First day challenges

This is Mike...
Challenges are as much a part of life, as water is to rain. First day challenges are extra special though. First day in school, first date, first whatevers, all have those butterflies in the belly feeling. Today was no different for us. Someone knocked on our front door and said, "There is a rat in the house!" I replied, "Rat, huh? Where is it?" and the man urgently replied, "It ran under the door and in your house, somewhere!" I thanked him and ran upstairs to make sure it did not scurry into my wife's undergarments, currently residing in a suitcase on the bedroom floor. As I ran up the stairs and around the corner at mach 5, the rat was in the hallway staring me down like the shoot out at the O.K. Corral was going to happen. I freaked, it shrieked and we both ran down the stairs. The rodent finally hid behind the trash can, whereby I tilted the can to trap it. OK, now I got a pissed off rat under a trash can, now what in the heck do I do? I searched the house for a stick and the only thing I could find was the broom. Zoe kept screaming and yelling at me to "Save the rat!" Sierra was talking but nothing could be deciphered due to Zoe's shrilling orders of animal protection. As the rat's head popped out from under the trash can with his steaming mad eyes of fury, I whacked it with the end of the broom. There it was, a dead freaking rat. Zoe screamed, "Did you kill it? Did you?" I replied, "Yes, I did" with that exhale of fatherly victory. Zoe lit into me saying, "I can't believe you killed that rat like a caterpillar!" I said, "Huh, what? What does that mean?" She said there are mean boys at her school that step on them and I am no different. I said, "Zoe, its better you're mad at me than mommy, and if that rat went in her bras I would be the one fixing the problem, not you." Sierra agreed and we were all glad Elise was out doing Yoga ($7 a class) than back home adding to the commotion.

Bittersweet victory, Zoe was scolding me silly while Sierra took this picture.