Three coins in a fountain...

...or rather just 2 coins in a pond. We recently took the family to Cabela's on a Saturday (my sister Sarah came with us too!) and we were looking at the big mountain filled with all the animals (not real, they were stuffed) and we noticed a fish pond and a fish food dispenser close by. It cost a quarter to get some food, so Sarah started looking through her coin purse to find a few quarters, since I don't carry change with me. It took her a few minutes but she finally found 2 quarters to give to the kids. So Sarah gave one of the quarters to Alli and she immediately threw it into the pond. And we yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" but it was too late. The quarter was in the pond. Then Sarah handed a quarter to Drew, thinking for sure he wouldn't throw it into the pond. And what did he do, he immediately threw it into the pond. It was a good throw though. Again we yelled, "NOOOOOO!" then we just had to laugh. Then I noticed the sign that said "Please don't throw coins in with the fish. They will think it is food and eat them!" Hmmm, oops, sorry! I was so puzzled as to what I just witnessed my children do that we decided to not give the next 2 quarters to the kids and get the fish food ourselves; so that's what we did and we fed the fish.

The story continues... A few days earlier, I went shopping with my mom and the kids at Trolley Square. The kids noticed a fountain on our way in and my mom told them that we can see the fountain after we go shopping. So of course on our way out, Alli remembered and reminded Grandma that she told us we could go see the fountain. So while I was taking care of the baby Jeremy and putting all the gear in the car, my mom took them over to the fountain.

Sooooo... when my sister Sarah told my mom what happened at Cabela's, Mom started laughing so hard. Then she said that when they went to the fountain at Trolley Square, she gave the kids coins and had them throw them in. Well, that explained A LOT! So my kids weren't just deciding to throw money away into the pond. They thought that's what you do with coins whenever you are by water. So I had to explain to my children the value of a dollar and that we don't just throw money away all the time. Kids do the darnedest things!