Chicks Get A New Home

The chicks moved into the coop this weekend. Here's the official tour.

When we were thinking about where in the world we were going to build the chicken coop we sort of thought that we would build on an existing structure which meant either the boat house or the kids' playhouse. Then, we had to think about how we were going to get electricity to the chicks if it was too cold for the chicks, which it just might be in Northern Minnesota. In the end, we decided to build the coop in the corner of our shop because a) there were already walls in place and b) the shop is actually pretty warm in the winter. We're hoping that it's relatively easy to clean because the garage door opens so we could either spray it out or just sweep into that general direction. You can see the nesting boxes that open from the outside so we don't need to go in to collect eggs and the fake window that will allow some natural light.

The kids were pretty excited to show the chicks their new home.
The chicks didn't really know what to think. It was a lot cooler and bigger than their cardboard box, but it seems like they're already enjoying their space and are starting to venture outside a little bit.Mabel (and Sadie) trying out the nesting box.

Here is the view from outside. There is a run with bird netting over it. Part of the run is under the overhang so part of the run will stay dry during the winter.

Checking out the door and ramp. There are doors that latch on the inside and outside of the chicken door in hopes to keep all sorts of critters out at night.
We will put the chicks in their coop at night and let them run during the day. There are way to many predators in the woods and a curious kitty named Belle.

The chicks are still working on their chick-skills. They scratch and peck, but they don't know what to do with themselves otherwise. I have noticed that when one is inside and the others are outside that they start looking for the missing chick. I guess they're already become a little family.

Our entrance:
Dennis did an awesome job building the coop. He really wanted to make sure that the chicks had all of their needs met. We used backyardchickens.com as our lone resource. They were able to answer every question from "what can a chicken eat?" to "how big of holes should the chicken wire have? to "how high should a roost be?" to "how many square feet does a chicken need?" and about a gazillion other questions we came across as we built our coop. It's a great resource.
Come July we should have fabulous eggs to eat and enjoy. We can't wait.

Hoppy Easter!

I was so excited when I found out that Easter was late this year. I had high hopes for a picnic this Easter and my wish *sort of* came true!
The day started early. Very early. Santa Claus early, because the Easter Bunny came and brought lots of candy, money and presents. Sadie got a lovely pink soccer ball, Eli some Legos and they both got an ELO CD. (Somehow the Easter Bunny must have got wind of our dance parties and decided that we needed to step it up.)
I wish we would have got photos outside but it was only 30 degrees at 8am when these pictures were taken. Anyways, a rare family photo:
After Church, Grandma and Grandpa Z. organized a little family egg hunt. Eli found one on top of the snow that just won't seem to go away.
Reid was a little distracted by balls and swings and slides to be too interested in finding eggs, but he did manage to find a few. I think Anissa slept through the whole thing.
Well, my wish sort of came true. After a cold start, it actually made it up to 62 today. We spent all afternoon outside doing yardwork. I really wouldn't choose to do yardwork on Easter and hope that it doesn't become a family tradition, but I really want to just get on with spring and have a clean yard and be done with this long dragged out winter already! Flower beds were readied, seeds started, garden prepped, pine needles raked (at least in the parts of the yard that doesn't have snow) and garage cleaned. Just in time for a picnic of Easter leftovers around the campfire. Ahhh, now that it what I call a good Easter tradition.

(If you look really closely in the foreground, you can see my spring onions. They are up and ready to be picked!)

A Hard Question for You

Question: In Northern Minnesota which season follows spring? If you guessed summer, you would be wrong.

I have to admit though, that the sun is pretty intense. By the end of the day, the snowmen had all lost their heads. It's still quite white out though and more is coming. **sigh**

Chicks Like Worms

Sunday brought rain, which means that most of the snow melted (yea!) and the first worms of the year made their appearance. The kids took the opportuntity to dig some holes and feed the chicks their first treat.I really should stop posting disclaimers about my pictures, but really, these are bad. Chicks are fast, not to mention that they are living in a small cardboard box with only a heat lamp for light. It just makes for bad pictures. Sorry. Mabel just happens to be the biggest chick and she's also the most fiesty with very strong opinions. She grabbed the worm first. Then, she ran around like crazy while the other chicks chased her trying to grab the worm out of her beak oblivious to the fact that there were 3 other worms laying there.

My how the chicks have grown. Their feathers are filling out and they can actually get a little bit of air now when they flap their wings. They are not loving being held right now, but that doesn't stop us from sneaking in a snuggle every now and then! Penelope having her taste. Yumm-o!

Project Chicken Coop is almost complete. Actually, the coop is complete, but the chicken run is not. The trench for the fence is tug and supplies have been purchased. Soon.

