creepy crawlies

We have a little visitor in our house. Well, he's not actually little. He's large. And hairy. And pretty cool to watch. Believe it or not, Coleman caught him on our hike yesterday. I didn't have my camera, so I'll have to wait and get some pictures from my friend Rachel who was with us. But this was Coleman holding him at home.


We actually went hiking specifically to hunt for tarantulas. Are we crazy or what? Garrett has been mountain biking in the foothills this time of year and seen hundreds of them. We only saw two on this hike, so I was a little relieved. I think it's cool and all, but hundreds would be a little creepy. Coleman was determined to find one to give a teacher at his school who had a class pet tarantula that recently died. So he's only a short-term visitor at our house. Oh darn.

A few weeks ago we were on the same trail (just Garrett and I with the little ones) and we found this much more kid-friendly, not so hairy or creepy little friend.

I believe it was a gopher snake, but it pretended to be a rattlesnake, so I inspected it for a long time before I picked it up. Ellie and Anson had so much fun holding it. They were thrilled! Claire and Coleman, who were at school, were very disappointed that A) they missed it, and B) we didn't bring it home. I convinced Garrett to hold it for just a minute. He's not thrilled by snakes. Or any other creepy crawlies!