chasing chickens (or, how we spent our afternoon)

Yesterday morning was overcast with teeny drops of rain falling from the sky.  Made for an interesting trek to school since Matt was gone early (with the car) and school is a 20 minute walk (for adults) and a 45 minute walk (with kids). 

A 45 minute walk in a light drizzle with three young children was not my plan for a good start to the day.  The electric bike in the rain is do-able for one person (with a good rain cover) but with three kiddos along it was going to be one big load of not-at-all-fun.  So we opted for a three wheeled scooter....there are usually several sitting outside our gates waiting for short-distance passengers.  Imagine an electric battery powered scooter with a rickety cover built on to the top and you've got a good idea of what I'm talking about..... I'll have to take a picture one day.

So thankful for my kids attitudes in situations like this, I was tempted to complain (ack, Matt gone, rainy skies, I don't have the car and it's a school day).  But the kids were having a blast.  Umbrellas, three wheeled scooters, extra walking (since the scooter wasn't allowed into the area where the school is located).  It took an hour (round trip) and I'm thankful for fun little mini-adventures sprinkled through our days and weeks here.

Well the wind picked up, the clouds rolled away, and by noon it must have been 90 degrees.  That seems to be the way summer works here.  Hot days with scattered bits of cloud cover and rain to cool things off occasionally.  Quite pleasant. 

By late afternoon we were out in the courtyard with our squirt bottles, ready for action.  First target was our neighbor-friend who pulled up in his car.  The kids opened fire before he even cracked the drivers door :) 

He's a good friend and enjoyed the refreshment (!) but the kids quickly moved on to target #2 - a chicken!  Though we live in a quite developed urban area, many of our neighbors spent much of their lives in rural farming communities.  So they bring flavors of that life with them - mini gardens, chicken coops, and a do-it-yourself-ness that leads to lots of creative creations all around :)

One neighbor lets her chickens wander in the afternoons, though I think we've cured at least one chicken of ever wandering our way again!  Not sure what she (he?) liked less - screaming children chasing her, or the pelts from the squirt bottles, but the chicken was gone before I got the camera out. 

The kids stayed on the prowl for a while.....

but we eventually gave up and decided to head over to some cooped up chickens since we apparently needed an easier target.  On the way Lydia stopped to water plants : )

We found the cooped chickens and opened fire, though they were far enough back from the fencing and unfazed by the attention. 

Cooped chickens aren't much of a target, so we headed to the badminton court to play. 

And finally trooped back home to meet Daddy and our babysitters!  Yay for date night!!!