Crazy Camels and a "New" Toy

Saturday morning we visited Overlook Farm in Rutland for a pancake breakfast fundraiser. They had the most delicious sausage made from their grass fed animals. This is a farm run by Heifer Project to demonstrate what it is like to live in some of the various parts of the world that they serve. There is lots of livestock and several houses. Addie thought the bamboo house from Thailand was a playground.

One of the highlights for Addie was that her Sunday school teacher also went. She liked the animals alright, but continually asked, "Where is Mrs. Chaplis?" Addie is definitely a people person. Edith enjoyed getting to pet the baby goats, one only 4 days old. We all enjoyed watching the rather silly camel. He was standing by his fence and just wagged his whole neck and head back and forth repeatedly. He continued doing this for the entire time we were observing him.

We also visited the Sugar Shack to see the maple syrup being boiled. We all listened to the talk about the whole process. The volunteer asked if there were any questions. Addie wondered, "Why is the floor gravel?" The two student volunteers were stumped. I guess that was outside their expertise of maple syrup information.

Addie and Edith have a "new" toy. It seems that they have discovered Mabel. They take her for walks around the house together. Luckily we have two leashes so they each can hold one. Edith really enjoys feed her as well. I think Mabel is still undecided on all this attention. On one side it is nice to actually get attention and be played with, but it isn't always fun to be dragged around all day.

Amazing

I am always impressed by Addie's amazing powers of observation. I am going to share two recent examples. First, we were heading into a restaurant and Addie pointed out a hanging tree. She was very excited about the hanging tree. None of the rest of us would have even noticed because we were so busy with shuttling everybody inside.

Today we went to the library and I got out Country Mouse Town Mouse by Jan Brett. When I got it out to read Addie says "This is the armadillo book." This only makes sense if you know that we have previously gotten out another book by Jan Brett that stars an armadillo. Addie immediately recognized the style of the drawings. Wow. Even more amazing is that we got out the armadillo book back when we were living in Issaquah over 9 months ago. Double Wow!

On the Edith front she is quite excited about the new shoes that she picked out. She grabbed a pair of Trekker's old work boots (size 8) and absolutely loves them. I had to hide them because it is probably not so good to wear shoes 2 sizes too big. She also now has Trekker's old leather jacket. She looks pretty cool in it. Here she is sweeping up the driveway with the shop broom.

Higgins Armoury

We spent a nice morning at Higgins Armory. Both girls really enjoyed the kids room. Edith practiced being both a knight and Alice (playing chess). The actual museum itself was kind of boring for the girls although they did enjoy stretching their legs. The interior structure of the museum has a sort of tunnel of archways made into a hallway with a line of colored tiles in the center. Of course this made a fabulous path to run on. I had lots of fun chasing the girls and reminding them "we don't run in museums."

And Edith now has 6 teeth! That pesky second tooth on the bottom has finally popped through. Hurrah!

Puzzles and Silverware

Can you believe, Addie has started solving crossword puzzles? She is pretty good at them and almost finished one. Check it out.

Little Edith is observing every little detail around her. I was asking Addie for help picking up and Edith was really excited to answer. (Addie not so much) Edith helped empty the silverware tray in the dishwasher. One by one she would take a piece out and walk over to the drawer. She would open the drawer and then reach up and drop the piece in. The drawer is high enough that she had to stretch really far and just slide the silverware in. She worked quite hard and got all of the pieces put away. It was adorable. I didn't have the heart to tell her she was putting everything in the wrong drawer.