Birthdays mean presents, fun and cake..... mostly cake!

Anto had a birthday. They happen every year, seemingly! Birthdays mean you are a year older, but the upside is you get presents and cake! Yummy, yummy chocolate layered mousse cake your wife made.

While I was making the mousse cake, Astrid decided to try some. It was full of 80% cocoa chocolate and not a lot of sugar. It was very rich..... she didn't seem to mind and declared it 'yum'. When I took the mousse away we had both goth lips from the chocolate mousse and a cranky expression from being denied mousse.

Not to worry, the next morning there were presents to help daddy open! Paper, cards and boxes. All a baby needs, right?
Even better, later that morning we went out for breakfast. A cafe to run around in and look cute, breakfasts to sample and the biggest baby cino we have ever seen (it was a full sized tea cup :) Then we came home and the cake reappeared. Mmmmmm cake! I believe Astrid is a fan!

Frosty Paca!

So it was a cold Winter. It's never warm here over Winter, but this year we did have quite a few nasty frosts. About 50 of them (if might have been more, I lost count). The alpacas aren't the least bit worried by frosty mornings. They love nothing better than laying out in the frosty air waiting for their breakfast to arrive. Well, they actually prefer to be sunbaking in the warm spring days, sunning their bellies, but they are quite fond of laying around all frosted up.

Often in Winter we get up and find them with a good thick layer of frost over their fleece. They get shorn in October so through Winter they are pretty fluffy and really don't feel the cold one little bit. If you shove your hand into their fleece it's toasty in there! It's pretty obvious they don't mind the cold because they love to sit around on the pavers (which are generally frozen over) rather than sitting in their straw.

 When we are out walking people often ask how they go with the cold. They seem to think we are mean for 'making' them sleep outside. Truth is they don't even notice the cold. The heat bothers them more. In Summer, when it gets too hot (over about 33 degrees) we tend to hose them down to keep them cool. In Winter we have had minus 8 and below temps and they aren't the least bit phased. Here are some pics we grabbed the other week showing a good layer of frost on Chimu. His dark coat makes it easy to see. Inti, being mostly white, makes it hard to see his frost but on this morning (I think it was minus 8 with an apparent temp of minus 10 or 11) even he has some obvious icing over.

Astrid @ 14 months...... walking means exploring!!!

So I'm very behind on my blog posts. Miss Astrid is about to turn 15 months tomorrow and here I am just doing her 14 month post.

In an endeavour to catch up on posts before we go away I have just edited a heap of photos and will get some posted soon. Astrid started walking not long after her first birthday but it took a few weeks to go from the 'zombie walk', staggering around, arms outstretched, to confident walking. She is now pretty much running everywhere, and has little fear!

 Now that she is confident with her walking she is into everything. I seriously spend my whole day tripping over everything she has removed from drawers or cupboards and helpfully scattered around the floor (or on the cat). Yes, she likes to give 'presents' to the cats :)

 The best bit about mobility is that she is now allowed to play outside, at least when the weather isn't freezing. The garden is a wonderous place when you are 14 months. Here is Astrid in her 14 month cuteness!

Blossoms and Bees...... Spring has Sprung!

So after what was officially the coldest Winter since 1997, with a huge number of frosts, below zero mornings and low daytime temperatures Spring has finally sprung!!

The flowering plum and Manchurian pear trees were in fine form a few weeks ago, sending off Winter and heralding Spring. Here are a few pics!