Epic Ant Farm

We've got some new pets in the house - add these to our sea monkeys swimming about in the living room, and also the caterpillars in the kitchen.  We may have not mentioned this, but we ordered some special caterpillars who are now eating a whole lot of their food in the kitchen, getting fatter by the day.  It is simply amazing how fast these guys grow.  They start out so small, and get so big and fat so quickly.  Take a look at the caterpillars:

When they start to hang from their "ceiling" there, we'll place them in the butterfly sanctuary we've got.  As you can tell, with all these critters in the house, we're getting fairly close to calling ourselves a zoo!

But back to the ant farm:  we got the ants in the mail today, and did everything as instructed with Madison at our side.  She was pretty involved in the process, of course wanting to name them all too.  They're getting busy pretty quickly - even as I type this, the ants are starting to dig in, exploring their new home, assign roles and go on reconnaissance missions down the tunnels.  I don't think it will be long before we start seeing new tunnels - of course we'll post pictures.

As for our other pets, the sea monkeys, there's not much to show just yet.  We don't see many in there - maybe about three or four so far.  And those that we can see are extremely small.  It would take a special camera to get a picture of those pets right now, but they are in there, swimming around.  The important thing is giving them oxygen and feeding them about once every five days.  We're on task there, and we're seeing those pets grow as well.  Soon we'll be able to see them a lot easier, at which point we'll hopefully post some pictures too!

Today we met the whole family - Daddy's family - over at the movie theater.  We went to see the movie "Epic," which was loosely based on the book "The Leaf Men."  I say "loosely" because the only thing it had in common with the book were the Leaf Men.  But that doesn't mean it was a bad movie - I'd put it up there with "Rise of the Guardians."  Not quite "Brave" or "Wreck-it Ralph," but still worth a watch.  The animation is beautiful, and the story starts grabbing you a bit more towards the end.  We had all of this popcorn, and of course smuggled-in drinks and candy - our whole family took up the back row and had a great time.  How wonderful are those moments when you can hear Madison laugh loudly in the theater at something silly - like the slugs in this movie.

Speaking of which, it was noted that last year was the year of the archer.  In 2008, movies featured China.  One year, it was all about penguins.  Another year, we saw France and restaurants.  So what, you ask, is the theme of this year?

SLUGS and SNAILS 

Yes, you read that right.  In "Monsters University" there is a monster late for class, and he has to hurry. The joke is:  he's a giant slug.  This movie "Epic" features a snail and a slug as the humorous sidekicks.  Incidentally, these are the best characters in the movie.  Finally, to seal the deal, there is actually a movie about racing snails coming out this summer.  It's called "Turbo," and no doubt we'll be taking Madison to see it.  Anyway, there's your theme for the year.  I'm not sure how we went from archery to slugs, but there you have it!