Be Free!

Yesterday, it was time to say goodbye to our little ones. No, not the boys — the tadpoles and toads that have graced our dining room table for the last couple of months. We’d all become attached to them, but I was grateful when Ezra and Finn agreed to Bruce’s plan to take them back to the Arroyo this weekend since they’d balked at the idea a few weeks ago. Finn said that now the tadpoles could make friends and get married, since they’d find other tadpoles that weren’t in their family. I’m not sure where he learned that concept.

Anyway, we loaded them up in the van for their final trip.

And took them here.

I skipped out on this trip, but Bruce enlisted some friends — Cari with Ruby and Chapin and Jon with Kai and Caleb.

What on earth possessed them to do this I’ll never know, but Ezra, Finn and Ruby jumped in that gross water and started dragging out the algae.

They eventually had this giant haul.

Kai and Caleb preferred to play on the shore.

And Chapin caught a lot of toads.

Here’s a video to show the toads. Bruce said it was hard to really get them because they would scatter when he got near. It’s hard to believe there were more than this.

Even though I didn’t get to go on this trip, I felt like I was there thanks to Cari’s awesome texts and pictures while they were there. Here’s a sampling:

“Our kids r going 2 come down w algae disease. They’re in heaven!”

“U might want to toss ur plastic containers. I’m just sayin’.” (They went right in the trash when the boys got home. Yuck.)

And my favorite: “Half step from Lord of the Flies.” I was on a nice walk up in Altadena when I got that one and laughed out loud.

All in all, it was a successful — if gross — trip. And my dining room is now tadpole free.