Lagoon! 8/17/13

Rides and Food and Fun and More! Like last year we squeaked in a trip to Lagoon right at the end of summer. One last hurrah. Frito Lay had a work party there this year so the Gouldings and us took advantage of that! I was glad Eliza and Lindsey were able to join us with their families as well.

The four pack. They went off on their own only checking into camp when they were hungry. They had a ball together and talked each other into going on all the rides. It's been so fun to see them grow from teething two year olds to snaggle tooth ten year olds.

Lil' Zeke begged to have his face painted all day. It seemed so hot and itchy. However, when we met up with them at the end of the day I saw that he had gotten his wish. It cracked me up.

All Tuckered out

Bunny Business

More shocked I could not be when after cleaning out the rabbit cage in July a baby bunny hopped out of the rabbit hole. I blinked and wondered if I was imagining it. I wasn't imagining it, that was a baby bunny hopping around! Alivia was staying over and she was the first one I saw when I went in the house. I told her to come quickly with anyone she could round up. She took her task seriously and the little kids and Matt joined me at the cage. We waited and waited but that baby bunny wouldn't come out of the hole again. They were all as shocked as I was (no one could keep their jaw up when I told them what I discovered) but I guess they wanted to see it to believe it. They went back inside and therefore missed seeing the baby bunny came out again. It took them waiting in small groups silently to see the little guy come out. Charlie and Skipper seemed totally unfazed. We however wondered, WHERE did it come from??? Charlie and Skipper are both girls~

The following Sunday Ava went out to make sure the bunnies had ice water before we left to church on that hot July day. The baby was OUT of the cage by the sandbox hopping around. When it saw her it hopped through the fence with no problem and went back in the hole. Hmmm. We didn't want it to just run off so we had to fashion a quick barricade out of cardboard and grocery bags. Because of this we walked in late to church. The Stake President was on the stand and I wanted to explain, "The baby bunny could of gotten away you see..." What a wacky situation we are in!

We hadn't even really settled on a name yet, Stowie, Shadow, or Thumper when all THREE bunnies dug out of their cage under the fence after a rainstorm the next week. We found Charlie and Skipper but Stowie was never seen again. I thought that was the end of that when a couple of weeks later I went out in the morning to check on the bunnies and saw a breathing nest. I thought it was a rock in the hole but then I realized it was fur and it was moving. I freaked out and ran back in the house. I went back and realized that a NEW batch of babies had been born! Uggh!  

Bunnies can have a litter a month since the gestation period is only 30 days. Somehow when Charlie had gotten out of the cage she hooked up with a male bunny in the neighborhood. There was no other explanation except, could Skipper be a BOY??? It didn't make sense since we've had the bunnies for a year and never had a litter.

The babies slowly grew their fur. Thank goodness. They were pretty ugly when they were alien looking and pink. Out of the nine that were born only five were alive. Matt scooped the dead ones out to toss. I was too yucked out. Graham watched the whole thing however. One Sunday before Graham sat down to dinner he shivered and looked like he had bitten into a lemon. I asked what was wrong. He said, "I was just thinking of that bunny nest."

The new bunnies stayed in their rabbit hole in a heap snuggled together to keep warm even in the August heat. I caught Charlie only one time in there feeding them. I have learned a lot and now know they only nurse for five minutes twice a day so even if you think the baby's aren't being fed, they are.

Two of he bunnies were runt bunnies. SO small.  They would hop around with the others but were literally half their size. Kei and Ademir were over for Sunday dinner and little Gio loved looking at the baby bunnies. Kei said the runt bunnies reminder her Gio. We held them and played with them. Maybe we shouldn't have. I don't know but the following Tuesday the two runt bunnies were dead. They looked like little stuffed animals asleep on the hay. I had a used dishwashing box of "FINISH" that I put them in. It seemed appropriate.  Poor Callie she was already upset about Stowie leaving us. She said matter of factly, "I guess baby bunnies don't last forever."

We were now down to three baby bunnies. They continued to grow and hop around the cage happily. One of them has the strangest eyes. They are shiny blue and don't seem to have a pupil. Look at it next to Skipper.

This is the gigantic bunny hole the rabbits have dug.

Chocolate and Vanilla. 

Vanilla and Chocolate.

About a month later I discovered that Charlie looked really fat again and she was BUSSSSSY making a nest in the rabbit hole. Oh no. Duh on us. Skipper HAS to be a boy. I took HIM out and put him in a separate cage and made an appointment to get him fixed. Callie was with me that next Monday morning as we went to the local Animal Hospital for Skippers appointment. I felt like George Costanza treating that squirrel. What was I doing here? Was I actually putting out money on this animal? I was. 

The Vet confirmed that Skipper was indeed a boy and assured us they would take great care during surgery. I thought to myself, I'm not even sure I want him to make it through surgery. Skipper was there like all day recovering. When we went to pick him up I thought they were going to tell me to make sure to keep his tail elevated and to feed him with a tiny dropper five times a day. Nope, just keep him away from the other bunnies for a few days and then he'll be back to normal.

Charlie did indeed birth again within a day but just to one and it didn't make it. I was relieved. Mallerie advertised the Bunny Business quite well and found a family to take the white one and a brown one. Another friend has promised to take the other brown one but has yet to come over. She better come quickly because it looks like a boy and it is almost as big as Charlie now. If we wait too long they will be up to more Bunny Business.