Or trying not to, as the case may be...

We live on the very Eastern edge of the Central Valley, nestled up against the Sierra Nevada mountains.  45 minutes east and we're at 5,000 feet.  Sounds great, huh?  Well, it's not.  Those same mountains that we love to escape to actually PREVENT the escape of smog.  It blows into the valley from who-knows-where and here it sits.  Hovering right over our house.  Today it's so bad, you can't even SEE the foothills that are about 5 minutes up the road.  The girls' tennis camp was canceled because of the air quality.  Swimming lessons?  Canceled.  We basically were told to stay inside all day.  For the second day in a row.  It's not what summer is supposed to be.

We tried to make the most of it by spending a good chunk of our day at the library.  I've been on a reading tear this summer.  So far, I've read Snowflower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, by Lisa See.  Both were very interesting and I feel like I'm learning a bit of Chinese history and culture (my people!) while I read.  I've also read Women of the Silk, The Saffron Kitchen and Crossing to Safety.  With the exception of the last one, they've all proven to be very interesting/enlightening in their own ways.  I love feeling like I'm learning about other cultures as I read.  The Saffron Kitchen was a bit of Iranian history, which I found myself intrigued by. 

Today at the library, while I was looking for some new books to dive into, I came across a few classics that I'd never read.  Hannah and I are having a contest to see who can read more pages this summer... she's already over 5,000, so I've got some catching up to do.  We received a special package about a month and a half ago that gave her a head start, which I'll post about tomorrow.  And by the way, all of the above-mentioned books/authors had been recommended to me by Adele...I don't know enough about secular authors to just pick up and read anything. 

As we made our way home from the library, lamenting the beautiful mountains in our backyard which were shrouded in smog today, we began to talk about relocating.  Somewhere where the air is clean and living inexpensive.  Oregon?  Washington?  Northern California (Eureka)?  Montana?  Colorado?  Somewhere where summer can be enjoyed the way it's meant to be... OUTSIDE!!  SOO, where would you live if you could live anywhere?  We're taking suggestions!

When my grandmother died, we inherited her 5-gallon aquarium.  Apparently, my uncle had gotten it for her, thinking it would be a fun little addition to her days.  Unfortunately, my grandma thought they always looked hungry and would feed them extra treats like cookies and chips.  Needless to say, the aquarium came to us empty. 

I was so excited to get it up and running that we ventured over to the pet store the night my dad dropped it off.  I thought four fish, one for each of the girls, would be perfect.  However, the pet store owner instructed me that three would be best for a 5-gallon tank and directed us to the "community" fish.  I let the girls choose them, and we left with three new pets and about $9.00 less in our pockets (we had to get fish food, too).

As we were driving home, the girls discussed names for the fish.  The bluish one the girls named "Midnight."  The orange one, you may have guessed, "Goldie."  The dalmatian-looking one vascillated between "Lucky" and "Penny", after the puppies from 101 Dalmations.  Because the girls couldn't tell if it was a boy fish or a girl fish, they decided to compromise and call it "Lucky Penny".  And so we began our new life with fish.

Almost immediately, our "community" fish began attacking each other.  Lucky Penny was a total grump and was constantly biting Goldie.  Now I've got four kids fighting on the outside and three fish fighting on the inside... just what I needed.    After 2 or 3 days of tapping the outside of the aquarium angrily when LP would attack, I had finally had it.  I called the fish store and asked if I could bring angry fish back.  They said that would be fine, so I returned LP.  The lady who helped me said, "here, get this one instead, it's got Mickey Mouse ears on it's tail, your children will love it!"  And so I did.  And the girls did love it.  Until the next morning, when I awoke to the following:

Logan:  "Mommy, Tangerine (new fish) only has one eye."

Me:  "No, it has two, one of them just looks a little bit different."

Logan:  "Um...no, mommy, it only has one."

I groggily got up and made my way over to the aquarium to find out that, yup!  Tangerine's eye had fallen out sometime overnight.  Completely grossed out, I tried to make the best of a very bad situation.  "We're a special-needs aquarium!"  I exclaimed, trying my best to sound enthusiastic to cover my repulsion.  Unfortunately, Tangerine's "needs" were more than we could handle, because he/she died later that day.

I have heard some children cry when their fish die.  Those sweet, tender-hearts...

Mine just squealed with delight as they watched it spin around the toilet bowl toward it's final resting place.

Note to self:  teach children compassion...



This is our new fish, "Pumpkin Spice".  In our first attempt at having an aquarium, we lost 5 out of 5.  We scrapped everything and started fresh and have had our current three for almost two months now...  And so goes life in the Fong Family Fish Bowl...