The kids needed to get out of the house since we had spent the weekend waiting for a hurricane to hit and had not been able to go outside for two days.
While playing at the park, the kids discovered small shells. Instead of enjoying their escape from the house, my kids were running all over the park collecting shells in their hands and in empty paper cups.
I thought the shells were empty. I figured they had been washed on to the playground because of the rain or had tried to escape the water and dried up on the playground.
I was wrong.
When we left the playground, the kids brought the shells in the car. Lizzie and Evelyn put the cups in the cup holders and left them over night. Even though, I’m always saying, “Don’t leave trash in the car.” Or “Make sure you bring all you stuff in with you.”
The next morning we got in the car and there were snails on the windows and walls of the car. They had congregated on a cup that held melted ice water and filled the cup holders. The snails seemed to be everywhere.
I thought the kids had picked up four or five of the shells but it turned out they had about 50!
The girls moved as many as they could into the cup and I told them I would take care of them later since we were on our way to school. They were very excited about the prospect of these new pets and couldn’t wait until they got home to play with them.
I hated to tell them that these snails were not going to be around after school. Dad was not going to risk them hanging out on the front porch so they could infest our yard. I was worried they were going to be upset with this decision, but when I picked them up from school, they never asked about the snails. They had moved on.
I’m not sure what was going on in my mind when I let them bring small ‘empty’ snail shells in my car, but the next time they ask to bring shells in the car they will be from the beach and I will make sure they are empty!