Reptiles, Phobias & Bacteria! Oh, My!

So if anyone really knows Riley, they will know that he likes snakes. Okay, this kid doesn’t just like snakes, he adores them, loves them, thinks they are the greatest animal (besides maybe a cheetah) that was put on this great earth. So when Phil saw on the news that there was a Reptile show going on at the Utah State Fair Park, we knew we had to take him. I swear this kid thought he was in heaven, snakes everywhere. There were other things as well, like bearded dragons, iguanas, geckos, scorpions, hissing cockroaches, and of course trianchulas. (All a boy could dream of.) And all of which he thought was interesting. But nothing could be better or even come close to the snakes.
That’s where the phobias come in.
If anyone really knows Phil, they will know that he isn’t afraid of much of anything, except snakes. And he isn’t just afraid of them, he hates them, loathes them, thinks they are the worst thing ever put on the planet. But he of course went with us. Did he touch the ones that Riley was dieing to hold! Not on your life. Did he even get near the gigantic Bermes Python that was about as round as Wesley and about 15 feet long? I don’t think so! He stood very far back while, I took pictures and Riley sat next to it for around a half an hour and soaked up everything that the ‘handler’ had to say about her! But Phil kept his distance! I have to commend him for just going though! What a great dad!
So we stayed looking at all the snakes for a while, until Wesley started saying that he needed “Macaroni & Cheese, Fried Chicken, French Fries, and MacDonalds.” And then we noticed that the rest of our stomachs were growling as well. We didn’t find anywhere that had all of the things that Wes said that he needed, but he did get Mac & Cheese and French Fries, so he was happy! However, he started telling us that he needed “a band-aid for his mouth” and that it “hurts when it goes up and down.” We took this to mean that it hurt to swallow, and since Lori told me on Friday that one of the kids at daycare had just gotten strep, I called the Doctor A.S.A.P. And yup, it was strep! Yeah! So after a quick stop on the way home from the Dr. to see the “Water Falls” (Wes begged to see them) we spent the rest of the weekend at home, inside, just playing with marbles and the Wii, and trying to convince Phil that Riley should have a snake someday! (I think he might actually agree now that he saw how much Riley loved the snakes.)