“Simply Sinatra”

Night with SinatraGrandpa invited me out for a program called “Simply Sinatra”. It was at the Lerner Theater and mostly old people and a few grandkids were there. The singer’s name was Steve Lippia.  He sang songs that Frank Sinatra sang. Grandpa said “he is supposed to sound like Sinatra, but he doesn’t”.

An orchestra played the songs. They did a good job but it was loud even in the back. I think that “New York, New York” was the loudest. Mr. Lippia did that one because it was one of Sinatra’s biggest hits.

Mr. Lippia sang and told jokes. He told how “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting over a Open Fire) was written.  Two guys who wrote songs together met on a very hot day, and the one noticed the other one had a bunch of sentences about the cold on his notebook.  He asked if he was writing a song. The other guy said  “I thought if I wrote about cold, it would cool me down.” The first guy said “I think I could make a song about that.” They took the song to a singer and the singer said “It looks good, I am going to record it.”  It became one of the most famous Christmas songs.

The program was okay. The only song that I knew in the first half was the first song, “Sleigh Ride”. Then the rest of  that half was love songs. I was tired of them very quickly. The second part was tons better. I liked it because it was mostly Christmas songs. I liked the music but some of the songs could have been improved by not singing them 🙂 .

I enjoyed going.  Thank you Grandpa.

Swaziland

I am going to Swaziland with Opa and Oma on Monday!! I will be gone for a month.Beware

I am not sure what I will be helping with yet. I hope to help Opa at the transmitter site learning how everything works and see interesting things like this.

I hope not to see a snake unless it is dead or it is outside and I am not. I want to see warthogs (Momma said they were my favorite when I was little), Nyala, (and other big deer? antelope?) and a cheetah for Daddy. Megan wants me to see giraffe. Seeing this sign would be fun too, especially with something big behind it!

Unfortunately, Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Steve will not be there while I am 🙁 .  Momma said that I will meet a lot of nice people though.

Please pray that we have a safe trip and that I learn a lot.

I will post blogs when I can!

Colour Run

IMG_8983.CDWe went on the colour run. It is a 5K run where there are places that people spray coloured powder at you. We started near the back, and ended near the front. It was not a timed race, but we ran a comfortable speed.

I ran with Audrey because Momma wanted us to run together.  She knew Daddy would probably run slower with the stroller. When Audrey ran past some older teens one of them said “oh no! We better speed up, the little kids are passing us!”

IMG_9026.CDMegan “ran”with Daddy. We had fun. This is what Megan thinks.

I ran with Daddy. I went in my stroller. I talked to Daddy.  I told him “I love you”. They threw colour at me. I covered my face with glasses and a pink thing. I won because I was ahead of Daddy. I want to do it again another day.”

New Cousin!!!

Mark and NaomiMegan is my guest speaker today.  She is going to tell you about our newest cousin.

I have a baby cousin. Her name “Omi”. I holded her.  I have to sit by a pillow and be very ‘entle. You don’t want to ‘urt her. and Mark holded her. And Audrey did.  And Anya did. Megan and NaomiAdrian and Mommy hold Nami.

Nami is like Broom because she is little big. Broom is more little. Nami is cute.

Nami’s big brother is Jonah. Jonah love her. Megan is bigger then him. I love Jonah and Nami.”

 

Camp

MarkAt 5:24 this morning, we left for camp.  We will be traveling to Lake Ann, in Michigan for the week. I have a three day rafting trip and some “high adventure” activities.

Please pray for us as we travel and safety at camp!  Thank you!

New crea!

Megan getting kissed
Megan getting kissed

CriaWhen we got home from church, we saw the alpacas all looking at the same spot in the grass. So we decided to see what was over there. We found a black and white surprise,  Ebony had her crea! I don’t know how old she was, she was dryer than the other newborns we found. She was old enough to be dry, but little enough not to be able to stand.

Ebony is all black except for a tiny white spot on her neck. I assumed her baby would be black, because all the babies have been solid colors to match their moms. This baby is black except for most of her face and short socks on her back feet and long socks on her front feet.

Audrey ran home to tell everybody there was a new crea. Megan had misunderstood Momma and was already ready to cross the street. Everyone else came over. While he was coming over, Daddy called the neighbors to say there was a new crea. Since they were gone, we got to take care of it.

Daddy wanted to carry it into the barn, but we let her stay outside a little bit because she was trying to stand. Megan was worried about the crea because it wasn’t standing (we had just watched a video saying that baby wildebeest have to stand within minutes to keep lions away, and she seemed to remember that). Daddy took it inside in his Sunday clothes and we put it in a pen so the crea would be safe and we could watch it better. We gave Ebony water, grain and herbs and hay.

crea sniffing meganThe crea is cute.  If she were mine I would name her Sox. Her owners use Star War Names that fit, so we have a fun challenge with her.

The baby is about 22 pounds and very healthy. We will go over again today to check on her even though the neighbors are home 🙂
You cannot see her socks in the pictures very well. I’ll try to update soon with her name and a picture with her socks showing.

Shearing Day

Shearing backYesterday we sheared the alpacas.  I do not like the process of knocking them down so we can shear them on the ground. It looks mean! I don’t like doing anything to the ones that scream  either. Fortunately, only one screams.

This year I helped to keep the alpacas from rolling over by holding their hips down. I also kept the neck and leg fiber from mixing together. When the person who is shearing finished shearing the legs, I pulled the fiber away. The leg fiber then gets thrown away.  When the guy holding the alpaca told me to, I also pulled the rope so the alpacas do not stand up or kick anyone.

During the shearing some one takes the fiber and labels it with the alpacas name and whether it is 1st (the fiber from there back) or 2nd (everywhere else except legs). Afterwards, the fiber is stored until it can be sold.

We shear in the spring so the alpacas won’t freeze in the winter and they won’t roast in the summer.  I feel sad when it is over because I prefer fuzzy alpacas to skinny alpacas 🙂

 

Shearing legs Shearing side Holding down Grazing