Reunited!!

Remember my long lost beach buddy Lianna???????????? We haven't seen her OR Darcy (Jon's brother) OR Pearl since Jon and I left Statia over two years ago. Unacceptable. They have a new baby now and recently moved to Vegas, so we headed up there the first chance we got.

To refresh your memory, this is what Pearl looked like last I saw her:

 And this is what she looks now:

Just kidding, that is a random child at the petting zoo. She got bit by one of the obnoxiously aggressive deer right when we walked in, making Pearl nervous to go anywhere near them. Then the hired hands started raking every pen simultaneously, emitting giant plumes of noxious hanta-virused fecal matter all around us. We scrammed out and I asked for my money back. They are still thinking about it (?)

Turtle pond.

Wild burro on our way back from Red Rock.

Not-so-wild burro, and a stupid tourist. I just looked up info on the donkeys and learned that some people have been dumb enough to put children on their backs.

Baby Mabel LOOK AT HER ROLLS

Jon, Pearl, Darcy at Town Square where we met some old friends for a playdate/lunch at Whole Foods.

I braided Pearl's hair. Her luscious, luscious hair.

Gah!

Double gah!

Our trip on Vine (it's the best app ever, btw. GET IT then follow me. It's like Instagram except with short movies that loop infinitely). I think they're muted by default, so you'll have to click each one to unmute. EDITED TO ADD - Apparently you'll need to click to my actual blog to view them if you're in some sort of reader. I didn't do it on purpose to bolster page views, I promise.



 Nothing better than a chubby, laughing baby






Pearl kills me in this one. "Look, guys."







This swarm of bees nearly ruined our barbecue.







Jer, undeterred, engineered a makeshift bee suit and fired up the grill. Jon put a stray bit of mesh over his face (?) and likely would have died had the bees attacked. (Pearl: *cutest laugh ever* "He's wearing bags on his feet!")







She didn't know I was videoing this.







Self-explanatory.







Pearl was pretty nervous around Penny for the first day. The second day she warmed up a little, though whenever Penny did something slightly unpredictable she'd flap her arms and start to panic. By the third day they were getting along swimmingly, but please notice Pearl's micro-expression of terror when Penny jumps on the couch.







Could Pearl be any more adorable?







The answer is no. No, she could not.

Miss you guys already!!!!!!

Why you should never go outside

We got rattled at by a rattlesnake! We were just blithely traipsing along a hiking path, me a few steps ahead of Jon, and then there he was, shaking his tail. Ever since we first moved to Arizona I always sorta wondered if I’d instantly recognize the sound if I heard it, and I can now say that the answer is a resounding yes. Our reaction was simultaneous and instantaneous – heard it, located it, grabbed each other and scuttled back four yards all in about a half-second. We were within just a few feet of him when he sounded the alarm.

We weren’t quite sure what to do. He was RIGHT there on the edge of the path, and there were lots of other hikers on the trail that day. We stayed a while and warned a few people, and Jon even tried to get it to scram by tossing rocks in its general direction, but he just coiled up under a bush and rattled at us more. Eventually we decided he’d be more likely to bite the next person the more we pissed him off, so we gave him a wide berth and went on our merry way.

I took to Twitter that night to find out what sort of rattler (pronounce it with two syllables instead of three, it’s way more fun) he was. Snake experts on Twitter are very helpful – turns out he’s a “tiger rattlesnake.”

See his tongue? I say "he" because snakes are boys.



According to Wikipedia this species has the most toxic venom of any snake in the Americas, but their venom yield is comparatively low due to their dinky heads, so I probably wouldn’t have died if I’d been bit. Nevertheless, I’d like to relay a personal message to the snake. Thank you, snake, for rattling at me instead of just biting me. I know that, as a venomous serpent, you have many options when it comes to dealing with hikers, and I appreciate you warning me before attempting to murder me.

kthxbai

limp