Family BBQ

Yesterday afternoon we drove down to my parents house for a family gathering. Lots of our extended family came and we had a great time together! I saddled up Sasha so that everyone, big & small, could enjoy a ride around the pasture - she was a very good girl. Grampa & my brother manned 2 grills and put out some delicious hamburgers & hot dogs. Everyone else brought salads and chips to nibble on - always a treat. Grammie baked 2 cakes - one for each of the graduates, my nephew that just graduated from high school and another nephew who just graduated from the University of Maine at Orono. Congratulations!!

Before we left home, the weather cleared up enough for Dad to take the canoe that he just finished patching for her inaugural paddle. He put it in our little farm pond, which is just big enough! The boys thought it was great!! (I know, they don't have their life jackets on, but they ran down to the pond without them and we really didn't have time for them to go back and get them. The pond is so shallow that they could stand up if they did fall in. Just this one time we let them go without them.) They had a blast helping Dad paddle the canoe around! They found lots of frogs eggs.

Daisy learned about getting into the canoe. The biggest thing we need to teach her now is to stay in...

Ace came home yesterday. He wasn't a good fit for the guy who thought he was going to buy him. The guy is a beginner rider (Which he didn't tell me!) and yet he thought that he could train Ace? Oh well. The boys are thrilled!! I hate for them to get their hopes up though. Dad really wants to sell Ace...

Wagon Train Ride

Well, unfortunately we didn't have the best weather for this year's big Wagon Train Ride, although there was a good turnout. Yesterday we did the 8 mile loop, and although it was misty, it was warm and we didn't get terribly wet. Dad rode Kitch, I rode Lily and the boys rode in the covered wagon. Unfortunately, something was bothering the horses, so several of them were very naughty, Kitch included! Dad did not have a very good time. Finally, we traded horses and Lily was a good girl for him. It was not fun riding Kitch though, he really was being a jerk!! I didn't get any pictures because I didn't want to take a chance with my camera in the wet. And I'm especially glad since I ended up riding such a difficult horse - not safe for the camera...

Last night, at the pot-luck dinner & campfire, we finally met the couple that raises horses up the hill. We've missed connecting with them several times over the course of the last 3 years. We made arrangements to take a trail ride this morning, depending on the weather, and she would show me a trail that I hadn't ridden on yet. I saddled up Kitchy, switched his bridle to the twisted wire snaffle and put on my spurs. I was much better equipped to get his attention! That makes all the difference to a horse that needs to know who is in charge and we had a very pleasant ride. 3 of us headed out around 9 am, even though it was lightly raining. However, a couple of miles into the woods, a severe thunderstorm rolled in! I called Dad and asked him to meet me with the horse trailer and we hurried back!! It was a bit scary, but Kitch went into 'take care of your rider' mode - he was really cautious and so well-behaved. I was pleased, but drenched - clear to my skin!!

Fish Tales

Yesterday the boys had another good day with their friends. The first thing that the boys did was to help me with the horses - they couldn't wait to get out in the pasture! Then we all headed out to the brook for a swim and then we went upstream to fish - look at what they caught!! The older boy is quite a fisherman, which makes him my youngest son's hero. He helped my son catch 3 of his own!! On the way up from the brook, I verified that the older boy did indeed know how to clean fish. The little guy asked me to clean his fish, but I reminded him that I had warned him that if he wanted me to take him fishing, he would be baiting the hook and cleaning any catch HIMSELF!! Mommy does not do gross!! He dug right in and cleaned them himself, with guidance from the older boy....

After lunch we saddled up the horses and rode for quite a while. They said they could happily ride all day long!! Our youngest has been riding Kitch a lot, he's working towards a new saddle. Our older boy keeps helping him with his mounting and dismounting - and they also practice pretend falls - hopefully they'll be more prepared than I am...

We lost Mr. Piggy last night. He was really old, but he had been healthy right along, so I guess he was happy. The boys had so much fun playing with him over the years...they will be sharing some of their stories in an upcoming post...

Dad finished the deck this evening! Finally!! It looks awesome and I can't wait to get it all decorated and ready for relaxing...

