This is why county fairs should be avoided

It all started so innocently. Our teenage babysitter sent me a text Friday asking if it'd be okay for her and her parents to take the kids to the South St. Louis County Fair "and just walk around and do what they want".

"Sure thing," I responded. "Have fun."

My mistake. I should have focused less on the "just walk around" part and more on the "do what they want".

Because a couple hours later I received the following photo and message from her parents: "Sorry guys.....but just added a few more residents in your house."

Oh. Boy.

I responded asking if the fine print on the bag listed instructions on what to feed them. Here's the conversation from there:

When I got home from work, the kids were - as I knew they'd be - beyond excited. The fish were swimming in a big plastic bowl on our porch, to which the kids had added some rocks from the garden and a few pieces of grass. Not a good long term solution. And so, after dinner, we headed to the store and purchased a one gallon starter kit.

There are actually seven fish in all. After great debate on what to name them, the kids finally agreed on: Dory, Ducky, Momo, Josh, George, Stu and Goldy. Rejected names included Jack, Jacques, Shiney, Nemo and Pity (don't ask me where Sydney came up with that last one, but when I suggested that whichever fish died first would get that name, she dropped it.)

The story keeps changing on how exactly we acquired these fish. As suggested in the text, it was because of AJ's remarkable aim at a game, which I later learned involved bouncing ping pong balls into a cup. Supposedly they thought they were going to win a giant stuffed animal, but then the vendor pulled a bait and switch, literally, and presented us with bait.

Then, this morning, as AJ was again absorbing the wonder of the situation, he mentioned a new detail. "This is so cool. We have new pets and it's because of me. Well, Ellie (the babysitter)'s boyfriend helped. He threw some of the balls."

"What?" I jumped on that. "So shouldn't he have gotten some of the fish, too?"

"No, he really wanted me to have them."

I'm sure he did.

Of course, AJ's reasons for excitement continue to change, too. With lightning speed, he switched from proud pet owner to proclaim, "I could fish in here any time I want."

This will be an experience.