August News

Updates from the past 3 weeks:

*August seems to be flying by at record speed. Besides trying to do back-to-school shopping for 5 students, we have been preparing for our new "daughter" from France. It is a great incentive to do some deeper cleaning than normal and work around the house.

*Daniel and Julia have been busy working around the house for some extra cash. They painted the gate, filled in several deep fence post holes, and helped me stain the deck. The deck job ended up being a much bigger job than originally planned, but we finally finished on the 3rd day.

*Andrew is getting closer to buying his own car. He has made a deal on a Honda Civic and is just finalizing the sale as well as setting up insurance for himself. I am so proud of him because he has been working LONG hours just to make enough money to buy his independence (a car, that is)

*Hannah and Leah both have full time jobs which keep them quite busy, too. Leah is babysitting for a neighbor and Hannah is working at the Linwood corner store preparing food and stocking shelves. It is strange not having the three older kids at home this summer, but I am glad they each have jobs that they enjoy.

*Leah has been working hard on her horse project this summer. She is getting very close to getting on Shiloh for the first time. She has done lots of ground work with him and feels he is ready for a rider. She also decided not to try riding him until after her big show (Aug.22) so that if anything major happened, she would not miss that one again. Leah did very well riding Blaze in the D rally; she rode at the D2 level (the highest level in D) and placed 2ND overall for her category. There were about 50 riders in all for the D rally, but only 10 in D2.

*Pascaline, our exchange student from France, arrived on Aug. 22. We have really enjoyed getting to finally meet her in person. She has a lot of things in common with Hannah, especially shopping. They will be quite the pair in the malls. Watch out Eaton Centre! We are going to have a busy next 2 weeks going to lots of area attractions and festivals. Thursday, we are going to the Butterfly conservatory, Saturday, we are planning a trip to Toronto to attend the CNE, and Monday we are going to the beach in Goderich. We have already been to the Farmer's Market and St. Jacobs. She has expressed that she wants to see/do as much as possible while she is here, so we are taking her up on this!

Prince Phillip Games, 2010

Leah on her speedy steed, Dixie (Whoooaaa there, girly!)

Heidi on Nugget in the 5 mug race

The "all important handoff"

Some of the Boomer Creek club members awaiting the award ceremony