Action Packed January

January is flying by us!! A big trip to San Francisco this month for Valerie's 7th grade field trip to sleep at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It was worth the Saturday night traffic coming over the bridge.


I do miss San Francisco. I'm glad that the kids get to grow up in Chico. But I relish my nostalgic trips back to the city.

This night we gazed at nebulas in Orion's scabbard, saw Jupiter and moons through a telescope on the living roof of the building and slept in the aquarium. Yes, we also experienced the earthquake exhibit, saw planetarium, an albino alligator in the swamp and spiraled up through a rainforest bubble. Below is Valerie and some classmates getting ready to sleep on the floor of the aquarium. Jellies!!!


I, for once, had an easy car of students. So before heading back to Chico, Valerie, Maya, Elizabeth and I headed out for a gorgeous morning at Ocean Beach,


There were loads if jelly fish that had washed up on the beach.


The girls wrote their names in the sand.


We arrived home just in time for the girls to make it to their 4-H sewing meeting.


The following weekend Michael and I celebrated 16 years of marriage. Michael sweetly sent this bouquet from California Organic flowers.


We had a lovely dinner at Leon Bistro.





Then we went bowling!


Spot continues to win our hearts. When he is not found jumping into Amira's trash can, he's up on her bed.





Tonight he frolicked in Valerie's room a bit and then cuddled with Amira on the couch.


Not pictured here is Rex. He's often busy studying, scouting, working out at the gym or paint balling. We'll have to use our imaginations instead of relying on photos. He's a neat kid but illusive!!

4-H Rabbit Show

"Mom, we should bring the pet carrier with us to the rabbit show!"

"No way. We are just going to look and take pictures and maybe just get some phone numbers for some day when we are in the market."

I'm pretty sure that I repeated the mantra, "We are not getting a rabbit today!" over and over to the kids and myself for weeks in advance of this event. We are not even in the rabbit group for 4-H.

So we got up and out of the house by 9:00AM to make it down to Gridley by 10:00AM so the girls would have plenty of time to oogle the rabbits and get 4-H credit for attending a county event.

One of the first things that happened was that I found a bunch of Flemish Giants and asked Amira to hold my coffee while I got a closer look.

This ginormous fellow is 10 weeks old.



This one is just 3 months old. They are HUGE! I love them.


Anyhow, while I was drooling over these guys, I heard a kerfluffle. Someone told me that Amira spilled my coffee. I went to the aisle to have a look. Sure enough, she was covered in coffee. We went outside to rinse her jacket off (there was coffee on the hood and down the BACK). How did she get coffee down the back? Later I learned that the coffee was also splattered across some show rabbits. Huge bummer. Can you imagine getting your rabbit ready to be judged in a show and have that happen?? Turns out the incident was not actually Amira's fault. But, the good news is that nobody and no bunny was burned.

So, we continued to gawk at amazing breeds that I didn't even know existed.










I do love the huge ones. Now, the ones shown above are fine if you don't have a job ... Or life ... That requires you to do anything other than brush your bunny ALL DAY, EVERY DAY.

This bunny on a harness was adorable.




By now the girls were getting frustrated that all we could do was LOOK. Valerie and Madelyn were keen to get on to the sheep shearing at the farm. I got waylaid petting a gray Rex rabbit for some time. Rex fur is soft and velvety and thick like the coat of a seal. In addition to the Flemish Giant I've also been enamored with the Rex rabbits for their amazingly pettability as well as their darling personalities.

After some time I decided it was time to go. I was just rounding up the girls when I happened upon pens of young Mini Rex rabbits in assorted colors. I was very much drawn to what they call the "broken" Rex. They've got spots like a Dalmatian. There was a little guy with brown spots with his brothers in a pen on the floor. Just 8 weeks old.

Valerie's friend Lauren bought a black broken Rex doe.






Well, I don't know what came over me. But the next thing you know, an elated Amira has an early birthday present named Spot. (Short for Sir Spotsalot). Since we didn't have a pet carrier, (couldn't someone have suggested we bring one?) she wrapped it in a scarf and he sat in her lap on the way home.










Rex turned him into a pocket pet.








He is officially Amira's bunny. He lives in her room. She's in charge of feeding, watering and cleaning.




Napoleon still has the living room. We tried a brief introduction in the bath tub. I think it will take some time. Napoleon seems like a fuzzy teddy bear in comparison to Spot. Sadly, Napoleon does not like to be held. But he does appreciate a good head scratching, is litter box trained and usually comes when called. We're hoping Spot will be all that plus like to be held.


Welcome to the family, Spot!