3/12 - Darth Maul is a social climber

He saw Sheldor climbing around the crabitat, and thought he'd say hello.  Sheldor thought Darth Maul's shell was the best decorated shell ever.

Then, Darth Maul was feeling pretty as he admired the fragrant blooms of the nectarine tree.  Spring will do that to you.

7/03 - Fergus attempts work/life balance

First, Fergus balanced a good luck block from Lil' Guy on his head.

Then, he decided my work pen was a good stick for playing fetch.

And then!  Sheldon (yellow shell) came out of his molting lair, looking every bit the zombie hermit crab after two weeks underground.  He drank a bunch of water, chirped to Linda, and back under he went.  Bye, Sheldon!

6/18 - Super Samurai takes necessary precautions

Super Samurai takes safety seriously.

Sheldon and Isabella have some kind of digging project going on.  Look at that!

6/10 - Strange creatures study Dad Alien

They could not decide who was the alien!

Sheldon (yellow shell) is taking climbing lessons from the new crabs.  Go, Sheldon, go!

6/09 - Derby Tournament and THE MANTIDS HATCHED!

I was off on Friday for a school meeting and to get ready for my team's participation in the Attack of the C Squads tournament.  Here are Disco Brawl and Beryl Belligerent, enjoying some cherry pie with 6 of our fans.

We didn't win any of our bouts (sigh), but we played our hearts out, despite a bunch of incidents that day and the prior week that could easily have kept us home.  Go, TVRG!

Oh, and I jammed!!

And when I got home?  One of the new hermit crabs had escaped *and* the praying mantis egg case had hatched!  O.M.G.

What a weekend!

5/31 - Propeller is stuck (and some happy news)

BART was having problems this morning.  We had to wait 25 minutes for a train, and then they sent us one that was only 4 cars long!  We couldn’t even get on the train.  When we did, about 10 minutes later, it was slow and had to stop a lot of times.  Oh, BART.

Propeller thought some water would be nice on a hot day.  We thought this fountain looked like Propeller’s cousin, water type.

We've got crabs!  Lil' Gal needed a replacement for Herbert (RIP) and Lil' Guy had to have a new crab for parity, so I have adopted Sheldon.  The new crabs are zippy!  And Lil' Gal's (red shell) escaped his cage the very first night.  We may call him (her?) Houdini!

5/29 - Speed Racer #11 joins the circus (and some sad news)

He isn’t bendy like this performer, so he signed up to drive around and around in the big metal ball.

We saw this cool mural last night.  Speed Racer #11 thought it was for the birds.

We are very sad to announce that Herbert the hermit crab is no longer with us.  We wish him lots of juicy grapes, climbing structures, and a play area with many opportunities for escape. RIP, Herbert.  You kept us on our toes.

4/22 - Bat Ring says, "Happy Earth Day!"

We took a minute to walk outside (and buy PowerBall tickets) and smell the flowers before heading back to work.

Look!  Crabbies miss you!

1/09 - Danger's Doppelganger

Someone drew on a sticker and it looks just like Danger!

Hermit Crab Update:  Last night, I gave the hermit crabs some blueberries, carrots and fresh pellets.  Sheldon/Herb at some of the pellets and walked around for a little while with a blueberry stuck on one of his legs like a big bracelet.  Herbert looooooved the blueberries and spent a lot time scooping out and eating one.  They love you guys and can’t wait to see you tomorrow!

1/02 - Francesco likes it spicy (and we get pets!)

Happy New Year!  May lucky 2013 bring you all the happy healthy hopeful you can eat.

Francesco started off the new year with me at work.  He liked that the spice sauce jars at lunch were the national colors of Italy – red and green. (We'll count the table as white, for those of you particular about naming all of the flag colors.  David.)

Who says Segways are only personal transporters for humans?

While I was at work, the twins were at Science Camp, inventing away.  What cute and functional robots they made!

After camp, we hit the pet store, where Lil' Guy and Lil' Gal became the proud new owners of two very fancy hermit crabs, named Sheldon and Herbert.