Tuesday

Yesterday was the first day of babysitting our son's best friend and his older brother. Their mom got a job this spring and is trying to earn as much money as possible, so she had asked me to watch the boys this summer. Since all 4 of the boys get along great, I thought "Why not?" So far, so good! As soon as they got here, the older boy started right in helping me with the horses. And this is a kid that has never been around them before. Yet, every time I looked for him, he was out there petting them. Talk about 'love at first sight'!! Both boys rode around the round pen for a while, which was a first for them and they really enjoyed it. We also went out fishing in the brook, which they all loved, although we will be leaving Daisy home next time. Every time they dipped their lines, she would come splashing by - she was having a BLAST!! But, I'm afraid there were no fish for miles and miles....

First Day of Summer Vacation

It was a good day - fairly quiet. The weather wasn't great, gray & rainy, but the boys worked hard at picking up some junk in the basement. In the afternoon we went to the dentist for a final check on the tongue frenectomy - almost healed - ate a late lunch at Subway and picked out some books at the library. We learned about a new program that rewards the kids for reading, so they are looking forward to earning lots of prizes!!

Yesterday afternoon Dad's parents came up for a visit after church. Later in the afternoon we headed to town to see Kung Fu Panda - the boys (including Dad!) LOVED it - and then we ate a yummy dinner at The Great Wall, of course.

School's out!!

Every year it's the same thing - finishing up teachers' gifts at the last minute. Remember how pleased I was to get an early start on them this year? Well, I still hadn't finished them by Thursday evening, so I was up 'til 11 weaving baskets.

Friday morning I got up at 5 am to start baking the goodies to put in the baskets - Jelly Donut Cupcakes and No-Bake Cookies. They were ready in time for the boys to put them into their backpacks and get on the bus! Then, I did chores and got ready to go to the my hair appt in town. I had a great visit with my stylist and some other friends that were there - she had a 3-ring circus going on - literally 3 of us in various stages. It was funny!

After my hair was colored, I headed over to the school for the annual end-of-the-year awards ceremony and staff vs fifth-grade softball game. The boys had fun playing with their friends and saying "Good-bye" for the summer. We stayed 'til just after lunch and then headed across the street to the town office to register the truck & trailer. Then, we drove to the Paris Public Library to pick out some reading material, got some cash from the bank, grabbed lunch for me at Burger King and hit the road - headed to Double G Ranch in Lebanon!

What a long drive....too bad there isn't a good tack shop closer to home!! We had a successful shopping trip - although I had to pry our youngest out of the saddle that he fell in love with!! He really wanted to bring it home.

On the way back North, we stopped in Portland to pick up Dad and then went to Saco to check out the new Tractor Supply. I picked up 2 great new Western shirts to wear team penning! Then, we drove over to Cabella's to check it out! What a store!! As much as he loved it, our youngest was still anxious to get to "his" store - The Army Barracks. Once there, he picked out lots of new clothing and had a blast checking out all that cool stuff!!

By that point it was 8:30 and we still hadn't had supper! We were pretty grouchy, so we pulled into Wendy's, but unfortunately lots of other people had the same idea, and we had quite a long wait. Oh well. Finally, we were on the road home....but, we didn't get there until 10:30 - what a long day!!!!

I got up bright & early Saturday morning so that I could start calling back all the people that had called me the evening before about the team penning clinic that was going on that day. We piled into the car and followed Dad in the truck over to Turner to pick up a load of hay. The boys stayed with Dad and I drove the short distance over to the OK Corral in Leeds to get everyone signed in for the clinic. It was a big group of riders!!

After a couple of hours I headed for home again and we spent a quiet afternoon at home, working on the garden and the boys played with Kitchy. He's such a good boy! They crawl all over him and practice their mounting and dismounting skills over and over again and he stands there like a rock. Our youngest started trotting last night - Kitch didn't get all excited and quick, but was trotting so slowly that the little guy had a hard time keeping him going - perfect for learning!! We've set up an obstacle course in the round pen and they had fun going over and around things. Even our oldest rode around for a few minutes - a major feat to get him back in the saddle! I was thrilled!!

