We went to the Dane County Fair this afternoon, and they had helicopter rides. Since neither Craig nor I have ever been in one, we thought it would be really fun. It was a lot different than flying in an airplane because there isn't much forward momentum; it's all vertical. The other big difference is that you can see so much more from inside a helicopter. Oh, and I got to ride in the front seat, so in a way, it felt like I was floating over Madison. Way cool! The pilot did a loop around the area. We saw the Capital, the Monona Terrace, the city pool, the Beltline, and the Alliant Energy Center.
There's a heron that hangs out in the pond across the street from my house. He's quite the handsome bird.
After I returned home, my sister sent me a picture of the two kittens cuddling. Aww! Aren't they cute? The foot in the photo is Amy, the mother cat. You can really see how tiny they are. Side note: the yellow on the blanket is betadine. It's kind of like iodine, and my sister is using it on the kitten belly buttons to keep their clipped umbilical cords clean and free of infection. In newborn kittens, the umbilical cord is a good place for infections to enter their bodies.
My sister's Burmese cat, Amy, had a litter of kittens this past week, so they are only a couple of days old. I came down to visit and got to play with the kitties. She had a small litter of two boys. They are so cute, but they don't even have their eyes open yet!Lynn note: After posting, I realized I'd posted a very unflattering photo of me. I'd focused my eyes so much on the kitten in my hands that I didn't notice how silly I looked. When I got home from my sister's house, I cropped the photo so you can just see the kitten's face.
Here's a fun card I made for the 4th of July. I used Stampin' Up!'s You're Neat and Print Pattern stamp sets. I also used the ticket punch. I used red and blue markers to alternate color the diamonds before stamping Print Pattern. I think it's a cool effect.
Craig got up really early last Sunday to get in line for a Nindendo Wii. Fortunately for him, Target had 63 of them so he finally got his Wii! We've been playing Rayman Raving Rabbids (not Rabbits), which is fun but doesn't really show the true multiplayer capability of the Wii.
Friday night, Timin, Chris, and Matt came over for a Wii party. Timin brought SSX Blur, which is awesome! I will be buying a copy of that as soon as I get my next paycheck. All I can say is wow! Sure, they reuse a couple of levels from SSX 4, but they added dinosaurs which more than makes up for it. In terms of multiplayer functionality though, it's fine for two players racing, but that's it.
So, we broke out Raving Rabbids (I really like shooting plungers at rabbits and flinging cows!) and Wii sports. My arms are still sore. Since you are physically moving your body to play the Wii, if you play enough, you do get a bit of a workout. However, if you have five adults in a room, it is a good idea to be sure you have enough room around you. Timin accidentally smacked Chris while playing Wii tennis.
Craig took this picture of the robin chicks this morning. 3 of the 4 eggs in the nest hatched. We noticed the fourth egg on the ground earlier this week. These three seem to be doing pretty well, and their mother is bringing them worms and other food on a regular basis. Of course, she doesn't appreciate us on the deck while she's feeding the babies, so we try to accommodate her as best as we can. I am happy to see that they are finally starting to look cute.
