Summer, summer, summer!

Wow, hi there! Remember me? No?

Oh. Well, I’ve been caught up in the thick of summer! In my opinion, summer really starts in August. It’s one of my favorite times of the year.

Mall trip! Last week Clara and I went to the mall with friends. Love Bath and Body Works (which we visited several times during the course of the afternoon for aromatherapy :D)

Debating outfit choices in Romy’s. . . Playing with make-up in Sephora.

Buying some cute stuff at Forever 21. I find all of my favorite sweaters there! My friend and I unconsciously bought the same sweater this time around – great minds think alike!

We all bought the same bracelet though, on purpose. . . :)

The guys finished the barn just this week. It’s amazing! The goats are living there now, and the ducks are still in their brooder. They grow so, so fast!

Big families: Put everyone in the same room with Matt Belsante, Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé and you have a spontaneous swing party going!

All of the girls got our hair trimmed a few weeks ago. Araminta hasn’t had a trim in a long time – she ended up with a short bob!

Here are her curls in action!

Our tomatoes haven’t done very well this year, but we have had some!

Strawberries are done this year!

Summertime means volunteering at the Fort! This year I worked at all of the camps.

This was at a summer event. The next big one is soon!

Summer is also having more time to bake. This is the first of many cakes that we’ve made so far. A few days ago a friend gave me a recipe for a cake that didn’t survive long enough to be photographed. . .

So far this summer’s been amazing, and it’s not over yet!

Our little barn. . .

Meet Selkie Santolina:

And this is Sarabi Saffron:

 

This is when we got them, at about one month old. We’ve had them for about three or four weeks now!  They were Mama’s dream present for her big birthday :).

These girls are such cuddlebugs! You can’t step out for two minutes without at least one of them trying to sit in your lap.

 

In addition to babysitting, I now “goat-sit”. They bleat pretty loudly when they want a bottle or company, especially now that they’ve moved to the barn outside. Previously they’ve occupied the screen porch off of the dining room.

They love cuddling together too. . .

 

And two weeks ago we got baby duckies! Another birthday present for Mama!

They came on Tarquin’s birthday, so that was fun to start the day with!

 

Their names are “Jemima Dorothy”, “Lucy & Ethel” and “Nancy Drew”.

These girlies are too adorable. They actually are little party animals – they chirp all night! Their favorite things to do are to take baths in a shallow bucket, swim in the big water dish, and dunk their heads in the little water feeder.

Ah, the goats are fun. . .

Whoever said, “Curiosity killed the cat” obviously never had a goat. They love, love, love to explore. When we had them on the porch, they would rush inside and jump on the couch, or try to eat paper from the shredder, among other things. Now every time you open their fence they make a mad dash to escape and explore as much as they can in their brief moments of freedom. 

 

Notice the ducks in the goat’s water bowl?

One of the cute things they do is sleep in crazy places. Like a metal bowl, or a cupboard, or under a hay bale. . .

They’re growing so fast! Next year they’ll be producing eggs and milk!

It’s a fun new experience for me. I’ve never been a big animal person, but now we have six of them. I love going to Del’s Farm Supply and buying 25 pound sacks of feed and bales of straw. I like waking up every morning and feeding the ducks. I tolerate preventing duck suicide (they like to try and jump out of their transportation bucket) and I absolutely dislike giving the goats medicine.