At about 6 am this morning, our youngest woke us up with the reminder that Dad had told him that if he woke up early he could go fishing for breakfast!! Poor Dad. But, he dragged his butt out of bed and they headed for the brook! A short while later they returned - they were successful!! Trout & eggs for breakfast - it doesn't get much better than that!!

Range Pond

Today the whole school went on a field trip to Range Pond Sate Park. The kids had a ball playing games on the beach, climbing all over the jungle gym and, of course, swimming!! It's a real challenge to keep track of that many kids, but I don't think we lost anyone...

Hoof trimming

Bright and early, Kitch got saddled up for the ride down to the bus stop. His little boy is so proud to show off his riding skills to his classmates! We discovered Kitch does have a weakness, something that actually spooks him - extra loud bass on a car radio. Fortunately, my son had gotten off before that vehicle went by, but Kitch almost ran us all over trying to escape - NOT good!! I got him under control, but I haven't seen him get that upset since we first got him and he was always trying to intimidate me - he was rearing up at me, striking out, and everything! Darn teenagers!!

While we were still waiting for the bus, the farrier arrived, but fortunately Dad was still up at the house, so he got Lily out of the pasture and held her for her pedicure. She rested her head on his shoulder....

They were all well-behaved for the farrier and we enjoyed a good visit while the horses got their, much needed, trimmings....

Dig Gems

Today I accompanied the 2nd and 3rd grade classes to Western Maine Mineral Adventures. It was a blast! Each child was able to fill a bucket from the dirt pile and sift through it, looking for gems. We discovered that our youngest is a "Man Mining Machine". He just kept sifting and searching and sifting and searching. We found lots of really pretty green tourmaline, some of it gem quality, some quartz crystals and other neat minerals. We'll definitely be doing more digging this summer!!

This evening Dad rode Tillie, I rode Lily and our younger son rode Kitch. He is doing great with Kitchy, even when Kitch is being a brat - he takes command and makes Kitch mind him. It's wonderful for his riding confidence! After I took the saddle off, he remembered that he forgot to practice standing up in the saddle. I told him to just take off his sneakers and get up there bareback. He actually did it!! He was grinning from ear to ear!! Lily, on the other hand, was a total pain in the butt - she needs a ton more work than she is getting! Lots of wet saddle blankets, as the cowboys say...

West Paris Old Home Days

Friday evening we returned to town and enjoyed the start of the West Paris Old Home Days. There was a great band playing at the Fire Station, craft & food vendor tents were set up, and after dark there was a pretty spectacular fireworks display.

Saturday morning the boys marched in the parade. They both did a great job. Our youngest was so proud to march that American Flag right down the length of Main Street!

One of our friends from Scouting built this barrel train for the occasion! It was awesome!! He pulled it, full of kids, all over town, with his lawn tractor, which later in the day WON the lawn tractor pulling contest! Mounted on its hood was a trophy from 2006, the last time it had won the competition. The boys were duly impressed...

We wandered around town, enjoying the fair and visiting with friends. The funniest part was when the gentleman from the local camera club walked right up to me with his business cards and asked me if I wanted to learn how to use my camera! Poor Dad had to bite his tongue. ;-)

Our friends from the Wagon Train were there with their team of Belgians, which they drove, pulling a stagecoach, in the parade and then they gave rides around town throughout the day - we couldn't wait to take our turn!

Afterwards we went to view the model trains that were set up in the Grange Hall. They were amazing!! They boys couldn't believe all the details - and that so much of it was hand-made.

Then, we watched the lawn tractor pulling contest for a while. The red tractor came in 2nd place. With its front in the air, and its seat pushed back a few inches, it had excellent traction. The interesting part was that the winning tractor, (Owned by our friend in Scouting!) didn't have to resort to wheelies to get the job done. ;-)


The boys had a ball on all the blow-up rides that were there and then we walked over to the Fire Station so that they could go through the "Smoke House".

Inside, a fireman talked to them about making sure we have an emergency plan, including a safe meeting place. He was impressed that the boys told him that we planned to meet at the garage. However, he was concerned that we didn't have a back-up meeting place, since most garages are close/connected to the house. Dad & I were outside, and though we could hear them, they couldn't see us - we were laughing - because our garage is about 500 feet away from the house. If they both catch on fire, we're in really big trouble!! Then, he showed the boys how to check the door to see if there is fire on the other side, and then they crawled through the smoking room, ran out the door and met up at their prearranged meeting place.

