And More Softball

Are you sick of softball pictures yet?! I hadn't intended to post any more unless they won the championship this weekend, but I wanted to post this picture I got tonight.

Last week the coach, and this week the assistant coach's wife, told us that Danielle is the best outfielder in the league because she moves so fast and makes amazing stops in the outfield. The coaches call her "Wheels", and Danielle loves it. I caught this picture tonight when she was running over to back someone up. That person missed the ball and Danielle was there to scoop it up. I just thought it was neat because her stride is so wide and she kind of looks like she's flying. :)

More Softball

Today was the last softball game of our regular season. Danielle played an awesome game and hit another homerun (with 2 people on base)! She did a great job in the field, too, and kept the other team's homerun hitter to a single with her quick feet during one inning. Tonight's game was close, but Danielle's team won. That makes them undefeated for the season. It's nice to win games, but it wouldn't mean anything if the girls weren't having fun. Thankfully, Danielle has had a lot of fun, made some new friends, and learned a lot. We have tournaments next week. Hopefully her team will continue to do well so they can earn trophies.

Here are some pictures from the last couple games. AllStar practices have started, but our first series of games isn't until the 2nd week of July. (So I'm sure there will be lots more softball pictures to come!)

Wildlife Camp

This past week Danielle attended camp at a local Wildlife Center. Among other things, this center rehabs and houses native animals that are wounded or unable to survive if left on their own. She had a great time!

Her favorite part of each day was when she got to take an active role in caring for the animals. One day she helped exercise a woodchuck. One day she mixed up food and fed baby birds. One day she cleaned flying squirrel cages while the squirrels rolled around her feet in hamster balls. She did lots of other things with the animals, but I'm still finding out about everything in bits and pieces. The days were long, it was very very hot everyday, and she was tired by the time I picked her up each afternoon. I know they also had special animal visitors every day. They got to see the animals and learn a little more about them. She liked the tiny saw whet owl with the big attitude. They got to net tadpoles and frogs and fish out of the study pond. And they played games and sang silly songs like every kid should experience at summer camp. She loved the leaders and made a friend she's hoping to be penpals with. She had a really good week and is pretty sure she'd like to go back next year.

On the next to last day the kids put on skits for the parents and then showed us around the facilities afterward. The skits were supposed to be animal related and show us what to do in various animal encounters. Danielle came up with the skit for her group. She was a mommy deer who hid her baby under a bush while she went off on vacation (hunting?). Someone found the deer and wanted to know what to do. They called the Wildlife Center and were told to leave the baby alone because the mother would return for it. Afterward, Danielle returned for her baby and moved her to a new hiding spot. It was cute. Danielle was mad, though, because the "bossy" girl in their group insisted that Danielle wear antlers, and "EVERYONE knows mommy deers don't have antlers!!" Duh.

Camp was over at noon on the last day, so the two of us went out to lunch together. We had a very nice date - it was a great end to a great week!

Tech Camp

This past week Tyler attended a tech camp. Several months ago I started looking online for camp options for Tyler. We tried Camp Invention a couple years. Tyler liked it, but he's outgrown it. Last year he went to Cub Scout camp. I don't think he disliked it, but he didn't enjoy it enough to want to go back. I feel really lucky to have stumbled across the organization offering these tech camps. I'd never heard of them, so I kept my fingers crossed and hoped it would be as good as it sounded. It was, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again!

They offered several different camp options for kids ages 7-13 - video game programming, SCRATCH programming, stop-motion animation, Lego Robotics, etc. I initially looked into it because I thought Tyler would be interested in the video game programming camp. Instead he wanted to try the stop-motion animation camp. They offer 1/2 day sessions where you attend one camp, or full day sessions where you pick two or three camps. Tyler went to the 1/2 day session because the full day ones were a little out of our price range this year!

He really enjoyed the camp and would like to try one of the other camps next year. For his class, they used Stop Motion Pro, which is the same animation software used to make the recent Pirates movie (by the creators of Wallace & Grommit). Each day they learned a little about the software and then had a project to work on. Stop motion animation is a tedious process, and I'm kind of surprised Tyler enjoyed it. One day he was about half way through his movie when he accidentally bumped part of his set and everything fell apart. He had to start over, so that was a little frustrating. He said his videos contain 15 frames per second, so a 7 second video is made up of 105 pictures he had to set up and take individually! Kind of helps you understand why his videos are so incredibly short! He said the professionals use 30 frames per second. Can you imagine how long it must take to make a 90 minute movie?!

Tyler's movies are very short, and I kind of wish he hadn't learned how to draw in explosions, but they're not my videos! They were given a baggie of Lego minifigs and had to use what they were given, so the 3rd movie (when they were learning how to add backgrounds and everyone used the moon background) contains a "space mermaid". She is being attacked by a space ant who is firing discs at her. In the last video, the person drinking explodes, and then the chest explodes when it's opened. (The movies are over so quickly; I felt the need to narrate a little!) I'm really glad he enjoyed his week!

Our Bunnies

I'll get to Tyler's video clips tomorrow. Here are more pictures of our bunnies. As far as the litter box training goes, they are occasionally pooping outside the box, but they haven't had any pee accidents. Since pee makes the biggest mess, I guess I'm glad they have that part completely figured out! The other accidents are only occasional, so I still think we are doing great. Clara has decided she likes watching the bunnies. She especially likes Tyler's because it likes to race around its cage. Shadow seems to be curious about Clara, too.

