It Rained…

         

                   

These guys were a little tough to keep up with from my drier perch in the screen room.  Might have been cause they were a wee little bit chilly, or maybe because they were having a blast, or maybe a little of both.  Regardless it was a blast to watch!

Waiting for more wet days ahead.

Rabbit Rescue

So a while back you might remember that I gave a sneak peak of the newest additions to our place.  Furry little blobs hiding in a box…  Well here they are, our rescued rabbits.  This was definitely not a planned addition at this point in time, but how can you say no to such cute, tiny bunnies?  Our neighbor discovered them out by his barn and caught 3 to “show” the boys.  There are several domestic rabbits that roam our little neighborhood.  Someone must have released them over the last couple of years, and now they are increasing in number.  There were still more left over there too.  Eight baby rabbits total!  Well…  I couldn’t just let them go again, so here we are.  Thanks, Eddie! 

Friends of ours took a couple too.  Now we only have six!  Yikes!  Plans are to keep a couple of these, trade the rest to get another female or two, and raise some rabbits for meat.  Of course the boys will have their pets that won’t go to the freezer!!!!!  Riley and Braden have each made their choice of rabbits.  Meet Twister (white with brown) and BooBoo(White with dark ears). 

So tiny when we first got them, we figured that they were barely ready to be away from momma.  We had to use jar lids to offer food and water because they could not reach into the bigger crock bowls that we had.  They were not too excited about eating pellet food either.  They perferred to have fresh grass and oats, and really liked their oats to be moistened.  Spoiled rabbits!  They have thrived and grown and won our hearts over!

The rabbits lived in a cage together in our screen room for the first weeks that we had them.  What a mess such cute critters can make!  The boys have loved having them right outside the window though.  All three boys stand up on the toy trunk together and watch to see what the rabbits are up to.  TanMan points and says “BooBoo, BooBoo, BooBoo!”  Riley and Braden check to see if they need food, water, or are getting too hot.  It has been a brutal summer here.  Around 70 days with highs over 90 degrees!  Stressful for little bunnies, so we take frozen bottles of water out for them to snuggle up against to get a little relief from the heat.  On cooler mornings the boys get their rabbit out for a little holding time.  They each pull up a chair, grab some fresh grass, and get ready to cuddle with a bunny.  On rare occasions, TanMan even joins in and sits for a couple of short minutes.

                  

The rabbits are growing, and growing, and growing, and growing!!!!!  Yes, I know, that is what rabbits do!  They have probably almost tripled in size now!  When we first got them, all six didn’t even cover the bottom of a five-gallon bucket.  They were tiny I’m tellin’ you.  Now they fill up boy laps.  They do not all fit in a bucket together.  They have ravenous appetites.  It was time for them to move!  Out of the screen room that is.

Ross, the handy guy that he is, built some new rabbit cages.  Our living room was a factory for a few evenings.  He might have had a few helping hands with this project.  Guess Ross has a few helping hands with all of his projects.  I try to just lay low and help when asked, mostly I just grab the camera and document these moments of helpfulness.  Phase two of the moving project was to build an outdoor hutch for the cages.  A couple of trips to the barn, Lowes, the barn, Lowes again, and we had the materials that we needed to make a hutch.  Voila, new bunny home.  Yea!  No more poop on the screen room, no more hay in Nova’s kennel, now the toys can take over again.

Last night was moving day for the rabbits.  The boys were great helpers.  The move went off without a hitch.  Now we have the girls in one cage and the boys in another.  Sooner than later we will have to separate them to individual cages, since bunnies tend to fight if left together.  For now they are content, and we don’t have to worry about more little bunnies!  

                          

The bunnies are happy to be right out in the front yard so they can keep an eye on us each and every day.

Our First Grader

Today was Riley’s first day of 1st Grade! 

He had an awesome first day.  Went right on in the cafeteria this morning without even hardly telling us bye.  Said that he would stay at school all night when I picked him up.  Guess that means that he is going to hit the ground running in first grade.  I can’t believe how fast he is growing up!!!! 

Last Summer Adventure

So the other day (Tuesday) Ross called while he was at work.  He does this…  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Here is how the conversation went…

Ross: “When does Riley start school again?” 

