JJ the Tortoise

The last reptile to appear, and the one that was causing all the movement of the big pink box (to a child's chorus of "what's in that box???!!!"), was JJ the tortoise. He was cool. After he was presented, they just let him loose in the grass as the first animal the kids could touch, and then let him roam around (at a tortoise's pace) for the rest of the time, as the kids interacted with all the other animals elsewhere. He was larger than I expected, bumpier, and pretty mellow, especially given the absolute mob of 5-year-olds that surrounded him at first.

Josh gives a gentle pet:



As does Lucas:



JJ stops for a quick meal:
(CHOMP!)

Crocodile Cake!

I'm going to skip ahead to the cake pictures while this is working, so maybe we'll get back to the boys touching all the reptiles, we'll see.

My mom always made us the best birthday cakes when my sisters and I were kids. We had deluxe theme cakes shaped like upright dolls or anything else that sparked our imaginations that year. My mom continues in her master cake decorating for my nieces. So when we started to think about Josh's birthday cake, I felt confident that I could decorate a cake that was just as cool as the one we'd otherwise buy at the store.

That confidence lasted until the cake came out of the oven, hugely enlarged and misshapen. But John trimmed it back to a level-surfaced crocodile and it was time to decorate! I still felt confident in this part. I had my green icing (I was surprised to find they just sell colored icing now; no more mixing your own with food coloring necessary!) and my Betty Crocker icing tips.

It was harder than I had anticipated. My forearms were sore--as if I had lifted weights at the gym--the whole next day. But it came out pretty good. The cake is actually pull-apart cupcakes, so we debated whether to decorate each piece, so it was obvious they were individual parts, or to make long lines down the length of the crocodile. I did one each way. I will admit, John's way was better (the streamlined version).

Here is the cake itself, prior to decoration (with bowl of trimmings in the rear view).



Our two crocodile cakes!



Blowing out the candles and making his birthday wish:



I was really pleased with this and loved how they turned out. It was worth the experiment!

3 more up!!

The chameleon, which brightened its colors right before our very eyes when taken out of its container, to match our trees. It was pretty cool to see:



And the monitor lizard:



And his forked tongue!

It's happening again -- aaargh!

I have been trying and trying to load more photos from Josh's reptile party, but they will not load. And, the computer takes forever to try on each attempt, so I have spent so much time trying to get these up to almost no avail. I got two to load. That's it. I'll try again on the weekend.

Here is the bearded dragon:



And the disgusting, nasty, skink:

These may be the grossest creatures out there. We also saw one at the junior zoo when we visited John's parents in March. The boys loved it then and now, especially since Mom was so grossed out by it. But really, doesn't it just look slimy and gross?