Sadie Swims.

Spring seems to be finally peeking it's head around the corner which means our seasonal swimming at Ruttger's is coming to an end very soon (in the summer we just go to the beach). I can't believe how much the kids have improved in their swimming abilities, Sadie especially. For the life of me, I couldn't get Sadie to be brave enough to attempt swimming. Then, one day, Sadie was wearing her water wings and jumping in and swimming to the edge. She did this for about an hour, then she took her water wings off and warmed up in the hot tub. Totally forgetting that she didn't have her water wings on, she made a run for the pool and jumped in. She came up for air and started to tread water saying, "Mom, I don't have my water wings on and I can't swim." I said, "Sadie, you're swimming right now." From that moment on she's been swimming. When we were on our Arizona trip, both kids seemed to improve drastically, but it helped that they could touch. At Ruttger's both kids are still too short to touch unless they're right at the side so it makes swimming across the pool a little more scary, but now Eli can swim across and back!

I couldn't leave Eli out:

A Bike Ride

The kids have been waiting to ride their new bikes since Santa delivered them. It warmed up enough (and by enough, I mean above freezing) and all of the snow and ice finally melted from the driveway (notice there is still plenty on the ground) for them to ride their bikes safely. Eli has been riding without his training wheels for awhile, but he has problems getting himself started. This morning before school he was outside practicing how to start by himself. I was watching through the window and it was so cute. He would attempt and it wouldn't work then he would get off and you could see him shaking his hands and giving himself a little pep talk. But, he did it! He was so proud of himself.

Our Peeps

Today was a big day in the Sperle household. We brought home four new family members from L&M Fleet. Yes, I said four new Sperles. Four of the cutest, egg-laying Sperles that you ever did see. We have chickens!! Well, chicks--araucana chicks to be sort-of exact (they could be americaunas or easter egg chickens) and they will be providing us with yummy, blue-green, farm-fresh eggs in 20 weeks or so.

Hundreds of chicks/ducklings/goslings arrived at L&M Fleet (I'll have to devote an entire post to fleet another day. It sells all things that are northern Minnesota. And boy do we love love love that store.) today and we rushed over to get our hands on a few before they sold out. We got the last 4 "araucanas", so we didn't get to choose, but really, they're all so cute it would have been hard to pick.

We brought them home and put them in their little cardboard box home in our basement until their chicken coop is complete. Nothing like have growing chicks to motivate you to finish up the chicken coop!! They have a cuddly warm heat lamp and will be living there until they get their feathers.

The kids are seriously in love with the chicks. They've been played with and loved a lot today. Sadie kissed them all about a hundred times each. I'm just tickled and kind of amazed that we actually have chickens living in our basement (away from the cat!!). I don't really know anything about chickens so it's going to be a fun learning experience. Thank goodness for the internet! Eli is holding Penelope (we'll probably end up calling her Penny). Here Sadie is holding Mabel, the biggest and fastest chick.

Eli named this little girl, Mohawk, because she has a perfect brown stripe down her back. I have a feeling we'll call her Mo.

The other little all yellow gal is Annie Ella Rosa or "Annie" for short. Sadie was having a hard time choosing from all of her favorite names so she has three of them. I'm sure we'll only call her her full name when she's being naughty.

I'm sure we'll have more pictures soon.

Sadie Ties Her Shoes

What is it about the second born that makes them so much more independent than their sibling?? Or is it because she's a girl? Either way, Sadie can now tie her shoes. I think she beat Eli by about 18 months on this milestone and even still if Eli is given a choice he will have me tie them. I know, watching a 4 year old tie her shoes is sort of a lame video, but it gives you a chance to admire her long fingers and do some deep breathing excercises.

Sadie's First Gymnastics Meet

I'm not sure that I mentioned that Sadie has moved up levels in gymnastics. She is currently a "superbee", which is a 4, 5, and 6 year old class. Sadie loves gymnastics and asks "Do I have gymnastics today?" just about everyday. She also says, "Did you know that they have gymnastics 2 days a week?" Actually they have it 3 days a week, but I feel a four year old only needs to go once a week!
Every session the Gym Bin holds a "Fun Meet" for all of the non-competitive teams. The girls (and boys if they had any) each do a floor, beam, vault and bar routine and get a score and a ribbon for their routine. I was so proud of Sadie for going out there and doing all of her routines with a huge smile on her face.
It was hard to get videos of her bar and vault routines because of the view we had, but enjoy her floor and beam routines:

