MEET OUR CHICKS

 This in Chica Chica Boom Boom - she is a Buff Orpington and will lay brown eggs.

 This is Coconut - she is an Ameraucana and will lay various shades of blue and blue/green eggs.

 This is Zelda - she is a Black Australorp and will lay brown eggs.

 This is Princess Leah - she is an Ameraucana like Coconut.  She will will lay various shades of blue and blue/green eggs.

And last, but not least, this is Rosie.  She is a Cuckoo Maran and will lay dark brown eggs.

We are SO excited to have these cute additions to our family.  We have to build a coop and I have found a wicked cool coop plan for Larry to use as inspiration.  I'm giddy.  Lily is on mama mode again and the boys are ecstatic.  We are looking forward to our start at urban farming.

SEA TURTLES!

Steve and I stopped on a strip of beach that is known for having sea turtles.  Boy did we stop on a great day.  There were approximately 10-15 sea turtles frolicking in the ocean, body surfing, using a rock ledge as a slip and slide AND there was a baby one with them, about the size of a turkey platter.  They were hilarious and having so much fun.

If you look closely, you can see a bunch of them in this forming wave.

It was such a fun sight to see!  They had us tourists ooohing and ahhhing and even cheering for them when the wave got them off the rock ledge, if they had been out a little longer than the normal 2-5 wave rotation to get put back in the ocean.

They were having a blast and it was so fun to see this group of playful turtles.  It was a wonderful afternoon!

YESTERDAY I HEARD, WHAT I THOUGHT TO BE, BABY BIRDS

I heard the chirping all day and even commented to Lach that there must be a bird's nest really close.  Later in the afternoon, Larry J came in and told me that Lily had found a baby squirrel.  When I went outside, I was expecting to see Lily with "a present" but she was sitting there standing guard, not making a sound and giving it a nuzzle every now and then.  It wasn't birds, we were hearing the baby squirrel crying all day!

I wrapped it in a towel, placed a call to the Humane Society and googled how to care for a baby squirrel, while we waited for them to call back.  I kept going outside to see if there was a mama looking for her baby.  Nothing.  Lily kept going over the the same area, was antsy, but never barked.  About an hour later, I heard a rustling and the little babe perked up, so I thought it must be the mama.  Then the rustling stopped and I wondered if it was a cat.  I stood very still, watching, and then I saw it - another baby.  It was in-between our fence and our neighbors, just beyond our reach.  Larry J climbed the fence and handed it over.  As soon as it got in the towel, the two dehydrated babies snuggled.  Talk about heart melting cuteness!

We have named them Phineas and Isabella.

They eat kitten formula every three hours.

The man clan and I are having so much fun caring for these wee ones,

but we will be taking them to a squirrel rehabilitation center in a few days.

We don't know how we're going to break it to Lily - she thinks she's their mama.  She grooms them, stands guard by their "nest" we made and is constantly checking in on them.  It's the cutest thing I think we've ever seen her do.  She LOVES the little babies she rescued, absolutely loves them, and so do we.

BIRDY BABYSITTING

Meet Grungie.
We've been babysitting him, his woman and their three kiddos for the past week for my brother, Ivon.
Out of the five of them, he's the only one hand tamed and he thinks he's a falcon.  He is one cool bird.

Landon loved holding him, Lach held him for only a millisecond.

We had a bit of excitement with the birds.  One of the girls laid two eggs and we had an escape.

I'm not sure which one, but I wish I had a video of me running around trying to catch it.  I was chasing it all over the garage, it almost got in our attic, THEN, when one of the wee ones opened the door, it got in the house.  It took me over an hour to catch it. I could have definitely won America's Funniest Home Video.  No doubt about it.

PADDLE BOATS AND FEEDING DUCKS

That is how we spend a good part of the day. The wee ones were frightened at first of the water, but after we coerced them into their life vests, seated them on the paddle boat, and out on the water, the fear was gone.

We had rented one boat but after ten minutes, we went back to the dock to get a second one.
Waverly Park is beautiful and we are already planning on coming back with the Larrys.

There are gorgeous flowers, cute ducks and geese, soft green grass, shading trees, picnic tables, BBQ grills, a trail around the water and these fun paddle boats that are only $5 for 30 minutes.

Bring bread for the duckies, a picnic lunch for the family, rent a couple paddle boats and be prepared to have your legs feel like jello.

WHO KNEW ICE CREAM AND MONKEY WOULD BE IN THE SAME SENTENCE,

without talking about Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey. I took the man clan to a cute little burger joint for some ice cream and to meet it's resident monkey, Elvis. Elvis is a family pet that hangs out at the restaurant during the day. He has a zip-line, rings, a hanging car and toys that makes for a super cute monkey playground. He was sleepy when we were there and I thought the boys might be disappointed in not seeing cute monkey shenanigans; but they weren't. There were a lot of giggles and ahh's as Elvis ate snacks from his snack tube and kept snuggling up with his blanket.
Malts, Sundaes, Monkey - this cracked me up!
You will find Alf's on the corner of Baker and Clairmont in McMinnville. It is a small diner with indoor and outdoor seating. It is decorated old school in black, white and red with a lot of fun retro tchotchkes and monkey paraphernalia.

I've heard mixed reviews on food and service, but when we were there service was very friendly and my man clan devoured the homemade ice cream. They want to go back and try the burgers and fries.

DO YOU KNOW

the name of this insect we found in the kiddie pool?

WE'RE SEEING AN END IN SIGHT

Moving the business is almost finished - almost....

PS - While we were moving things outside the barn, we discovered our race tent had been chewed through and underneath was a mice nest.

Mama mice was moving her wee ones quickly.

Every time we would take a peek, a few of them would be gone.

Totally nasty but kind of cute....