5-6 Weeks Old

It's not easy to get kittens to pose.  I happened to find them all like this one day (minus one) and they all held still long enough for a little photo shoot.  It was awesome!

The boys have now named all of the kittens.  This is Oreo.  She is a gorgeous, fluffy girl with fur a lot longer than the others.  As a younger kitten she was very playful, but as an older kitten she became somewhat aloof, as though she was too mature to play with the kids.

This is Socks (she has white covered paws--hence socks).  She is a pretty girl with the shortest fur of the bunch.  She was the runt of the litter and the most timid.  Not to be rude, or anything, but she's a bit of a crybaby.  But she can still hold her own when she wants to.

This is Shoes (he doesn't have white covered paws--hence, shoes).  He is the most gregarious of the bunch.  He is usually the first to greet us when we go outside and he loves to attack our feet (and anything else) and be petted and loved.

This is Tigre.  When the kittens first got out of their box and began to explore, he seemed the most precocious, being the first to do things, such as go up and down the stair and run around.  However, he is also very timid, shying away when we try to pet him (but not as timid as Socks).

This is Hunter, who was not around for our photo shoot and consequently I have had a much harder time getting a decent picture of him.  He began as the largest kitten of the litter (but Shoes has now caught up to him) and he was the first one to open his eyes.  He is also a friendly kitty.

It only took a week of being out of their box for all the kittens to get skilled on their legs.  It is so fun to watch them running, jumping, and attacking (especially each other).

First Explorations

Shortly after my last kitten post, the boys decided to help the kittens out of their box and let them go exploring for the first time.  Within a day or two of this, all of the kittens had figured out how to get out on their own.  After that, they hardly ever went back into the box, choosing other places to sleep, and wouldn't stay in for long if we put them in.

They were still a little awkward and slow on their feet, and so adorable.

Smoked

School began this week.  (Goodbye, once again, summer...)  And so did "The Rim Fire".  If you haven't heard, The Rim Fire is a huge fire burning at the northwest edge of Yosemite National Park.  The smoke has been blowing into our area for several days now and at times we have seen little bits of ash.

All outdoor events have been cancelled and we try to stay indoors as much as possible.  (Can you see the sun behind Eggs on Toast and Junior?--below)

It is an enormous fire and hardly contained at all (our prayers go to those who live nearby the fire and those fighting it) and no forecast for a shift in the wind until the end of next week.

Thankfully the outside temperatures have not been very hot so keeping the windows shut has not created unpleasant interior temperatures (we do not have AC).

4 Weeks Old

The kittens are getting more and more cute.

Most of them now pull themselves up on the sides of the box, but still have not figured out how to climb out.

They pounce on each other, bite (they now have tiny teeth coming in), swat, and tumble around.

It's a lot of fun to sit and watch them.

2 Weeks Old

The kittens are now two weeks old.

They all have their eyes open and are beginning to crawl a tiny bit on their wobbly legs rather than squirming around.  It is interesting that the large orange kitten had his (actually, we don't know which are boys and which are girls. We need to look up how to tell.) eyes open nearly a whole week before any of the other kittens opened their eyes.

This morning when I first saw them, all of the kittens were sitting up in their box looking around.  It made me laugh because up until their eyes were open, all they would do was squirm and nuzzle around, feeling with their noses and whiskers.  So it was funny to see all of them sitting there, looking this way and that.

Enjoy!

Fun at the Lake

Aww, I love this picture.

We had fun taking the Far G & G and Blake to Lake Tahoe.

I thought the bark on this tree looked sort of jigsaw-puzzle-ish.

It was a cool day at Tahoe, still early in the season, but the boys didn't care.

Hey, whatch you lookin' at?

The animals at the beach were rather bold, as most creatures at a populated park are.

The video below makes me laugh for a couple of reasons.  One is because of how the chipmunk looks when it eats--it's twitching nose is especially funny to me.  Two, is because of how Onion Ring freaks out at the end.

Witness the "Chipmunk Whisperer" below:

Visitors

The Far Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Blake came to visit us about a month before school let out.  The first thing we did was go hang out at the Bucket of Blood Saloon because that's our favorite place to go hang out.  Just kidding!  It was just a fun place to take a picture when we went to visit Virginia City.

Because of course we took the Far Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Blake to see Virginia City.

We took an underground mine tour of the "Best and Belcher" mine.  The entrance was located in the Ponderosa Saloon right in the middle of town and the mine went under the town and into the hillside.

This is the emergency escape route.  Luckily, we didn't have to use it.

We also checked out the Virginia City graveyard.  Hmmm, I guess the theme this time was "under the ground".

We think above ground is best.