Sayonara Sea Monkeys

Here is a picture from last December. You can see the sea monkeys on the windowsill.

On Wednesday night, while preparing for the much anticipated arrival of some beloved friends, I mopped the kitchen floor and washed all the rugs.

On Thursday night, Chloe wanted to help cook dinner, and I acquiesced. She soon got distracted by the 18 month old sea monkey habitat on the windowsill, and decided feeding them was much more pressing than helping me. There was a crash, and I turned to see the counters, cupboards, dishwasher, Chloe, the rug and most of the floor covered in green sea monkey water, with a few wriggling sea monkeys struggling for life on various surfaces. Bracken rushed Chloe to the shower, I scooped what sea monkeys I could find back into their container, added more water, and threw my algae green rug back in the washer. Chloe sobbed from the shower, "But I love my sea monkeys. I don't want them to be dead." I was not hopeful.

On Friday, the water was still very murky, and the life status of the sea monkeys could not be determined.

On Saturday, the water had cleared, and two adult female sea monkeys could be seen swimming around. One of them had a very full egg sac, thus ensuring future generations of sea monkeys in the Mannion home. I called Chloe in and together we rejoiced over their survival.

On Sunday, I wrote the annual Christmas letter, anecdotally mentioning how swift action had saved the sea monkeys.

On Monday morning, I got out of the shower and heard splashing water in the kitchen. I walked in to find Addie on a chair, pouring the water from the sea monkeys back and forth into empty cocoa cups (and all over the counters, floor, dishwasher and rug). She looked over at me as she slurped her chocolate sea monkey water and said, "Mmmm, delicious." I'm still not sure if I should laugh, cry, or throw up. I am pretty sure, though, that the sea monkeys are not going to make it this time.