Small Wonder

Our babies are finally here! Sunday we picked up our three piglets from a breeder in Columbiaville. Benjamin and I went and made the selections while Ethan was at baseball practice. We ended up going with the Duracks, which are a light brown color and don't show marks as easily as the traditional pink ones. Chose two girls and one boy. They weighed in a little lighter than I was hoping for but they have good composition over all. Ben's pig is the boy, Rocky, starting out at 45#, Ethan picked the 47 pounder and named her Chewbacca, or Chewy for short because she's nibbler, and mine is 50 Cent (say it street) who hit the scale at 50# on the dot. She is the friendliest of the trio, always the first to come up to you when you enter the pen. They have all adjusted well, eating good, drinking regularly, playing around in the pen, grunting happily, and frolicking about. Today we even started to work with them a bit on getting them to walk next to us using a stick to direct them....long way to go but the earlier you start the better. B & E have been very good about getting up and taking care them before they get on the bus, I go out and do a second check, then they do afterschool duty and nighttime lock up. They seem bigger already and it's only been four days!

Fox has been off to a great start for his Freshman track season. His training has been very consistent, he even runs on the weekends to keep up his endurance. The Shaklee vitamins, Physique Shakes, and Performance Drink really make a difference, he hasn't been as sore or fatigued. He has improved his times at every meet, the best so far being a 5:39 in the 1-mile and a 12:04 in the 2-mile. He's also been invited to the first two TVC (Tri-Valley Conference) Meets which is pretty awesome as a freshman because each school can only bring the top 2 or 3 runners in each event. The picture on the right is the start of the 1-mile at the Brown City Invitational last week, the runner from Cass City is blind, the guy in the gray shirt is his tether. It is always amazing to see athletics with physical challenges perservere, everyone always claps and cheers them through the finish line, very heart-warming.

Ben and Ethan had a whirlwind start to soccer. First practice was canceled due to sleet, second practice was at an earlier time and several players didn't make it, then they had their first game last Saturday and skunked 'em 8-0. After getting 5 goals in the first quarter coach pulled back her best players for the second and third, Benny put another goal in during the third. For the fourth quarter she put a couple back in their regular spots and two more goals went in. A parent from the other team started getting beligerent and made all the kids feel bad from both teams. Our kids weren't playing aggressive at all, but if the ball is there and the other team ain't bringin' it, goals get made. There are a couple team that skunk us, that's just how it goes. Ethan had his first baseball practice on Sunday too but had to miss Tuesday's because of soccer practice. We'll have a couple weeks of overlap but the schedule should work out fine overall.

Little bit of backtracking now. I rushed off to Chicago the day after the drama production and never did post pictures or an update. It went really well, the one actress I was concerned about with memorizing came prepared and presented lines strongly, they were a couple line jumps with the older group but they moved right along and got themselves back on track easily. The younger group did well too, "Tea Party in Wonderland" had a minor line skip and I had to give them a feed to put them back on track because it really threw them for a loop but other than that they did awesome. Top left picture is from "Tea Party in Wonderland," top right is "Fish School," lower photos are from "While Shakespeare Slept," then the group shot to the left is me with the older crew. Last is a quick collage of some photos Rob took in Germany, they weren't the greatest because one, he was using his iPhone, and two he's just not that great a photog (sorry honey, but you can fix anything, I know :). Bottom left is the little town they stayed in, above that some street artists in Cologne, middle is at the Cologne Cathedral with street actors behind him in the white outfits, lower left bulk Legos (sadly no purchase was made).

What else is new? I have become involved with the committee for Wild Lapeer, an annual event that takes place at the Chatfield School and Mott CC-Lapeer Campus, to highlight organic processes and businesses. This year there will be a woman demonstrating how to process wild rice, a falconer, a presentation from the Cranbrook Science Center (OBC) on bats, bluebird house making, hikes through the Oakland Cemetary, alpacas, and more! This week I am helping with some field trips at the Willows, update in my next post. Keep it real people.