A Beautiful Jan. Day (and goodbye to Newbie)

First off, Rhyan has now had 5 fish, all of which have died. But the first to go... to pave the way for the rest... the one waiting to be reunited with his fellow tank mates, was Newbie. He actually developed some kind of sickness or something. He started to get a hole in his head??! It was sad and he couldnt eat :-( And his jaw was stuck open. We took him out and tried to "work" on him (like we're vets or something?!) but he was just pitiful. So after checking the internet for answers, we decided that euthanasia was the most humane thing to do. Dr Jeff Kevorkian to the rescue.

One day when I was headed to the store, he instructed me to buy some vodka and clove oil. WHAT? Ok, so we dont even drink but he wanted me to get a whole bottle of vodka? I told him to get it from his dad. haha! And Jeff actually looked at me like i was crazy! Hello?!?! Anyone in there?!?

Idk what his plans were with the vodka and clove oil, but after consulting with the people at petsmart, we decided to go with baking soda in water. They said it was the quickest and most humane way to "help" Newbie, according to some association that protects fish. Ok.

So we followed their instructions and they said it would take no more than a few minutes. Well, after about 10 minutes we added MORE baking soda. And after 10 more minutes we put the mason jar in the freezer. And that did it.

He had a proper potty burial. I was afraid that Rhyan would be upset but really, she acted like it was totally normal and then said "We neeeeeed to go to the store and buy another Newbie". HA!

And this random pic is just to remind ourselves of how spoiled Mack is. At "Nack" time, he requires a lot!

There was one day in Jan where it was absolutely beautiful! I think it was in the 60s that day and the sun was shining... so we took advantage and took the kids to Harbins Park. And apparently, every other family in the area had the same idea... it was packed! But we had a GREAT time!