Betta-Fett

One evening last week, we were all outside, watching Lilly squish bugs. I mentioned to Ryan how cool it would be to get her an ant farm, considering how obsessed she is with them. And maybe it would be a way to watch them without killing them. He got all excited and suggested that we go to Petco to see if they sold any. I highly doubted they had an "ant" section, but decided to humor Ryan and go anyway. If anything, it would at least be fun to see all of the fish and small animals. On the way to the store, Lilly was talking about all of the "aminimals" that we were about to see...bears, tigers, horses...

Just as I predicted, there were no ants, so we immediately got sucked into the fish section. I've been wanting to get Lilly her own fish for a long time. Something for her to take care of and learn some responsibility. Something MUCH easier than a bunny or a hamster. I was THIS close to buying a little clown fish, but Ryan's arched, angry eyebrow scared me away. I was able to talk him into letting me get Lilly a Betta fish. They're pretty durable, so it would be perfect for a first fish. I think I was more excited for this fish than Lilly was. I ran around the store, picking up decorations and saying things like "Ooh, it's Spongebob!" I decided to do a Spongebob themed tank because Lilly loves him.

So, more money than we wanted to spend later, we left with a fish and all the "fixin's" to go with it. On the way home, we asked Lilly over and over what she wanted to name him, and every time she said "Joey." She seems to really like that name. Finally Ryan spoke up and said "he shall be called Betta-Fett." For my non-nerdy friends, that's a play on words for a character from Star Wars, Boba Fett. It was perfect, but I'm more than happy to let Lilly call him Joey for a while.

She loves her fish! She always slides the chairs over to the counter to stare at him. I'm still trying to get her to understand that we don't touch the tank, and we don't open it up and stick things in when mommy's back is turned. It's my new life mission to keep this fish alive. But, we still have to find a dang ant farm!

She reminded me of Darla from Finding Nemo; "Fishy! Why are you sleeping?!"

Glaring at the hamster

Helping me set up his tank.

I've decided that taking Lilly to Petco is just as fun as taking her to the zoo. She loves seeing all the aminimals, and it's FREE! We've been several times since buying the fish, and for no other reason than seeing the animals.

I picked this fish because it was so pretty! Pink, red, and purple! Oh, and he has blue eyes, too.

His little Spongebob paradise.