Let's Get This Party Started

Sadie actually screamed those words to some friends the other day when they were over. It was so funny coming out of Sadie with her tiny little voice and all. And then I got worried. If this is how she is at 4, what will 16 look like?
Today was a bummer of a day. Yesterday it was like 40 degrees and today 5. It was cold and it snowed again. We're all getting a little fed up with this winter. Please spring come soon, before we pack up and move to Arizona...
Anyways, at supper the kids asked if they could have a dance party. I said yes of course, because dance parties are like my favorite thing in the whole wide world. Usually, we dance in the kitchen, but we recently discovered that if we move the dining room table and chairs out of the way we have a perfect dance floor (or gymnastics mat). All we need is a disco ball and a strobe light (and maybe some better dance music) and we'll be all set. The pictures are a little dark. It was very dark and I could not see them so I was radomly pointing the camera and shooting. This is them with the flash. Their dancing is always a bit on the interpretive side. It is very erratic and crazy and often involves lots of spinning, kicking, jumping and "getting down".

Did I mention it was dark. It was very dark. Here is what it really looked like:

Since it was so dark and a bit crazy, Eli initiated some rules. Here they are:

1) No shaking your booty

2) No holding 2 hands.

3) No crawling.

4) No hanging upside down and swinging.

AZ Trip Days 7 and 8: Going Home

On Friday, we packed up and left Tucson to head for Phoenix, but only after eating pancakes at IHOP. My kids have never been to an IHOP and you would have thought that we brought them to the best restaurant ever. They were pretty excited that they could choose from a huge selection of pancakes. After all, pancakes are their favorite food.
On the trip to Phoenix we made a stop in Coolidge to visit Casa Grande National Monument. Casa Grande is a ruin that was built by the Hohokam People 800 years or so ago. The kids loved how small some of the spaces were. Perfect for them to climb in and out of.

When we arrived in Phoenix, Dennis and the kids headed out to play mini-golf while I visited my good friend, Juniper.

Saturday, we packed up and headed to the airport to make the long journey home. We were planning on staying another night with auntie Mick and uncle Mel in Minneapolis and attending the Gopher v. Hawkeye wrestling duel, but with Eli being sick and with a big winter storm moving in we decided to head home and sleep in the comforts of our own beds.

It was a fantastic trip. I hope we can make it to the SW sometime again soon. Next time visiting Northern AZ and the Grand Canyon and all of Navajo Rez. along with Albuquerque and northern New Mexico or perhaps southern Utah... There's just too much to see and I love it all. Man, I can't wait until the kids can carry their own backpacks and we can do some backcountry camping. Soon.

AZ Trip Day 6: The Desert

As mentioned earlier, we saved all of the desert stuff for when Dennis was done with his conference. All of these desert pictures sort of look like one another, so I won't go into too much detail. We went to Sabino Canyon, The Sonoran Desert Museum, and Saguaro National Park. I wish we would have had more time to do some serious hiking because the weather was perfect, but we settled for a few short walks. I love desert plants and animals and how adaptable they are to the environment.

Eli is hugging the teddy bear cholla. Doesn't it look soft and cuddly.

Sadie touching the barrel cactus spikes.

That's a hedgehog cactus and Eli holding his poked finger. Ouch!

This is from the raptor show at the desert museum, which a fun stop: botanical garden, zoo, and history museum in one place.
A sweet hummingbird:

This is Ocotillo. Ocotillo is my favorite desert plant. Why? I know it looks like a very spiky stick, but after the rains, it gets bright green leaves all over that stick with a bright red fluffy flower tassel on the end. It looks like an exotic seaweed smack dab in the middle of the desert.


Skipping through the desert. Both kids learned that falling in the desert is not quite as comfy as falling on the lush green grass of MN. One fall even ripped Sadie's pants, and scraped up her cheek, shoulder, elbow, and knee. She slowed down (a little) after that!

AZ Trip Day 5: Still Exploring Without Dad

The second day of Dennis' conference we decided that we were going to to the Valley of the Moon park because it promised fairy houses and the like. Well, it turns out that it's only open for special events. Sadie was bummed. Instead, much to the kids chagrin, we went to Native Seeds Search, a store that sells beans, spices, herbs, flours and chiles that are native to the Sonoran desert. Well, you know how much I love that sort of stuff, so I spent a lot of time carefully selecting the items that I wanted to take home. Lots of different beans, dried chiles, and pancake mixes made the cut, as well as a couple of baskets. I was a happy camper
Then, we spent the rest of the day at the pool. The weather was delightful, not a cloud in the sky and close to 80. The hotel has 5! swimming pools so the kids had their pick and spent a little time in each. We even had our lunch poolside. Corn dogs, french fries, soda and a swimming pool. The kids were happy.Eli is head first on his back going down the waterslide. "Look out below!" was Sadie's call every time she went down the waterslide.

The kids got dive toys and water squirters for Valentine's Day. They were a hit!