"Look at this Mom, a Snake!"

Yesterday we went out by the airport for our annual trip to the snake pit. This is a place where literally hundreds of snakes all over winter together then come out when it's warm, there are snake swarms everywhere (totally reminds me of Raiders of the Lost Ark). I wish I would have brought a video camera; Ari was just walking around picking up snakes and holding them up for all to see. It made me a little nervous at first. True I picked up snakes when I was little but I also had a hut up on the edge of a very big cliff, walked to nearby neighborhoods by myself, spent all day long out in the hills or down by the river without a cell phone to check in with, floated swift moving canals without a PFD etc., all things you just don't do theses days. Seeing Ari do things that might be a little dangerous (i.e. these snakes may not kill but they may bite) just makes me a little more cautions, like there's a part of me that's surprised I ever lived to see my 30th birthday. I need to get over this because in all reality I think my non-safety paranoid upbringing, in regards to nature, contributed to a childhood I would absolutely not trade for anything. Anyway, after some coaching from Dad about the proper way to pick up a sake Ari seemed to get the hang of it pretty quick, plus they were still a little cold. I couldn't however resist a good talk about asking before you pick up snakes...some snakes (as you know) are naughty...

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