Updates

I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but Danielle made the All-Star softball team. She is really excited. Practices start this Sunday. The team will play in a series of tournaments in July. Regular season for her regular team ends next week, with tournaments the following weekend. She has really good coaches this year and has learned a lot. She caught a pop fly in tonight's game, which earned her a candy bar from the coach. She threw the ball to first for the double play, but our regular 1st baseman was in a different position and the girl playing 1st didn't know what to do. So close.

I am almost afraid to put this in writing for fear of jinxing myself, but it appears as though the bunnies are litter box trained! I read that it was easy, but I had no idea it would be this easy! There have been a couple stray little round pellets here and there, but I think they have gotten kicked out of the litter box when the bunnies are playing. There haven't been any pee accidents. I don't know if all bunnies are this easy or if it's because ours are so young (or just smart?), but I'll take it! It was almost as easy as litter box training a cat...and their poop & pee doesn't smell! (Neither does the special litter we use!)

Tyler is really enjoying his camp this week. I'm hoping to post one of his beginning videos tomorrow.

Our Bunnies

Today was the day the kids have been counting down to - today we got our bunnies!

These are polish rabbits that will be between 2 1/2 & 3 1/2 lbs when full grown. (They look deceptively long in these pics. I think it's the angle.) These guys are 8 weeks old today. We got these from Tyler's friend, who is breeding her polish rabbits for 4H. They have been handled quite a bit and are used to small hands. They are still a little too young to have their gender positively identified but we should be able to tell within the next week. We don't intend to keep them together but if we find out they are not the same sex, we'll have to be extra careful about letting them out to play together occasionally!

The kids haven't picked out names yet. Tyler's is gray (blue) and he is leaning towards the name Shadow, although he's thinking that may not be a good name for a girl. Danielle had decided to name her bunny Chubby Buttons, but after seeing hers, she's not sure the name fits. Danielle's bunny is a little more timid and is content to just sit in her lap. Tyler's is rather curious and likes to play.

We are planning to keep them inside and to litter box train them. I made it quite clear that these are not MY pets and I will NOT clean up after them. Tyler is praying they are trained quickly because he did not enjoy cleaning up after his tonight! As soon as he got his all cleaned up, washed his hands, and sat down to do something else, it pooped and peed all over its cage again. (I thought that was kind of funny.) According to what I've read, it is supposed to be pretty easy to do. We'll see.

Clara was startled the first time she saw one move in the cage, and she barked at it. She's sniffed them a few times and now seems totally uninterested, even when the kids have them out of their cages. The introduction definitely went smoother than I expected!

More Summer Fun

Tyler is enjoying camp during the afternoons this week. He is attending a tech camp and it seems just perfect for him! While he was at camp yesterday Danielle and I went to the park to look for frogs. It sprinkled on and off all day, so we thought it might be good frog-finding weather. We saw lots of big, fat frogs, but only found one tree frog. We also saw lots of barn swallow nests (full of babies), a large family of mallards, and a couple turtles. One was trying to cross the road in the park, so Danielle helped him along. I'm not sure he had made it to the water since hatching. He was very little and so cute. Danielle wanted to bring him home as a playmate for Snappy, but I held firm. We had a very nice afternoon together.

This & That

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from today.

Our chipmunk friend is certainly not wanting for food. Look at those fat cheeks!!

Danielle's softball game.

Taking a turn at catcher

She scooped it up & made the out at 1st.

Danielle is trying out for the All-Star softball team. Tomorrow is the second set of evaluations. Her batting is a little inconsistent, so we took her to the batting cages this evening. It was her first time there, and she LOVED it!! After swinging at 200 balls, we had to drag her away at closing time! Hopefully it helped prepare her a little more for tomorrow. She really enjoys playing and we really enjoy watching. It would be great if she made the team so we could extend our season of fun another month!

Ready & Waiting

The kids are using their garage sale earnings to buy bunnies from Tyler's friend who is breeding them for 4H. The bunnies will be ready for us to bring home next week. Our bunnies will be inside (caged) pets, and we are going to litter box train them. I ordered the cages & litter boxes online, and they came yesterday. The kids excitedly put their own cages together (with a little oversight from Ron). Danielle let her stuffed bunny test it out today. So far so good - he didn't escape and Clara didn't break in. Hope the real thing goes as well as the trial run!

More Summer Fun

The temperature has been a little lower than usual the past couple days - just perfect for outside activities (that don't involve water!). We went to the zoo specifically to ride the rides for a couple hours yesterday. It was perfect - nice temperatures, not too busy. The kids had a really good time. Tyler loves to ride the roller coaster and always begs Danielle to ride with him. She must have been feeling brave because she agreed to ride it once. I had to crop the roller coaster pics a lot to see the facial expressions, so they are a little grainy but well worth it!! I thought they were hilarious. She decided one ride was plenty. Watching them walk around and laugh together yesterday makes me glad they are so close in age and generally tend to enjoy each other's company.

He forgets how nauseous this ride makes him...until he's on it!

Today we went to my coworker's house to see all her animals. Her daughter shows her horse. They also have a miniature horse, a very naughty goat (that made Tyler laugh hysterically!), a donkey, a bunny, lots of chickens, a couple ducks, cats & kittens, and dogs. Danielle was a little shy and reserved, especially around the naughty goat, but Tyler had a blast! He especially enjoyed riding the donkey while the goat ran along trying to butt his leg. We had a really nice visit. They also have a swimming pool, so we are planning to go back to visit soon!

The donkey was kind of naughty, too!