The British are coming! The British are coming!

Actually, they are here! Cal is in Soccer camp this week. He participates in the British Soccer Camps put on by Challenger Soccer. This year is a little different as he isn't used to the heat... the camp even made the start time at 8 am instead of 9 am so the kids could avoid some of the hotter hours. Either way he is drinking about a gallon of water for the 3 hours he is playing! Here are a couple of pictures. Tomorrow is the final day but I'm not sure if I'll get any pictures done.

They divided the kids up into different teams, each representing a different country. Cal was put on team England... so the next two pics are of him screaming "England!".

It's hot out there... they need a bird bath!!

Well, Ariel and her chicks have flown out into the neighborhood and so perhaps I will be able to revive my poor dying plants! We still have the Robin and her eggs and of course Johnny and June seem to be busy feeding some baby birds in their nest (still cant see them). It's been so hot out that we took Oma's advice and got a bird bath for our front yard (central to the nests and our viewing pleasure!). Hopefully in the next couple of days the Heat Advisory will go away and we can have a few cooler days.

This is Shiloh, our 10 year old cat trying to keep cool! He has some serious matting going on and something tells me he isn't going to continue letting me brush him so we might have to visit a groomer. The birds have entertained him and now that we have a birdbath he just might find it even more interesting. Shiloh is an indoor cat but loves to chat with whatever is on the other side of the window!

Chris and Ty sat patiently for a little while hoping to see which birdie would be the first to test the bird bath...The kids also took a picture of our frog... he's back! Above our front door is a large window and so it's fun to watch the little frogs leap along the window... interesting to see their undersides. Anyhow, it provides fun entertainment before bed! If we leave our porch light on we can even watch them eat their buggy delights! Last year we had a few frogs so we're anxious to see how many we'll have this year!

First flights and hops

Yes, our little baby house wrens have taken their first flights! One in particular is the 'runt' of the nest and he just hopped out of the planter (I had it on the ground) and then continued to hop down the stairs and then fly up on the hand rail. The others took off pretty quick and so I didn't get a picture of them. You can hear them however in the video.

The Hormann Aviary

A lot has happened since I last posted about the birds... we have identified the actual identities of the birds, their nests and their eggs... and some have hatched! Here is the update!

First we will begin with the barn swallow. They have their nest above our front door. She (we named her June) has been spending more time sitting in her nest so we know there are eggs up there. If only we had a mirror so we could take a peek! I doubt she would like it if I took the ladder out to take a photo! Here is a picture of her from tonight. The male (we named him Johnny) still hangs out but I couldn't get his 'mug shot' tonight.

The second nest belongs to a sweet little House Wren. Lydia named her Ariel (haven't seen the male but he was named Sebastian). She allowed us to photograph her eggs (she is in my previous post, unfortunately I thought her eggs were the Barn Swallow's). Since our last post the eggs have hatched and now the chicks have fluffy feathers and have moved out of the nest and into the rest of the hanging plant. Due to that I am now unable to water my poor plant and am not sure when I will be able to do so. Hmmm so much for that. There are 5 chicks and no, Lydia hasn't named them... yet.

The first picture is of them around a day or two old... they were still a little wet.They were a hungry bunch! Their eyes were still closed and when I moved the planter they started prepping for food!This next photo was taken by my mom ... their eyes were finally open!The chicks are now big enough to take over the planter. All five are huddled together. They were pretty quiet so we are guessing they just ate. I got to watch her feed them earlier in the morning and wow... those kids can eat! They are just as noisy as mine are at meal time! The third nest is in a small tree in our front yard. It's a Robins nest and tonight she let us get a photo of her beautiful blue eggs.


Last but not least are the chickadees... at least that's what I think I have. They had a nest on our roof somewhere between all the different levels and we heard their beginnings because it sounded like they were IN our house. Luckily they weren't but they sure are tough to get pictures of. This morning I was watching them practice their take offs and landings from the corner of our roof... They were experts and thankfully none of them had a mishap!

OK, that's the update on our birds! Thanks to Oma (who came for a visit) we have a nice bird book to look at and the kids are having fun learning about our feathery friends. Its been busy in our cul-de-sac... new bunnies, deer across the street, the horses are out at the pond and we have new 'humans' moving in as well!

Skateboards and Rollerblades....

My youngest (Ty) turned 4 at the begining of June and for his birthday he got a new skateboard... and somehow his brother and sister got some new wheels too! So it was off to the skatepark to have some fun (and learn how to use their equipment!).

Awesome giveaway!!!!

Kaaren at The Painted Quilt is having an awesome 4th of July giveaway!!!! Drop by her blog and tell her hello!!! The drawing for 4 fab giveaways will be on the 3rd of July! Good Luck!
~Charlene