Boyz Rock!

One great thing about raising boys is that their stuff is also your stuff. Toys, games, gear, you name it. For example, as a nearly 40-year-old adult, I can’t justify buying or even owning a skateboard. But as a Dad of a 10-year-old boy, it is perfectly normal for me to turn his skateboard into a luge and fly down the hill in front of our house at excessive speed. If I’m lucky, I can even stand in line behind him and get my bloody arm cleaned by Mommy too.

Now this makes birthdays for our boys extra special. You know why, right? Because it is also my birthday. Yes! I can buy anything I want… as long as I convince my wife that it is THE thing our boys want for their birthdays. So imagine my surprise this year when my wife suggested first (I didn’t even have to work it into the conversation!) that we buy George… a SNAKE!

Sweeeeeeeet! Sign me up! So after a bit of research (did you know red-tailed boa constrictors can grow to 10 feet long?) and some selective searching (did you know you could buy a rat as a pet?), I settled on a 3-foot ball python that someone had listed on Craig’s List.

Here’s George in a state of shock after opening this present box and finding a snake inside:




Here’s George in an extreme state of excitement after realizing that he did indeed just get a 3-foot long snake for his birthday:



Here’s his sister, Carrie, reacting to the thought of a snake living in the same house as her:



And finally, here’s George and his bro, Gabey, proving that all boys love snakes. “Hey, Sisters! My snake is going to eat your Barbies!”



(Not pictured: Dad’s well-hidden level of excitement because, hey, this is George’s birthday… not mine.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GEORGE!