Rain Day

Eight years ago I set up an aquarium at my mother-in-law's "spare house" that she lets us stay in when we visit.   I think I set it up in the Spring and I'd replenish the fish whenever we visited.  We used to visit more frequently than we are able to now, and she has a housekeeper who loved to feed the fish and add water to the aquarium as needed in between our visits.

I just never had one at "our" house!

For a long while I wasn't sure where I'd like to put an aquarium.  I was also deterred by the cost and the general effort it takes to buy one, set it up, and stabilize the water before adding fish.

This year I decided I knew I wanted one: in our schoolroom.   And the schoolroom was up and running in October.  Then it was the holidays.  Then our vacation to the Southwest was on the horizon, so I waited (one less "pet" for my dad to take care of while we were away).

And the school year is rapidly winding down!  So I was at Petsmart with Gimli last Friday and I (foolishly) decided that it would be the perfect time and chance to "pick up" that 40-gallon aquarium I had set my heart on.  My husband had ok'd the overall decision, but I knew he wouldn't want to be troubled with details.  However, I am seven-months-pregnant (remember?), and of course I didn't ask for help out to our van!  Gimli worked very hard to help me lift that tank into our van--I love Gimli!  He is always willing to try (even if it was a really desperate attempt by the two of us!)  We managed to get it into the van and bring it home.

I filled it, and ran the filter, we put in the gravel, and stabilized the temperature.  Of course, we were all waiting for one final detail: the fish!

Today was a very rainy day, all day!  After Mass the younger kids were listening to a "book on tape" (ipod these days) and I snuck out with Aragorn.  Ten neon tetras, 8 "glo fish" (platys), one ciclid (I think!) and two spotted fish (I am forgetting what type, but they're all good community fish (aka non-aggressive) later, we headed home.

We added some shells and decor, floated the fish in their bags in the aquarium to acclimate them to the temperature, and then added them--at long last--to the tank!

 We finally have realized a very long awaited hope of mine.  I'm pretty excited about it in case you missed that;)!  And it gives us a little extra incentive to finish out our school year strong by spending a bit more time in our school room enjoying our new friends.