Chris was up at the crack of dawn this morning to spend Father’s Day with his two kids.  That may come as a surprise, since he has no children – but they showed up last evening, claiming to be his kids and moved right in.

Yep, moved right in to the barn where they are keeping company with Pono, the miniature horse.

Actually, we’ve been expecting them and had met them as newborns.  Chris had prepared for their arrival  by making sure the pasture fence was secure and building a small run-in shed inside the run-in shed where they could be a bit more protected from the elements – and from Pono – who is much bigger than they are.  Everything was in place — until it wasn’t.  About a half hour after everyone was safely tucked into their new home in the pasture, Chris went to check on them – and the kids had escaped!  They were down by the beehives, just exploring their new home.  It took some corralling, but we got them back in the pasture and hammered a board in place where there was a narrow four inch gap.

We named them Heidi and Peter, from the classic children’s story Heidi by Johanna Spyri.  It’s Arianna’s favorite book and we read it together all the time.  Heidi goes to live with her gruff grandfather in the mountains.  Peter is the young boy that lives down the mountain and is the goat-herder.  So our resident goat “kids” have been named after Heidi and Peter.

And already they are eating out of his hand.

Happy Father’s Day.