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Bunny update: They are fat and happy and possibly addicted to kale.

Too much kale ... must take nap ...

In other news, our garden has been putting out some good stuff. I am thrilled with our veggies. Also I threw in some zinnia seeds, So when I look out at it garden it's just a burst of color. It may sound like I am bragging. But mostly I'm just appreciative. Some years the garden is amazing. Other years it has issues. This is a good year. For this I am thankful.

We also have an abundance of poultry in the yard at the moment. Honestly there is over 40 birds back there. We have layers and chickens for meat and three turkeys. One of our roosters (a very good looking one) went down to the neighbor's house to live. Amira's friend, Bella, has a cute yard full of chickens and horses. Her banty rooster is getting older so we sent them an up and coming lad. Remember the bunny carrier that used to house Buster in Phoenix? Well, it's packed with a roo!

Recently Amira got invited to a Willy Wonka mystery themed party where they had to solve who stole the ever-lasting-gobstopper. It was sort of like a murder mystery dinner but more candy oriented. Amira was assigned to play Mrs. Gloop. Here is a very young and fashionable Mrs. Gloop. Note the length of her gorgeous locks. She's all about styling the hair and doing the make up. What a glamour-puss.

When the orchard provides fruit ... I provide tarts! It's an almond flour crust (no sugar) and just a tablespoon of honey in the gelatin glaze. Naturally sweet and delicious. Nom, nom, nom. 

So, Amira came to dinner with decided shorter hair last night. She did it herself. Surprise!

 She couldn't really see the back when she cut it.

 But, I have to say that overall she did a good job. 

This brought back memories of her early hair cutting experiences ... which seemed to happen often. Here is a link to a blog that includes a much more severe hair experience when she was in kindergarten. Enjoy that blast from the past.

Valerie was a little bent out of shape. "Wait a minute! Amira cuts her own hair and you take pictures of it? If I cut my own hair, you'd yell at me!" Oh, the indignation. We reminded Valerie that Amira tends to use scissors and that Valerie uses a drill bit or rock polisher as noted here in a blog post that shows how Valerie tends to get her hair fixed.

I'm not actually condoning any self hair clipping for any member of the family. We must again remind Amira that she does not have a license. Although when I contacted our hair stylist for an appointment to clean Amira's hair-do up she took a look at the photos and texted, "Oh geez! Maybe cosmetology is in her future."

Here are Amira and Valerie calling on the "foot phone" for a license to cut hair. Nice try.

Amira's wish list includes a cosmetology head for practice. If anyone feels so inspired ... we would welcome anonymous donations of such things before she runs out of her own hair.

Go Team!

I forgot to mention a few things in last post. First, Valerie got to take some horse lessons this summer. Her friend Hailey brought her horse along for a trail ride to one of them. Here are Hailey and Valerie in the kiwi orchard on the horses. I wish I had a close up photo of Hailey's horse. It has the most crystal blue eyes ever. It's pretty stunning.

Meanwhile, I can occasionally snag a good photo of Rex and his team when he posts them. I like this one because I can actually see his face. Also, he complained that he was shirtless in all the photos on the last post. It should be noted that he walked up to me without a shirt on and asked why he was shirtless in all the photos. Oh, you ironic teenagers!

Here's Valerie with her champion sheep at the state fair. Hailey (her friend and sheep mentor) his holding up her banner and belt buckle. Yay, Valerie!

Here is a close up of her first belt buckle. So shiny!

Summer Fun

Oh, summer break, how you fly so swiftly! Well, actually, the school years are flying by quickly too. Maybe this is just time in general. I cannot keep up with it! Remember when time used to creep slowly? It may be doing that now for Michael. He is doing his civic duty - jury duty - this week. 

This summer Valerie kicked it off with a back country back packing trip with a couple of friends up at Mt. Lassen. She was generous enough to share a few photos of said adventure.

Just as soon as she came back from her camping trip we were off to Eugene for the annual Black Sheep Gathering. Valerie showed more of Carol's champion Shetland Sheep. Valerie also placed first in showmanship this year. That was a treat to see.

While working the Black Sheep event, we stayed in a trailer on the fair grounds. It was a sweet deal. We made it very cozy. Coffee and tea were brewed and I brought my essential oil diffuser to make it smell nice. We sat around in the evenings and crocheted together, Valerie, Madelyn and I. We shared meals at Carol's trailer with her family. She brought meals for everyone. We provided a few desserts and brought some flowers from home to be a center piece on the table. It was a very nice time.

Here are Hailey, Valerie, Madelyn and Meghan with Carol's grandchildren, Alaina and Alex. It was a lot of work the last few days so now it's time for the gang to collapse on the straw bails and wait for the signal to load out.

Back at home Rex was making a batch of popcorn on the stove. It's inevitable that some popcorn will spill when tipping it from the pot to the bowl. Rex thought of a genius way to clean up the popcorn.

Rex really enjoys the poultry. He and Michael are in the process of selecting 2 roosters to keep for our flocks. They will be keeping one of the white rock roosters to breed out more meat stock. And then Rex has chosen his favorite rooster from our tax day hatchlings to be our breeding rooster for the laying flock. This guy, below with the fluffy cheeks, is Rex's favorite. He is training it to be a nice rooster. He's got it perching on his arm here. 

My friend Crystal likes to call this "FFF" for "Forced Family Fun". We packed up the kids and took them to the cabin at Donner Lake for 4th of July. It's always such a scene up there and so crowded. But we expect it and manage to have a good time each year. The crowds are kind of fun to see and hear. It's a real festival atmosphere. Here are the kids trapped in the car on the way up the mountain. They are all snacking and listening to their tunes. Rex is cooling off after a paintball practice in Davis.

Once up at the cabin we settled in and trotted over to the lake. Amira was Michael's little buddy the whole weekend. Here they are enjoying the cool mountain weather by the water.

There was many a game of table tennis on the beach. Michael was the only one who actually swam in the water this year. I am a notorious land lubber. So my book and I sat on the beach. Well, I did get up for a game or two of ping pong. My main goal was to stay cool, relax and see some fireworks. Mission accomplished.

Following our weekend at Donner, Valerie was back on sheep duty. She is in Sacramento for Part 1 of the California State Fair. Michael and Amira and I came down on Sunday to watch her show. Then we went off to enjoy some of the fair. Each year this is an awesome petting zoo set up behind the barns. Here is Michael with his new alpaca friend (with the crazy Dr. Seuss salon job) having snacks.

Well, the alpaca was having snacks ... not so much Michael.

Our favorite animals to see at the petting zoo are the wallabies. They spring around the place and always appear so happy. They have little joeys in their pouches (which cannot be seen here). When they get tired of the crowds, the zoo people hang bags on the fences and they jump in and relax.

Amira was up for the rides. Sadly, I cannot tolerate them anymore. Amira went on most of the spinning ones by herself. But she got Michael to go on the roller coaster with her. What an awesome dad!

Amira and I both enjoy sitting in those chairs that give the vibrating foot massages. We decided to take a selfie in our happy moment of foot massage and lemonade. Valerie and I will be back at the State Fair in two weeks for Part 2 of sheep showing. So, maybe I can get another footsie massage?