Me:  “Next Wednesday.  Why?”

Ross:  “We never did get to go to the Magic House this summer.  You really wanted take the boys before the end of summer didn’t you?”

Me:  “Yeah.  But that is o.k.  Maybe we can go some weekend this fall.”

Ross: “So…  Want to take the boys to the Magic House tomorrow?” 

Ummm…  I am much a planner.  I don’t like to do big things last minute.  I must have time to absorb and prepare, mentally and physically.  This was a mere 16 hours before we would be leaving to drive to St. Louis the next day if we decided to go.  I tend to worry and fret when I am rushed.  I need to pack snacks, drinks, and and and stuff!  That takes TIME!  And an extra set of hands would sure be nice to take 3 boys to a big children’s museum.  Are we sure that we can make this work?  

Me:  “Let me think about this and absorb a little.”  (And see if anyone else can go with us!)

Ross did convince me that everything would be fine.  I got everything together and ready to roll everyone out the door quickly the next morning.  We got around in good time and didn’t run too late.  (Run late?  Like we had a strict timeline to keep!  I do that to myself.)  The boys were excited!  Riley settled in for the couple hour ride.  Braden was trying to absorb what exactly was going on.  

Braden:  “Where are we going?”  a few minutes later…  “What are we going to do?  Where are we going?”

When we finally got to the Magic House, the fun began!  We spent almost 5 hours there and still didn’t do everything.  We covered most of the museum, but passed a few parts here and there.  Check out the fun.  It was awesome!!!!!!!! 

  Riley hoisted himself about 5 feet in the air!  He thought the pulleys were really cool!

  TanMan took right to going across this plank.  He had to try a couple of times to get brave enough to start, but then there was no slowing him down.  He just grinned as he looked through the net at the people below, and shimmied his way to the other side.  Then back again, and across again.  Over and over for a few minutes.

 

Boy in a bubble!  He got it almost up to his waist before it popped.  The bubble room was pretty fun.  Too bad it was soooo crowded.  We decided to move on so that we could check out more areas.

  Time to “eat.”  Braden is serving up some pizza at the Pasta House.  Every children’s museum that we go to, the boys are pulled in to the cooking/eating/grocery stuff.  It is fun to watch them in action.  Then we repeat the scenario for days at home afterward.  Braden has been cooking cinnamon rolls almost every day this week.  Even Tanner has been cooking up some sort of concoction and offering it to us.    “Here.  Here.  Here.”  Tanner is sharing his pizza.

  Braden is busy cooking, cleaning, and talking on the phone in the kitchen.  Riley and Tanner showing Daddy how to play the piano.

  We had a bit of a hair raising time while at the Magic House!  The electostatic sphere has been there for years!  Braden and Tanner both thought it was pretty cool.  TanMan’s hair did a great job of standing up!    Having a great time!  This was a tunnel under some sort of long cabinet.  A sign at the beginning said something about wiggle like a worm.  Not sure what kind of connection it had to anything in the area since I did not read the rest of the sign.  Oops!  All I know is that the boys loved this!  All three crawled through the tunnel, got up, and RAN back to the start over and over and over and over and over and over…   

A rare picture of all three boys at the same time.  This might have been the only one of the day that everyone was facing the camera too!  Again wiggling through the tunnel.

Tending to the fire at the Lewis and Clark encampment.  I love the fact that Tanner and Braden are working together. 

 

Definitely a fun day!  The boys were all exhausted by the time we loaded back into the van.  I am sure that we will have to go back again sometime.  We will pick a cooler time so that we can enjoy a few of the outdoor areas of the museum too.  There was no way we were going to spend more time than it took to eat on this 100+ degree day!

We are now counting down the days until the start of school.  Riley is getting excited and nervous at the same time.  He is like me, doesn’t care for change.  He will do great and have a blast in first grade though!  Riley and I got to spend a couple of hours in the pool today and hope to do pool time again tomorrow.  We are going to head to the nature center near us on Tuesday to finish up the last days of this sweltering summer vacation!  We are looking forward to fall, cooler days, camping trips, and just getting outside more!