Saturday, August 11, 2012

Weekly Wrap-Up - Aug 12

Busy week! And I think there are pictures on my phone, that may or may not make it in, but I'm hoping to get this written real quick while I for sure have an internet connection.

Monday our friends J&E came over to feed the geese. Backing up slightly, Sabbath after Friendship Meal, there were some pretzels that were going to be tossed, so I said I'd take them home and let the girls feed the fish & geese on our pond. Little Bit will seriously ask if she can save part of her dinner to be able to go feed them, so I knew she'd jump at the chance. Penny, asked if she could bring J&E over to join in the fun, so Monday was decided on. The geese cooperated beautifully, flying in and landing on the pond just a few minutes after Penny & the boys arrived.

After we finished feeding the geese, Sassy & MiniMe went up to the barn and got the little kittens and we showed them to the boys, then, since we hadn't given them any formula yet that day, the boys got to join in that fun too. The kittens drink from a dish fine (thankfully, since they tore the bottle nipple to shreds in a minute or less when we first tried to feed them), so it's just a matter of putting the kitten formula in 2 jar lids and letting them at it.

In case I forgot to mention the kittens, the (feral) mama cat is extremely skinny, and doesn't seem to be producing enough milk, so we're "supplementing" the 2 kittens (both very cute little calicos). Our neighbor Denise is going to try to take the mama in to the vet to find out what's wrong with her. Daddy has told Sassy that she can keep one of the kittens (named TigerLily Socks, or somesuch, nickname Lily).

Other then that Sun-Tues was all about getting packed and ready to go.

Wednesday we loaded up and headed to Mama & Papa's house. Then spent the afternoon helping to load the motorhome to get ready to go.

We did take a break from unloading/loading to visit with my friend Vicki and her children. The girls, E&K had fun playing with my girls, and my girls and I all ooohed & ahhhed over new baby, L. He's only 3 weeks old, and sweet as can be. Little Bit was FASCINATED and didn't leave his side the whole time they were there. The big girls were great about playing with E&K but did each take time to have a turn holding baby L too.

Thursday we headed out, and pretty much drove all day (well, rode all day, Papa did the driving).

The big girls each took a turn (and actually fought over, sigh) helping to keep Little Bit entertained. We'd thought she'd be able to watch videos but the plug thingy was broken (now, thankfully, fixed), so that made for a challenge since I'd planned on videos being a large part of her entertainment. She did pretty well though. The big girls, of course, did fine.

We got to my aunt & uncle's house in TN that evening, ate supper, visited, and went to bed. For this part of the trip, the big girls and Mama & Papa are sleeping in D&J's guestroom, so Little Bit and I have the motorhome to ourselves.

Friday was the whole "reason" for this trip. Back in March, for the twins' birthday, Aunt Darla had given them the promise of going to a live theater performance of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. So this trip was to be able to go to that. It was a girls' day out, with my aunt, mom, grandma, the big girls, and me. Papa stayed "home" (at D&J's house) with Little Bit. I wasn't sure how that would work (and was open to the possibility that I'd end up staying with her instead, didn't want to put her OR Papa through the nightmare that leaving her in a strange place for several hours against her will, would be), but when the time came I just explained that Mama & Sissies and I were going to a "meeting" and she was going to stay with Papa. I explained that she wouldn't like the "meeting", that she'd have to not talk at all and just sit quietly for a very long time, but that with Papa they could watch videos, and play with her toys and such. And she was fine with it. Even took a nap for Papa (with the bribe of ice cream when she woke up).

The performance was AMAZING!!! It was done in a small "lab" type theater and the actors actually came out and talked to people before the performance. So the girls got to carry on quite a long conversation with "Edmund". There were no curtain drops, and all the "props" were essentially some blocks of wood (I assume), painted to look like rocks, but it was awesome! The girls loved it, we loved it! A wonderful time was had by all.

The other fun has been that the big girls have caught the "birding bug". D&J are very into birding, and have a lovely bird feeder area set up right outside their family room window, and have binoculars conveniently placed near that window. Aunt Darla has spent a bunch of time telling the girls what all the different birds who feed there are, and how to tell them apart and all kinds of fun things. I suspect that a new obsession has been born :)

Sabbath we visited a wonderful "park" that was more of a nature reserve/zoo. There were turtles that were more active than any turtles I've ever seen. The small "pond" area was just crawling with them. There were wolves, and deer and snakes and bobcats (not sure anyone saw any of them. The rest went over there during Little Bit's nap). And we were lucky enough to get to the "birds of prey" area just as they were getting ready to feed them. The volunteers were great about answering the girls' questions, and it was definitely interesting to watch the different birds eat.

So that's been our week. I think I'm going to go ahead & post this now (Sat. night), since tomorrow will be another busy day as we head down toward the Chattanooga area for more adventures.

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