Maria with her "duster" pup

The other night Maria and Mario and I were brainstorming on what to do for the evening since it was raining and chilly.

“Let’s go to the zoo, mommy” Mario pleaded.

The zoo is closed and it’s raining, nut-ball” I joked back to him.  That led to ten minutes of pummeling from the two monsters who laughed as they tackled me for call ing Mario a “nut-ball.”  They will find any excuse to tackle me or Jon.  They have our rambunctious genes. 

“How about the pet store?” I ask (knowing that the strip mall with the pet store had a Halloween store and bike store – two places I had to get to in order to get costumes for the kids and get my bike geared up to ride them around before winter strikes). 

They were all over it especially because this pet store holds pets in open-aired cages so that you can easily pick them up and hold them.  Hamsters, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, and even rats (which we are told by the pet store supervisor are actually very sweet animals who like to be held – yeah, and Attila the Hun was really a darling sweet guy).  Maria darted straight to the pups when we arrived.  And, oh, were there pups!  Some fluffy and round, others pointy-eared and hyper.  Maria found one that was tiny, fluffy, and white like a little duster, and she cradled that pup in her arms like she was its long-lost momma.  Little did Ri know how much I wanted to take him home – he was about the cutest little pumpkin ever but I knew that Cy (our 12-year-old Chesapeake) would not be too excited about that little pumpkin coming into his abode. 

Mario and his hamster

Mario found a furry, light brown mutt who was just as hyper as Mario, and who dragged him around the entire store.   Mario quickly lost interest in the pup when he saw all of the hamsters scurrying around their cage.  He became fascinated with the little plastic “homes” that the hamsters slept under in their cages.  He tortured these poor hamsters by lifting the plastic home constantly – making the hamsters scurry to the next home – and then lifting that home up.  He begged to take home one of the hamsters.  I firmly believe the hamster would have firmly protested against such an idea because whenever Mario picked one up, he squeezed its belly so tight that I thought the hamster’s eyes may pop out. 

The rabbits were another favorite of Maria’s – she enjoyed trying to pick them up and petting their soft, long ears.  Mario also liked the birds and finally got up the courage to feed one some bird seed.  He beamed with pride as the bird nibbled away from his palm.

So, there you go folks, an inexpensive fun night for the entire family (although you do smell like a combination of rodent waste and dog dander when you walk out of the store….).