A Little Getaway

. . .for Mom and Dad. Last Sunday, we left the kids home and went to Hockley Valley Resort for a few days. We took out the back seats of the van, and put our bikes in. There were some really great biking/hiking trails and we did a lot of that on our trip. The resort was really nice and every morning we received a hot buffet breakfast (very important to Dad!) I don't play golf, but was really wishing I knew how because they had the neatest course I have ever seen. It was on the side of a very large hill (beside their skiing hills) and had some STEEP grades on the golf road. The trees were starting to turn colors and the weather was SO perfect! I am already looking forward to next year!

The kids did very well at home by themselves. They insisted they did not want/need a babysitter, so we let them try staying alone. I do hope they remembered that Monday was school picture day and everyone combed their hair and put some clean clothes on!

Goodbye. . .

. . .to Sierra, who went to her new home yesterday. She was a GREAT first horse for Leah and it was VERY sad to see her go. We are happy that she will have a good home, though. (Look how small Leah is in the photo. This is 2 1/2 years ago.)

Fair Fun

Horses, bikes, and fair rides all got ridden this past week at the fall fair. Daniel rode his bike in the parade, Leah and Julia rode their horses (along with their friends) in the parade, and the top photo is Julia on one of the rides. She told me (in a very dejected voice) the rides were too slow and boring (comparing it to Canada's Wonderland and Six Flags!) and she wished she had spent her money on something else! She will know for next year. Hannah and Andrew missed out in all the fun because they were at school/work.

Fergus Fall Fair

Here is Leah after a winning ride with Blaze at a recent horse show. She beat 11 other competitors to win first in a jumping class. She is very excited as you can tell by the photo.

Puppy update

Here is a recent picture of Ellie's pups. We are planning on keeping the female (the red and white one) and selling the male. They are really growing and just opened their eyes this past week. They are sooooooo CUTE!!

September Updates

Everyone seems to be settling in for the school year. Andrew has volleyball tryouts tomorrow morning. Hannah is getting more comfortable with high school. Leah is enjoying being at the top of the school this year in Grade 8. Daniel is looking forward to riding his bike to school before it gets too cold (it is about 4 miles and this is the first year we will let him do it). Julia is happy she got a really good teacher this year.

Tomorrow is the Wellesely Fall Fair (kind of like a 4-H fair for all you Americans) and we are taking 3 horses. They do have some classes and Leah's 4-H horse club is doing a precision riding demonstration. They will also ride their horses in the parade (remember doing that, Linda, in the Spoon River Day Parade??) All the kids get out of school for the afternoon and the local schools always have a group that walks in the parade. They then have a carnival after the parade. There is also the exhibition building with all the exhibits and a pet show. This will be the first year in many we aren't bringing kittens/cats to the pet show.

Back to the Books

This past Tuesday, the kids started back to school. So far, it has been a pretty smooth transition. Hannah had the biggest change with starting high school. She is getting along fine, but thinks it will be a lot of studying. But, she has not gotten lost or been late, so she is happy.

School brings a change in my work hours, so now I am back to working 3 evenings a week. Andrew is back to working after school hours also.

The puppies are growing fast and Ellie is such a GOOD mom. Odie is curious about the pups but has no close contact with them as they are always in their box. We are enjoying the whole process (although, cleaning out the dirty papers isn't the funnest thing!)