Knighted by the Queen

We went to the Renaissance Faire at a local Park yesterday. The kids made hobby horses and raced before the queen. Afterward Ami was knighted by the queen, "the Countess of Columbia," while Noah and Eden were too scared to go near her. We also learned about spinning wool and tailoring, and we saw a puppet show. We went for a picnic on a boardwalk overlooking the Sound and then we went inside to the museum where the kids dressed up like children of colonial times. Topped off the day with a visit to a local pizzeria where we had a yummy dinner--we were the only people in the place so the kids could play and carry on without disturbing anyone.

Hobby Horse Race....Eden had a late start :)

Colonial Noah

Being knighted by the Queen

Waiting for the race to begin.

Our trip to Washington DC with Jane Goodall

We went to Washington DC to see Dr Jane Goodall speak at the Library of Congress, to discuss her new book, Hope for Animals and Their World--Chris contributed to the Red Wolf chapter of the book as a long-time biologist with the project. Jane called him up to the stage during her lecture to mention a few things about the wolves and to howl for the audience. I didn't get a pic of that because he had the camera in his pocket! After the lecture we went to the Museum of the American Indian for lunch, then back to the LOC to meet with Jane. We met on the steps of the LOC with the Capitol building as a backdrop, it was beautiful. Ami got to give Jane her chimp fund money, which she raised by selling bookmarks to family and friends. The money will go to help the orphan chimps who's mothers were killed for the bushmeat trade. She gave Jane a bookmark, and so did Noah. Noah also made her a picture of a ladybug climbing a rainbow. Then we went over Amelie's chimp lapbook which we made as a school project last year. It has a section about Jane Goodall which Jane signed for her. It also has a little collapsible box which has holes and is filled with velcro "termites"--you fish for the termites with pipe cleaners. Jane fished for termites with Ami and pretended to eat them--made us all laugh. She gave us two books--the one Chris is in, signed, and another one for the kids, and a poster, all signed, as well as a little chimp doll, which the kids share. I made a red wolf wall-hanging (appliqued) for her, which she really liked. She expressed an interest in having photos of the lapbook as an educational tool example, and said she'd have to wait for Chris to sign *her* book when she comes to visit the wolf project in the spring of 2010 (fingers crossed!).

It's been 6 months!

So, our photo program stopped functioning and I couldnt resize photos. Which means I couldnt upload anything because we are on dialup and large files just won't leave here. We need a new computer, but we can't get one until we know how satellite internet will work out for us. We can't seem to get wildblue to respond to our requests for a hookup, so we are in this annoying quandry. Something like 95% of NC has high speed--execpt for "small pockets on the coastal plain." yeah, thats us.

OK enough griping and on to updated photos. This is just the beginning, I will try to add more in the days to come since I have finally figured out how our new photo proram works and can at least resize pics so I can get them on here for everyone to see!

First image, Eden in the yard after a rain....notice the curls....

Ami and Noah in the tub.

Blueberries are ripe. We ordered 6 flats with 12 overloaded pints per flat. You have no idea how many diapers that translates into....

We went to see a musical group from Uganda over in Manteo, they are called Kinobe (after the lead singer). The kids had a great time running around the lawn at the outdoor twiligt concert. On the last song they invited all the kids up on stage to play instruments and dance. The performers were all taken with Eden, who happily poked around on stage like she owned the show, dancing and jumping and showing off in her own little world. She was the youngest one up there and was very happy to have joined her siblings who were also one stage (although she paid no attention to them). I was very proud of Ami for jumping up and getting right out there, being adventurous, seems the shyness is slowly working itself out. They all did great.

Just a recent photo, from the Ugandan concert night.

All of us.

Check back for more to come....Love, A,C,A,N & ER

We had 2 new goats and now we have 4!

We had 4 goats a while back, but sadly had to return them to thier
owner/breeder because they had a troublesome virus. We purchased these two saanens dairy goats, Viola and Pan, from a nearby breeder in Virginia. Viola is 10 months old, and came to us pregnant; Pan came along for the ride because Viola needed a friend to keep her company. Pan is a wether (a fixed male). We love him, but his purpose is mostly to keep Viola company.
He sure can jump a fence--I am talking 5-6 foot high! He stays in only because he isn't happy about our dog Mia patrolling the fenceline (she wouldnt hurt him) and he wants to stay with Viola, who wants nothing to do with fence-jumping.

Pan and Viola staying out of the weather. This is just a few hours
before Viola decided to have her kids on one of those rare frigid snowy
NC days.

Ami and Pan climbing a fallen tree together.

Noah and Pan climbing. Pan misses his friend Viola--she is inside the
goat house with her babies. When the weather breaks they can come out
and play. For now, Pan finds friends in chickens,ducks and human children! Chris is
going to divide the goat house into two pens tomorrow so Pan, Viola and kids
can see each other through a fence dividing wall.

Viola and her doeling, she weighs 8 lbs and is very frisky already.
Here she is still wet just after being born.

Here she is today, 7 AM, in her favorite spot.

Viola and her little buckling. He's 6.5 lbs.

Our kids meet the goat kids!

Noah is fascinated. Viola is so sweet and trusting and calm.

Noah is so happy to be holding this little guy. He says "The mama
pooped the babies out of her belly!" I told him they "popped" out,
but he figured out in his own mind that they must have somehow
been pooped out. Or else he misunderstood what I said!?? Who knows...

Viola and her kids a couple hours after kidding. Each wears a sweater
since it is so cold outside. Unusually cold for us, even at this time of year.
Notice Viola sleeping with her nose under the doelings sweater (one of
Eden's old sleepers with the rear legs and belly cut off).

The point of all of this? Milk! Cheese! Yogurt! Handmade soap!

Lots of reading and practicing and preparing yet to do, but

looking forward to all of it.