Pablo the Pet Snail

Yesterday morning, after my boys got ready for school they disappeared outside and I became curious when they became very quiet, which is generally a sign they're up to NO GOOD! So, I went to check things out and to my pleasant surprise I saw them sitting around the table looking very intently at something. Whenever I see my boys huddled outside they've usually discovered some poor living/breathing organism, which quickly becomes their next victim--most likely a bug of some sort, spider, or lizard that has fallen prey to their curiosity. Sure enough, I walk over and they're all infatuated with a little snail. As I watch them, they are treating it all pet-like by letting it crawl up and down their arms, leaving a trail of slime in it's path. They even named it Pablo and I thought it was sweet enough to run in and grab my camera to capture this endearing moment of my little boys and their new pet, Pablo. In one picture it looks like Scotty is even trying to give it a butterfly kiss on it's little shell...(SIGH) my sweet little boys!!!

Their attention spans are still in the very early stages of development and they quickly grew tired of Pablo and ran into the house and off they went to school....

......OR SO I THOUGHT!!! This is where it all went very, very wrong! I went upstairs to change Caroline's diaper just as the boys came in the house and apparently they had brought the snail in. They put three cups in the freezer, one with just water, one with Pablo and an orange peel and one with some charcoal from the fire pit. We've been working on a science project for Hayes where we've been putting clay in various places to see how it reacts differently to hot and cold temperatures. Thankfully...they didn't figure out a way to expose the snail to heat and just to the cold. Maybe...they were going to try to bbq Pablo with the charcoal, but water and our freezer were much more accessible than fire. WHEW!

DISCLAIMER: THERE WERE NO SLIMY CREATURES INJURED IN THE PURPOSE OF THE CREATION OF THIS BLOG POST! After my gruesome discovery, I set the living/breathing (or whatever it is snails do to exist) Pablo free in the backyard!

I think the orange peel is an act of compassion....you know, so the snail doesn't starve as he is dying a slow, cold, lonely death. WHAT... do you think my children are complete heathens???