Saying Good-bye to Jackie

"So who is Jackie?" you may be wondering! Well, many of you did not know, but we had a pet turtle for a few days. Daddy went for a run last week and heroically rescued a turtle from the middle of the road. He brought him home to the boys, and they quickly went out and bought him a little tank, some turtle food and a plastic rock formation. Gehrig named his new pet turtle Jakckie, after Jackie Robinson, the baseball player.

A few days later, Chris was researching on the internet about this turtle and learned that the little tank that we bought for him was way too small and that he needed more water and more dry surface as a well as a heat lamp and a myriad of other things. We decided that the best thing to do for our little turtle was to take him to the park and release him by the pond. We knew that convincing Gehrig would be a challenge, and it was.

However, after a morning of tears, and propmpting from both mommy and daddy, he reluctantly agreed that it was what was best for Jackie.

So, later that afternoon, I loaded up the boys and Nicholas, Gehrig's friend, into the car and off we went to the park with a mission.

So far, so good! His buddy helped him carry Jackie out to the pond.

Jackie's last moments before "freedom."

After being released from his cage, Jackie crawled around in the grass for a minute,.....and then made a bee line for the water and dove right in. I watched to see if he would resurface, but he didn't.After that, I looked up and Gehrig had walked off, his friend, Nicholas went after him.

He was SO upset and I think that he was fighting off tears and trying to put on brave face since his friend was there.

Poor thing!

As soon as we got home, he cried uncontrollably. He is a very sensitive guy! But we know that we gave Jackie a better life and a more fitting environment where he can be happy swimming around with his turtle friends!