A snail of a tale.

When I was a little girl, I looked forward to the few hours after a big rainfall. I would go outside, a hunter, and collect earth worms, snails, and every other non-perilous critter that would cross my path.

This evening, after dinner, Avery, Jaron, and I went outside. We were all business, we three "Snail Hunters," using our whisper voices, prowling tactics, and everything.

We collected scads of them. Then we would gently touch (er, poke) their long spindly eyes and giggle as they slunk back into their shells. Poor snails.

We made snail art.

We had a family snail race.

Each of the 4 snails got a permanent marker tattoo of each family member's first initial.

D= Daddy Snail, M=Mommy Snail, J=Jaron Snail, and A=Avery Snail.

As you can see, it was slow going at first. But Avery snail took an early lead.

Notice that Mommy snail is flat on her back, with no intention of even poking her eyes out of her shell...

In the end, it was Avery snail. Followed by a distant Daddy snail in second place.

Mommy snail is still refusing to play. I guess Jaron snail had a great video game to play...

Good times! Yay Avery Snail!

(No Snails were hurt in the filming of this post.)