February 21, 2013

Chickies

It seems my farmer husband has once again gotten the itch for baby chicks since he came home with some fertilized eggs from a kindly neighbor a few weeks ago. To hatch baby chicks it's common to use an incubator, but since none was to be found at the Millet homestead Travis decided to whip one together on his own.
Our Resident Engineer took a big cooler and placed a baking rack in the bottom. Next went in a thermometer, a bowl of water for humidity, and lastly, a space heater set to about 95 degrees which would kick on and off as needed. 
I honestly did not think it would work. 
(Oh ye of little faith...)
Lo and behold, three weeks later one of the chicks made a little hole in the egg shell and we listened to her cheeping all night long until she finally pushed out of her shell the next afternoon.
Then last night another birdie started the process all over again with the poking through and chirping all night long until she hatched around 4am this morning.
The boys are beyond absolutely thrilled to have baby chickies in the house.
So are Trav and I as well.
So now we have two adorable baby chicks and two more eggs which may or may not hatch. 
And Travis, I'm impressed baby. You had me worried there for a bit but these two fluffy babies are totally worth it.

February 12, 2013

Boy(s) + Dirt

So I sent the boys out to play today since it was gorgeous.

As I went to check on them, I realized they were both hanging out in this hole in the dirt where Trav had dug up a thorny tree.

Happy as clams. 
And jumping around like the silly goons they are.
 And then coming inside utterly filthy.
I do think they'll sleep well tonight.
At least after they've had a good scrubbing.

February 7, 2013

Zimmer Museum

When my mom was in town last week we decided to let Peter play hooky from school one day so we could go on a little adventure. After much deliberating, we decided to go down to LA to the Zimmer Children's Museum. What a great discovery! It's this tiny museum tucked away in the middle of a Jewish heritage building downtown but it was chock full of awesome kid-friendly place spaces. 

The boys loved this water table.
Benji would have spent all day playing in the water if we'd let him.
And the construction zone (where many signs were in Yiddish).

They got to be pilots in a real-life airplane.
But Peter's favorite section of the entire place had to be the aid and rescue area.
They had a full sized ambulance the kids could play in, 
lots of medical equipment to 'diagnosis' their patients with 
Aaaand this great rescue raft surrounded by 'water' or a giant ball pit the kids could play in to their hearts content.
 It took Benji a while to warm up to the idea of the ball pit, but once we got him in there, he was all smiles.
 I'm so glad we discovered this wonderful kids museum and that Grandma was able to come along with us! We had a wonderful time -- Peter already keeps asking when we get to go back to the 'search and rescue museum.' 
Thanks for taking us on an adventure Grandma!