Home At Last!

Well, we did, in fact, make it home...(we laughed that this is the first outdoor photo in four months WITHOUT the blue coats!! :)  We came home to blessing after blessing bestowed by friends...beautiful (and leafless) lawn and flower beds, fresh flowers inside and out, food for days (literally), oodles of visits, calls, and cups of tea. :)   How blessed and thankful we are for our friends!  The kindness shown to us was humbling...overwhelming...appreciated. A heartfelt thanks to all...

The kids were so happy to be reunited with Bullet, our dog!!  Another sweet surprise left for us, since Victoria's cat Snowball was hit and killed by a car while we were away, was this adorable calico kitten, which Victoria named Butterfinger.

Lambing Season at Wimpole Estate

Frolicking lambs were the order of the day when we visited the Wimpole Estate, a sprawling National Trust property southwest of Cambridge.  This working farm boasts of many rare breeds of farm animals, and the day we visited, there were over 100 (!) ewes about to give birth.  There we all stood looking at each other:  the very pregnant ewes ready to have their babies, and the watching public, wanting them to have them.  I don't know who was more disappointed when their babies did not arrive that day...

These are some of the pregnant mamas during feeding time.  Do you see the black one in the MIDDLE of the round feeding trough.  We're still wondering HOW a VERY pregnant ewe landed in the middle of the trough--giant leap?  good buck in the seat of her pants?  using other sheep as stepping stones?  Funniest thing...

Every time I see this picture I laugh.  This entire breed of sheep needs their bangs cut!  I just laughed and laughed.  In order to even see to walk, they had to kind of flick their heads a bit to expose their eyes...reminded me of that muppet with the long crazy hair... :)

The kids got to practice their milking skills...not too bad...

Rudyard Kipling's daughter, Elsie Bambridge, was the last owner of Wimpole, and she restored the house and grounds to their original glory.  There was much to see and do, but we spent the entire day on the farm!

And a good time was had by all...

Shepreth Wildlife Park, Animal edition

Have you ever decided on an outing for the day, thinking, "This sounds like it might be fun."  And then it turn out to be more than you ever DREAMED it would be?  That describes our recent trip to SHEPRETH WILDLIFE PARK.  It was a cold, rainy Saturday, and it turned out to be the PERFECT day to visit:  few folks, countless critters (the aforementioned adjectives and nouns are dedicated to my son Daniel, who is learning about alliteration).

One of our first stops was to the "Bugs World" section.  Yes, that is yours truly holding a living, venom-intact tarantula!!  YIKES!!  One funny thing that happened as I was holding it was that it kicked off some of its leg hairs onto my hands.  The trainer said that it didn't like something about my hands--probably the scent left from hand lotion--and it was letting me know, and that I should wash my hands immediately or the leg hairs would irritate my skin and cause severe discomfort.  That little stinker!

Have you ever seen a blue lobster?  Blue is this species' natural color...dazzling bright blue...stunning!

Lots of good memories here...fruit bats dive-bombing Victoria in the bat house because she had fruit-scented shampoo...tigers hunting enormous chunks of raw meat hidden thruout their enclosure (you can just see some meat between the 2nd and 3rd tires in above photo), black swans (!), petting kangaroos, chasing  monkeys (they were free to roam!), and running from Billy Goat Gruff who wanted to see how my jacket tasted!  Brad and I both commented on how the children cherished our time there.  Perhaps because it had a familiar feel to it...at any rate, it was good for the children...and for us too...