Valentines (A Bit Belated)

Given that I managed not to update the blog in February, I've decided to play catch up...

Abby went with a snake theme for her Valentines this year.

And Daniel went with Star Wars. (That's a glo-stick attached to the card.)

Baby Fish

On Tuesday, Abby yelled excitedly that she saw a baby fish in our aquarium. I came running and was just in time to see one of our fish eat the baby. Abby and I groaned. We did see a few other babies and I was able to catch one in a net. Will and Abby went to the fish store and bought a breeding box to protect the baby.

The photo below shows our aquarium. It is a 30 gallon tank, so pretty big. The red arrow points to the breeding box that floats at the surface of the tank (anchored with a suction cup).

I was able to get the baby into the breeding box. This was no small feat given how TINY it was. The photo below shows a close-up of the breeding box. The red arrow points to the baby. TINY, I'm telling you! Abby named the baby Oh-Little-Blueberry.

The next morning I was looking in the tank and actually saw another baby (we thought they had all been eaten). I caught it and added it to the breeding box. Daniel named it Oh-Little-Strawberry.

The photo below shows Oh-Little-Blueberry and Oh-Little-Strawberry a few days after we found them. They are still tiny, but are growing. We are not certain what kind of fish they are, but they are either mollies or swordtails. Abby thinks they are starting to look like mollies, but I still think they are too small to tell.

Abby's First Car

Yesterday we said goodbye to Abby's first car and purchased what very well may become Abby's first car. Confused? Let me explain...

When Abby was three days old, we brought her home from the hospital in our Mazda 626. She cried at first, but eventually fell asleep.

Over the next couple of months, she spent a lot of time sleeping in that car as we drove around DC.

The Mazda was old when we brought Abby home in it, so we eventually bought a new car. It has been our primary car since Abby was quite young. We brought Daniel home in it, but now it too is getting older. It was time for it to become our secondary car.

So, yesterday we said our goodbyes to the Mazda 626. We all loved that car and affectionately named it Mama Beluga. Abby said her sad goodbyes.

And Will and I posed with the Polaroid picture taken when we bought the Mazda fifteen years ago (it was three years old when we bought it).

With our goodbyes said, we were ready to say hello. Daniel approved of our new car. Although, he and I really liked the red Corvette parked next to it...

As we explained to Abby, this will be the car she learns to drive in. And possibly her first car -- maybe she'll drive off to college in this car??

We posed for a family photo...

...and we were off on our first road trip (to Decorah for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Engelhardt)!

Daniel quickly decided the new car is nap worthy.

And I decided that Minnesota winters should indeed be accompanied with seat warmers!