Chickens

As if we didn't have enough going on, the day after our camping vacation we went and got our chickens.

10 Rhode Island Reds (brown eggs) and 2 Laced Buffs (white eggs)

(I really want Americana hens because they lay blue and green eggs but I haven't found someone around here selling the chicks yet. If you know of someone let me know.)

Landon only likes to pick up the white ones which are the most elusive and less receiving of his affection. They don't peck they just voice their distaste for being held.

So far the boys have had a lot of fun taking care of them. They don't require any attention besides food and water, possibly the easiest pet ever, plus they give you eggs. Why do we have a dog? (He barked at a turtle yesterday for 2 hours. The turtle never put his head or legs in its shell.)

Only one of the white ones has a name, Chickadee. I'm sure the rest will be named once they grow up and we are able to tell them apart. I'm thinking of names like Sunny-Side, Scrambled, Poached...

Landon doesn't appreciate those names and wants to name them Mr. Poopy, Leaf, Tree, and Barn. 

We'll see whose names stick.

In a few short months we should have our first round of eggs!

Camping

Immediately after the wedding we drove back home, dumped the clothes out of our bags and put in camping clothes. Packed the car with our camping gear and headed to Mammoth Cave, KY.
Three hours to get to our house from the wedding, 2 hours spent unpacking and repacking and eating lunch, then 7 hours driving to KY.
LONG day!
Why KY? It's the halfway point for us and our families in Ohio.
My parents, two sisters and their families met us at Cave City and we camped for a few days.
Turns out there was a horrible heat spell with heat advisories into the 100's. Not ideal for tent camping.
How to escape the heat? We were in Cave City after all, so we went into the caves at the hottest part of the days! Without fail one of the boys fell asleep every time we were in a cave. Cool, dark cave conditions are perfect for nap times! If only they had cots for the adults to also take naps.

 One night we couldn't stand the heat so we found an Applebee's to escape and cool off. We weren't really roughing it.
The caves were neat and our company was fun. Mammoth Cave was by far the best of the three caves that we toured.
My older sister had to go back to work by the time we made it to Mammoth Cave but here are the rest of us. She went to two other caves with us and there is no way she would've enjoyed the tight passages of Mammoth.

Here are some other pictures from the caves.

A cave cricket.

 Landon striking his I'm cool pose

 Landon was taking pictures at this point and told us to make a silly face.

This is how we started one of the cave tours.

Ollie asleep on Craig.

Then this is how we ended that tour.

Ollie awake, Landon asleep.

For our last day we decided to drive to Nashville and find indoor things to do, plus it put us an hour closer to home so we drove home after dinner.

First we went to the Science Center and played for a few hours.

Then we went to the Gaylord Opryland hotel. We walked around the arboretum, which was amazing! Our original plan was to eat dinner at the Rainforest Cafe but it's still closed from the flooding last spring! Instead we ate dinner inside the Gaylord.

It was a fun trip, but next year, we are not camping in July. Air-conditioning is at the top of the list for next year's requirements.

New Orleans and a Wedding

A few weeks ago Landon was asked to be the ring-bearer in a wedding. Two friends from Craig's graduate work at U of Wyoming were getting married in Southern Mississippi. We went to the rehearsal dinner in New Orleans and spent a night. The bride's parents catered the event with fabulous Mexican dishes. Yum! Our hotel was one block away from Bourbon St. We never ventured over, we did however wander to the French Market and walk around a little.

 Landon is looking out at the Miss. River.

I unfortunately never got a beignet, it was a very sad time for this preggo driving away from New Orleans without a french donut. Next time!
We also went to the Zoo since the wedding didn't start until 6 that evening. It was HOT but fun.

 Ollie is really into learning about animals and their sounds, his favorite is the elephant. We spent some time watching them play and throw water and dirt.

They had fun in the petting zoo with the goats, chickens, and even got to pet a snake.

 They even found a tree to climb.

After the zoo we went to the wedding. The deal with Landon being the ring-bearer for Josh and Elena was he would do it IF he could walk their shi-tzu, Sweet Tea, down the aisle with him. They obliged since Landon calls Sweet Tea HIS dog. The wedding was outside so Landon had to walk Sweet Tea on leash from the house, down the aisle and hand Josh a box with the rings.
Sweet Tea had to pee before her grand walk down the aisle, Landon was very nice and kept saying c'mon Sweet Tea, c'mon.

Then being a social diva she had to say hello to all of the guests on her way down the aisle.

He was very proud to hand the rings to Josh and then be able to bring Sweet Tea to sit with us for the rest of the wedding.

 He did such a good job and everyone came up to him after the wedding and told him he did a great job! It was a fun wedding but also bittersweet because we won't get to see Josh and Elena as often now because Josh is moving to LA to be with Elena, he was only 1 1/2 hours away. Congratulations Josh and Len, we are so happy for you and glad you finally get to be together!

Old Friends

After blueberry picking we went back to our old neighborhood to see some friends. Our first stop was to Kota's pasture. The boys were very excited, she even made her whinny sound when she saw us, maybe it was the carrot bag she saw instead.

We also saw our old landlord who was very delighted to see the boys. His house if of course not child proof with his prized model trains and tractors sitting at eye level so we couldn't stay long but I'm pretty sure it made his day that he got to give the boys high-fives.

Blueberry Picking

The day before I turned 30 we went to pick blueberries at the local orchard. We got there around 9 am and it was already too hot, Landon only lasted 30 minutes before he was begging to get in the car and turn the a/c on. We stuck it out for 30 more minutes to make a grand total of an hour of picking to yield 3 lbs of blueberries. The days after we enjoyed blueberry crumb bars, muffins, fresh blueberries to eat, and some are frozen waiting to be added to muffins in the future.

 Where's Waldo in the picture above?

We ran into our neighbors picking berries also.

The trip was worth the sweat.

30

Turning 30 wasn't as stressful and life-shattering as I had always anticipated. Maybe I'm still in denial. Either way, it was a good day. Landon decorated the house, he put "pictures" aka his books on the back of the couch. He also put those stackable rainbow colored plastic rings, you know that fisher price toy that every kid seems to have, he put those on the knobs of the drawers to the entry table. It was very festive!
Craig entertained the boys all day so I could get some much needed sewing accomplished. A skirt, 3 curtains, and hemming my ring sling.
At one point this is how the boys were being entertained.

Landon practicing his trapeze skills, Ollie watching from the pool and the dog trying not to get whacked while begging for someone to throw his ball.

Realizing I've got a pretty good life made it easy to turn 30. I've got a fantastic husband, 2 wild boys and a third baby on the way. It also helped that we had ice cream pie from the local frozen custard joint. Yum!
I hope the next 30 don't go as fast.