A Night to Remember

 When you hear "An unforgettable date night", does it involve escaped frogs, acrobatic cats and hysterical phone calls?  It does if you live at Keesler Chaos!

The evening started out pretty nice.  We were heading out to see "Dinner with Schmucks", and it started conveniently just after the kids bedtime.  So, we settled everyone down with books to read, and instructions to turn out the lights in a half hour, threatened Mac with dismemberment if he misbehaved, and took off.

About 20 minutes into the movie, my phone rang.  Of course I had forgotten to turn off the ringer, so I slapped it open and sprinted out.  It was Isaac, which meant a problem.  I assumed Mac was misbehaving, but no, it was a REAL emergency.  How do I know this?  He told me! In a nearly hysterical voice, "Mom!  It's a real emergency!"  So I stood in the vestibule and listened  as the drama unfolded.

The tree frog had escaped!!!  Ms. Mouse was standing on a chair, holding a bowl covering a frog, to the wall, and they didn't know what to do next.  In addition to four near hysterical children, one precariously perched, , Milo the Wonder cat was jumping the 5 feet up the wall in an attempt to catch the frog.  My suggestion to just grab the frog and dump it back into the tank was met with strong opposition.  No one wanted to touch it.   Eew!  As I directed the recapture, relayed through Buddy, chaos reigned in the background.  Someone crying, Mac squealing, Milo jumping.  Finally, after much verbal jousting, the hopper was home, and after instructing the kids to toss Milo outside to prevent a repeat, I signed off. 

Ten long minutes after the first phone rang, I finally turned to walk back into the theater.  And there stood the popcorn server laughing hysterically.  As she laughed, she gasped "I just need to know.  What was it?".  She'd heard every word.  I explained it was a frog, to which she replied she wondered how a hamster got that far up a wall.  Then I returned to my seat, finished watching the movie, and headed home.

When we got home, I headed straight for the tank to discover....it was empty.  The bugger had escaped AGAIN!  He squeezed through a tiny crack that Milo had created when he knocked the tank off the counter.  Frog re-captured, crack repaired, kids in bed and the frog formerly known as Kermit has been renamed Houdini.  And Milo?  He's in the dog house.  Again.