Wildlife Adventures!

Lydia turned 17 this weekend, and for her birthday, we gave her and two friends an animal adventure!

This is Curly Sue, a young capybara.  She loved her salad, and she posed for pictures!  In the background, Larry is certain you cannot see him, if he doesn't move.  See, he's not there!  And Maureen moved a bit and considered wandering over, but ended up letting Curly Sue get all the attention and first dibs at the treats.

Baby kangaroo Barney

We had a 45 minute private session at Wendt's Wildlife Adventures.  It was so fun!

The girls really enjoyed the sloths, too.  The sloth behind them is a Mama, with a baby on her chest.

Lydia got to feed the baby.  She got to pet it, too.  My future zoologist was very, very happy.

 

Projects

We don't actually have a lot of Easter decorations, especially compared with fall or Christmas, so Lydia and I made a couple of felt animals:

I made the duck, and Lydia made the bunny.  They are two-sided:

They turned out pretty cute and look nice on the mantle.  Lydia and two friends plan to do some crafting this weekend, so we will likely have a few new decorations after that.

In the garden, I transplanted some rutabagas under my makeshift cold frame:

A cold frame is just an open-bottom box with a glass lid that sits on the soil to protect plants and allows you to plant outside a bit earlier.  I realized that the pavers naturally lifted the glass just enough that I don't need a box, really.  So I transplanted some of the seedling rutabagas, and they are doing great.  I've been preparing potato beds, too, and I hope to get some planted today.  Elijah and I are going to tackle the chicken problem this week, hopefully, so that the whole garden will be ready for spring planting.

 

Track Season and Prom

 

Track Season started this weekend, with Lydia competing on Friday and Emry on Saturday.   Lydia ran a relay for the first time, in addition to pole vaulting.  It went really well, although she doesn't want to run again.

Emry had his first meet ever, and he did very well.  He took 5th place in the 100 meter dash, in a field of 72.  Most of the boys in the top 12 or so were 8th graders.  He also did well in long jump, and he was the anchor on the 4x 100 relay.  He was very excited to get the first place medal for that!

Also this weekend,  Lydia had junior prom.

Art and Hair

Gyunay finished his side by side art class, where special needs students work with an artist to create various types of art.  He loves this class.  They have a gallery at the end:

It's always very nice, and it's fun to see all the kids' creations. 

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Meanwhile, Nathaniel gave Emry a haircut:

We looked through pictures, and this was the style he decided on.  It looks very good, and he was very happy with it.  He's gotten compliments from adults and some of his black friends, but some of his white friends were not so complimentary.  He's learning to handle that. I am glad he has decided to keep the hairstyle, though, because he really likes it. Middle school is such a tough place.

 

February Harvest and More

 Egg totals continue to grow.  For February,  we got 406 eggs from our 19 young hens. 

We took advantage of the lovely weather yesterday and met my sister's family at our zoo.  

We had a great time, even though everyone else in the surrounding area also thought it was a great day to go to the zoo.  I have never seen it so busy!