Signs of Spring!

It was the first sign of spring here on the Vineyard. . . . Dairy Queen opened!! It just so happened that there was a half day of school that day, so by the time we got there, the line was a mile long. We waited a few extra hours and headed down to give it a go. 

The boys thought it was definitely worth the wait!

Slacker

I just realized I could win best slacker award for my lack of blog updates. . . . I'll be fixing that A S A P ! 

Searching for Sharks' Teeth

We've been trying to take full advantage of the warm winter we've been having. My mother, sister, Isaac and I ventured to the other side of the island the other day in search of some shark teeth. 


It was a little windy up there, but so beautiful. We all had such a fun time! There is a really neat cave to explore, and lots of things to look at. My sister even found THREE shark teeth! I'm not sure what we'll do with them quite yet. 

World of Reptiles

A couple weeks ago, my good friend Ariel rented out The World of Reptiles for her son Tysean's birthday. 
It was such a great idea! All the kids had so much fun learning about the different types of turtles, lizards, frogs, snakes and caymans. We even got to get close to his Eagle Owl (the largest of the owl breeds)
I had a pretty hard time with the snakes, the little ones are okay, but the second largest snake in captivity in the country. . . . not so much. 
The birthday boy got to go home with a skin that one of the large pythons had shluffed off, sooo cool for a 6 year old! 

After that, the boys all devoured some pizza and cupcakes down the road. It was such a fun time! It gave me some ideas for future birthday parties. I'll just make sure to bring a paper bag to breathe into next time. 

Valentine's Day

This year we had a very quiet Valentine's Day.

Isaac and I worked very hard making Valentines for all the lovely ladies in our life. We made some pretty flowers using buttons, pipe cleaners and cut felt (of course I figured out a much easier way to make them after I made a couple dozen), we made some heart mobiles, special snow globes, and some special butterflies. 

I wish I had taken photos of everything before we sent them off in the mail. Fooey, next time I will!

Piglets have arrived!

Last week, I packed up Isaac and headed up to Native Earth Teaching Farm in Chilmark. We hadn't been there in about a year, so I thought it would be a great time for another visit. 

The guenii hens were the first to meet and greet us, such beautiful birds, but they're just so loud! We walked all around and saw the adorable pigmy goats, and more friends of fowl, but the main attraction that day were by far. . . THE PGLETS!! 

They were so cute! We had just watched the movie Babe, so it was very cute to see real piggies that were that same size. 

Down on the Farm

For about a month now, I've been volunteering at one of our local farms here on the Vineyard. The Farm Institute, which we love to visit, has chickens, pigs, goats, cows, and most of all. . . sheep! 


I hadn't spend allot of time around sheep, certainly not in close contact anyway. Since it's winter, they are very understaffed, and since I have more time on my hands these days, I told them I would love to help in anyway that they may need me. 


Lately it's been helping with their sheep. The whole pen of sheep are expecting, well seven or eight of them have had their lambs at this point. What an incredible experience it has been for me! There were already a few lambs born before I started helping, the first week I was there, a little boy was born. He ended up catching pneumonia, poor little guy. He was a fighter though, and he is certainly flourishing now! I named him "Little Champ" I think the name suits him nicely : ) 
The next week, twin girls were born. Unfortunately only one survived. Most of the births have been multiples, and one of them has been born with something wrong with its' back legs. They don't know why it's happening. 
"Sweet Little Girl" as I named her was born with this same leg condition. However, she is doing really great! Her mom doesn't pay as much attention to her, not as much as I'd like to see anyway. They say that if a baby is born with something wrong with it, the mother tends to distance herself, thinking that it won't make it. Well, Sweet Little Girl isn't going anywhere, not as long as I can help it anyway! I'm pretty sure that she and Little Champ have some house cat in their genes, they're so snuggly. 


Each night that I spend with them I check and make sure all the moms are eating, and all the babies are alert and nursing. I'll kneel down and let the little ones come close to me, slowly their moms are trusting me more and more, which is amazing because sheep generally don't like people. 
The two little ones will come and nuzzle up to me, crawl onto my lap and try nursing on my finger tips. They're the cutest little things ever! 


Two more were born yesterday, both healthy, and it looks like another mama will give birth tonight!