So sad...

Remember Finley?  We got him in Oct. 2010, and he's been my kitchen fish ever since.  I've been rather fond of having him around, seeing him there when I do dishes, etc.

Well, this morning I discovered he'd died overnight.  It was a total surprise, there was no real warning.  He wasn't sick or anything, there'd been no drastic change in activity (I mean, he's a betta.  They're not the most active of fishes.)

I feel like I'm overly sad about it, but I this also comes on the back of losing half my fish in the big tank after buying two beautiful swordtails from Petco that lived just long enough to give everyone else a fungus.  I lost my angel fish and other 3 swordtails, and Gillbert (the tank betta) hasn't acting normal since.  So I guess being so upset about losing Finley is really frustration about losing 5 fish in a week. (well, 7, since the two new swordtails died too).

Boo.  I need to remember not to buy fish from Petco anymore.  Even if they are the only ones who carry such pretty swordtails.

the zoo and dancing

We went to the zoo yesterday!  I had to take advantage of 60 degrees in January!

This guy was feeling pretty aggressive.  He'd displayed at all the kids and ran around his habitat before I could get a picture.  Scared Erin as she was standing right in front of him.

Hesty, the baby orangutan, is about 18 months old now.  It's amazing how much more climbing and such she was doing on her own versus the last time we came in October.

 And the way this guy was chilling out made me laugh.

The yawning fish is about as big as me.  He's an arapaima, and amazon river fish, and the biggest freshwater fish species.  They can get up to 15 feet.

 Baby komodo dragon!

 Erin loves the lions.  We had to visit them again.

 And I got video of Erin dancing to the end credits of the movie Robots.  I need to get her into dance lessons.

Scout

Erin got Scout for Christmas in 2009.  Lately Patrick has been really jealous, and it's causing problems at bedtime.  Patrick has been climbing into Erin's bed to steal him.

So after talking it over, we bought Patrick his own.  He was SO exited to have one that said his name.

She's getting so big!

A few days ago Allison got her first try of food (baby oatmeal)

She kept staring at Patrick's banana like she wanted to steal it.

I think she likes this stuff.

 And she found her feet!

And yesterday I decided to stick her in the cart at Joanne's instead of bringing in her carseat.  Isn't she adorable??