Broody hens and swimming pools!

Now that sounds like some title doesn't it! Two of our hens, Dragon and Stella are broody. At first I was looking for ways to reverse their broodiness and then I thought it might be rather nice to have some baby chicks. I found that one can source fertile eggs anywhere in Australia and they are delivered by post! Who would ever have thought that eggs would arrive intact after such a trip? The next step was to find a suitable separate pen for them to have their chicks in. I found this former rabbit hutch on ebay and now it has become home to the broody hens. I am expecting the fertile eggs any day now and will be eagerly awaiting the hatching of the little chicks about 21 days later. It is all rather exciting. As you can see William and Oliver claimed the rabbit hutch before the chickens did and found it to be a rather good play house!

And up popped William!

Our other project yesterday was to find a suitable little paddling pool for the boys as the days are already starting to get hotter. We found this great one at Clarke Rubber. It has a very handy canopy to protect the little boys from getting burnt. The boys have given it the seal of approval!

Daddy also thought it looked OK although he wasn't prepared for the shock of the still cold water!

Shaving Cream

Yesterday afternoon was warm. The boys said they wanted to strip off and splash in their old babies' bath. I gave them a can of shaving cream each and look what happened!

Southern Encounter

Last weekend we took the Steamranger steamtrain to Victor Harbor and back. We teamed the trip with a visit to Goolwa where we went to a festival. This photo shows Tom and Oliver about to board the train.

Oliver and William, like typical little boys, love trains. They were very keen to explore the old steam train and open every window and door to investigate what lay behind. Here you can see William looking out our window. He was especially interested in the elaborate catches and the shutters on the windows.

Oliver was pretty keen to get to know Britta better and spent a lot of the trip doing her hair, looking through the contents of her handbag and sitting on her lap. Britta took this all with grace and good humour.

After the two hour train ride through the green Adelaide Hills we reached Goolwa. Near the railway station was an open-air market. Oliver is getting into a wine barrel. He loves the opportunity to climb into small dark spaces and in fact both he and William were climbing into the cupboards below display barbecues today at a hardware shop.

This stall captivated the attention of us all. It contained a large collection of old wares. most of them were really nostalgic icons. William of course pounced on the old phones and eventually coaxed us into buying this cream phone which actually works. We now have it in our kitchen and it has its original loud bell ringtone.

It was then time for lunch in a cafe. The boys now want to visit a cafe at every opportunity and hardly a day goes by when we don't stop in somewhere so they can have a babycino. William wasn't going to part with his new phone for a moment. Oliver made it very clear that he wanted a big drink in a glass cup with a handle!

After several vigorous turns on the jumping castle and then pausing to watch the cream bun eating contest we stopped to listen to a jazzband. If there is something that William likes just as much as phones it is CD players and speakers. He was utterly fascinated by the band's sound system and had to look at each piece of equipment in detail. He and Oliver and I danced in the warm sunshine.

Oliver was interested in the instruments.

Finally there was a display of baby animals from a local wildlife park. William cuddled this gorgeous cashmere lop-eared rabbit as if it were a teddy bear.

Britta Has Arrived!

We were so excited to meet Britta at last. Britta is our lovely new aupair/nanny from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She arrived a week ago and has already settled in so well that she feels like part of the family. Britta is going to largely be involved with helping me with the boys on a daily basis. It means that I won't have to be so stretched and the boys can have some individual time with each of us. Already I have been relegated to third place by the boys! I come in somewhere after Britta and her boyfriend Tom whom the boys have also welcomed wholeheartedly. I can already feel that this next year is going to be wonderful. Britta radiates kindness, enthusiasm and energy.

Britta and Tom at the Goolwa Festival last weekend.

Swimming lessons

William and Oliver have been taking swimming lessons since they were six months old. They really love their lessons and have shown such a lot of progress this year. The photos below were taken a couple of weeks ago by a professional photographer who visits the pool periodically and photographs all of the children.

William

Oliver

Oliver

William