Reptilicus

Dane was invited to a birthday party where they had a Reptile Man! No, he wasn't a carnival freak, he was a reptile handler. I was actually quite impressed with the array of cool animals he brought for the show. I wasn't exactly sure how Dane would handle being so close to scary looking animals, but he did quite well, as long as he was on my lap.

The guy started things off with a tarantula (which brought one girl to tears) and a scorpion.

Then he brought out a few lizards, which were all progressively bigger.
The biggest lizard was a...something something monitor. It was big and scary looking and named Mr. Grumpy Pants. Dane got scared for that one.

There were also two tortoises. The first one was about the size of a bike helmet, which I thought was pretty big. I mean, it's bigger than the kind you just find outside. But then he brought out a huge one!

Audience members who weighed less than 30 pounds were allowed to ride the tortoise. But alas, Dane has just barely become 31 pounds. Oh well.
Then we saw a baby American Alligator! Apparently they're illegal in Utah but you can have one if you have a permit, like this guy.

Then, the snakes. I personally am rather scared of snakes, but Dane was excited.
If you look at the top right hand corner, you can see Dane's little hand reaching out to touch it.

So excited that after seeing the first snake, Dane and his friends decided to be snakes. (The show ran a little too long for the younger kids.)

I'm pretty sure that first snake was some type of anaconda.
Then there was a corn snake, and we learned that snakes are good for eating mice because even if the mouse has rabies, a snake can't get rabies, so it makes us all safer. Cool, huh. But snakes are still scary.

Then, the 14-foot python!

This was the scariest for me, but the kids were just in awe.

Maybe Dane was a little nervous, too. But he was brave and touched it!

I touched it too, which made me wish I hadn't. Snakes are so creepy and evil looking. Blech.


In non-reptilian news, Joel has been getting increasingly creative when making pancakes in the morning. One morning, he delighted Dane with letter pancakes that spelled his name!

Fun times with a fun daddy.

Also, in the past two weeks, THREE new cousins for Dane have been born:
Joel's brother just older than him, Allen, and his wife, Monique, welcomed their fourth baby on February 7: Emery Frost

Then Joel's brother just older than Allen, Paul, and his wife, Tracie, had their fourth baby: Dorothy Elaine Frost (Dotte)

And just yesterday, Joel's younger sister Laurie Jayne and her husband, Adam, had their first baby: Hyrum Bridger Stradling!

Congratulations, and hooray for all the babies!