Dozer Days

As usual, Ben and Dad (Grandpa Larry) went to Dozer Days with Mark this year!

In spite of the huge crowds, much fun was had!

...and then there were TWO!

Remember Timmy, our tortoise? Well, as of last week, Timmy (who is actually a girl) has a boyfriend. His name is Rose (named by Mark). Rose, at just 5 years, is quite a bit smaller than Timmy, and probably about 25 years younger. We got him from a family on Craigslist that got bored with him and wanted to get rid of him.

The two torts get along just fine, and it is fun to watch tortoise-social behavior. They greet each other by bobbing their heads! ("How ya doin'?") Sometimes they get into little arguments, but overall they seem to like each other. The other day they were both basking, and Timmy put her head on Rose's shell. 

In a few years, when Rose is bigger (he is more of an immature teenager at this point) we hope to have baby tortoises. 

Have I mentioned that Russian tortoises are the most awesome pet, ever? They eat weeds, they don't spit up hair balls, they don't shed, and they don't bark... they are smart, and they get very tame. Plus it feels a little like living with dinosaurs. Did you know that they live over 100 years with proper care? Guess what, future grand-children... you're inheriting a pair of tortoises!

...caught in the act!

Would you like to see 30lbs of pure "Uh, oh, she caught me"...? Sean was having an awfully long nap, so I decided to check on him. Before nap, his room was pristine, and Sean was wearing pants.

Here is what I found:

Guilty... and pretty darn cute!

It was way too funny to be mad at Sean... so after a good laugh, we made a game out of cleaning up together.

Mark, the baby chick whisperer

Mark's Kindergarten class just hatched 9 little chicks! Over the course of 3 weeks the children learned all about how a baby chick develops inside an egg. On Monday morning the eggs began to hatch. 9 of the 11 eggs had chicks in them, and today they were big enough to carefully be picked up by the children.

Mark's teacher took this picture of Mark - she said that he lovingly cradled a little chick and rocked it to sleep.

Mark, chick-whisperer

Mark has wanted to have "pet chickens" for a while now... I really, REALLY don't want chickens. I told him we would re-visit the subject when he was 10 or 11 years old.