The $40 fish

What started as a simple trip to the Eagan 4th of July carnival....ended with a trip to PetSmart to purchase Clarence "Claire" Thelen. Yes, you read that correctly, PetSmart, more on that in a minute.

(This expands on the 4th of July post)

Later in the afternoon we stopped by the carnival for a few rides, games and to check out the festivities and scope out a good spot for fireworks. After Madison tried a few overpaid and rusty rides she saw the Carnies and their rigged games. We agreed to let her try a couple games, and of course the one game that caught every kids eye was the one that had a goldfish as a prize. To win you had to toss a ping-pong ball into a little dish a few feet away. We spent a few dollars, Madison gave it a go, but we left empty handed.

After cooling off at home again we met Nana and Papa for dinner, so they could see Madison one more time before they headed on their road trip to see Justin and Mimi, then they joined us for fireworks. We made our way back to the carnival around 8 and set-up camp for the fireworks. Madison worked her magic and talked Nana and Papa in to walking around the carnival and trying a few more games. No more than 15 minutes later they come walking back, Madison smiling ear to ear, and Papa laughs and says "we brought dinner!" Madison landed a ping-pong ball in the dish and won a gold fish, welcome Claire #1 to the family. We got home from the fireworks and put Claire in a Tupperware bowl in the sink for the night and planned on going to the pet store in the morning for a bowl and food. The next morning Pete got up for work and there was Claire #1, she went for the great escape and landed on the bottom of the kitchen sink. Pete got her back in the bowl and somehow she started breathing again, and every once in a while would swim a little bit. We ran to Walmart and picked up a proper container and food, a small $10 investment for Madison's first pet in a while. The next morning Pete and I had an informal flushing ceremony for Claire #1 after we found her floating belly-up. Madison was obviously disappointed, but after explaining that Claire #1 was a feeder fish, and more or less bait, she understood and asked if she could get a new fish. This time we went to PetSmart and picked out Clarence, a blue/green/silver Beta fish. Of course, there is a Beta started kit you purchase with the Beta fish, now we are up to $40 thanks to this carnival game.

Four days in and Clarence "Claire" is alive and well. Madison won't feed him/her yet though, the food does not smell the best and it has visible bloodworms in it, which are supposed to help accentuate the color of the fish. We will see how long this one lasts......