June

This is the month I discovered we were expecting. Franz's first reply when I told him and showed him the test, "are you sure." Me, "No, I just had a test say I was, that's all." I can be a bit sarcastic, but in Franz's defense he didn't want to get to excited before he was sure.

This is also the month we became surrogate parents. We had a hen that we let sit on a nest in May. There are 21 one days of incubation, so the eggs if fertilized were to hatch around the 4th of June. Well, between other hens disturbing her, and then when we put in her own pen and the hen not wanting to be away from the others, we ended up with only 5 eggs from 11. I know all were fertile except for one, I candled them. Which is pretty cool, because you can see the chick inside the egg. So, Larry our rooster is doing a pretty good job with his 14 laying hens. I ended up making a homemade incubator, taking a box and putting a towel, a metal bowl full of water with a rag sticking out (for humidity), a thermometer, and of course a heat lamp. Two successfully hatched. Below is a link to a video of one our chicks hatching while we are all clucking as a family to encourage it.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151552231209240&set=t.1039038026&type=3&theater

The first chick to pip!

The beak is peeking out.

First chick to successfully emerge from the shell

Second chick to hatch

Siblings

Praying the rosary can be hard work sometimes. 

Playing out in a rain storm. I think Cyprian looks like Christopher Robin

Look at our babies growing

Two days after the hatching of our chicks, we got our meat and speckled sussex hen chicks in the mail

Suds!

This is how Daddy puts on shaving cream

Silly guy

I see you

Live Cicada with a cicada shell

Let's ride the lawn mower

Taking driving seriously

Left is our home hatched chick, center a speckled sussex, and right a white meat chick.

Sunflowers in the backyard

What am I?

Putting the little men to work. Hey, seriously they love it!

We decided to take a nice short family vacation to San Antonio Texas. Franz discovered a great deal with Mega Bus. We only had to pay a .50 processing fee for us adults for round trip tickets. So we decided to stay in a nice hotel suite, which we also got a pretty good deal on. The boys loved it so much that Cyprian still asks if we can stay in a suite when traveling:') Below are some pictures from our two day stay in San Antonio....

living room with a pull out bed couch that Cyprian slept on

Our bedroom for the night

Bathroom that Clement is inspecting

Kitchen off the living area

Hot tub, it felt so good:')

Pool that felt cold

The Alamo

Lay out  of the Alamo

Famous Alamo figures monument

Davy Crockett Hotel

Outside the walls of the Alamo

Saint Anthony

The humongous convention center. 

Mural along the boat ride tour

On the water

Some bridge I don't remember

View from one of the tallest towers in America, see the church in the middle of all the buildings. They refused to sell an be torn down. 

Another shot of San Antonio from the tower

City

Inside the Church that is in the middle of all the shops etc.

On our way home. Thankfully Cyrprian took a good nap

In downtown Austin

The very short nap Clement took. We were all exhausted when we arrived in the wee hours of the morning home

Which boy?

The banana house

Daddy let me climb like a monkey

 Chris the best man from our wedding came to visit us. I think it is safe to say that it was a fun and pleasant time for all. The boys loved playing.....

I believe this was Chris showing Cyprian Tia Chi

Off to a Rangers game

Family

Fireworks after the Rangers Game!

Yes, I know I put lots of pictures, but they help to tell the memory of our summer. Here is to one more down and I don't want to think of how many more months I need to catch up on......