you grow from an adorable little boy with the longest eyelashes into a young man who is anxious for new experiences and finding out what this world is all about. I loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you and love you even more today. Here are some photos of you when you were little. Hope you enjoy them and have an awesome birthday!

 4th Birthday

 5th Birthday

Being a great big brother.

 

Your first day of kindergarten.

My favorite, Adoption Day!

 Still watching out for your little brother.

All grown up (almost) and ready for fun!

Outside Projects

Both boys started school today and they like their teachers, so we are off to a good start this school year.

The guys have been busy outside over the past couple of weeks. First, there was the planting of two new orange trees:

Todd was in charge of digging.

Evan did the watering.

A successfully planted tree!

Evan has been going crazy in our ditch catching tadpoles:

Evan's super big tadpole.

Evan and his "mini-aquarium" for his catches.

Somehow, Evan convinced Todd that his tadpoles needed a bigger home and that we had to have a pond. He must have been quite convincing, because now we have a pond:

Evan cleaning the pond donated by Todd's mom.

Digging the hole for the pond.

Todd and Evan getting the pond ready for fish and tadpoles.

Evan putting his baby tadpoles in the pond.

The completed pond with a big fish donated by Todd's mom.