Yesterday we went to my brother & sister-in-law's house for a Father's Day Cookout - BBQ chicken, potato salad, tossed salad and lots of munchies, followed by coffee/chocolate chunk ice cream pie covered in chocolate syrup - it doesn't get much better than that!!

Field Trips

This week I went on 2 field trips with the boys. The first one was on Tuesday - we went to Lollipoppa Farm, on the other side of Stearn's Hill. They are an organic farm, so it was right up my alley. ;-) We ate a yummy lunch of fresh salad picked from their garden and mini-pizzas from scratch. Before returning to school we went to the West Paris General Store for ice cream cones. Our oldest and I had Chocolate Moose Tracks - YUMMY!! The only other choice was chocolate, which our youngest doesn't like, so we got him an ice cream sandwich instead. He was perfectly happy...

Today Dad and I chaperoned a hike up to Berry's Ledge - it provides wonderful overlooks of West Paris. The hike was for the second grade, joined by their pen pals, second graders from Hebron. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

Afterwards, we waited for the kids to finish out their school day, by enjoying another ice cream cone. ;-) Then, I had an appt with the chiropractor and our youngest had an appt with the dentist, who also checked on our oldest's frenectomy - he had the underside of his tongue cut to help facilitate his speech - it is healing properly.

Here are a couple of pictures of Cuddles, our new hamster, rolling around in her exercise ball. Daisy could watch her for hours!!

Oh WELL...

Tuesday afternoon we experienced some incredible thunderstorms!! Hail that was grape-sized, enough to cover the ground so that it looked like we had a couple of inches of snow! They were bouncing off the poor horses' backs, because it was too loud on the roof of their shelter, so they thought they could escape by running out into the pasture. The lightening was flashing like crazy and the thunder was wicked loud. Then, we got HIT!! Or at least lightening struck really close-by...and fried the pump in the well. I was horrified when we didn't have any water!! I can happily go without electricity, and other creature comforts, but I've gotta have access to water!!

The next morning, Dad called up Goodwin's Well-drilling and they happened to be coming to our neck of the woods. Within a couple of hours they had our pump replaced, so we should be good, barring any more lightening strikes, for another 20 or 30 years. During their time here, Dad said they received many, many more calls from people whose wells had the same problem! Freaky, huh?

Tuesday evening the boys finished up their Scouting year with an awards ceremony. Our oldest received his Bear and our youngest received his Wolf. They worked really hard to earn them and we are very proud of them!

During the well fiasco, Dad had to move the wishing well away from the well cover. Seeing it gone, cemented the idea that had been floating around in my mind - I didn't want it there in the middle of the lawn anymore! This morning, I dragged it away, moved Lazy (the horse statue) closer to the well cover, and planted a bed of Rugosa roses (my favorite!!) to disguise the well. It looks so much simpler and prettier now...

Tragedy...

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/268344-3/LewistonAuburn/Auburn_girl_dies/
This was one of the mini horses that I showed in my Memorial Day post last week. We get our hay from this man. He just started keeping the minis last year and has had so much fun taking them out for a drive every day. Why, oh why did this have to happen???? It seems so unneccessary and I'm having a really hard time handling it. My hands are shaking as I type...

A weekend at home...

We don't get nearly enough of them. It was nice to work on some projects around here. The boys and I spent Saturday getting the office cleaned up and rearranged. It was raining, which gave us the perfect opportunity to put together all of their old puzzles to make sure that all the pieces are still there so that we can give them away to younger children. That was fun!

That evening, after the clouds had cleared, our youngest decided that he wanted to ride Kitch! So, we saddled him up and after a few minutes he told me to let go of the leadrope, he was going to ride by himself - and he did! The next morning he couldn't wait 'til breakfast was over to get back outside and ride some more. He rode so much that he wore out his mommy getting horses ready for him!! He rode all three of them, although Tillie only for a few minutes because he thinks that she is too big and strong for him...

He rode Lily until Lily got impatient and hot to trot! He decided that he really likes big, old, lazy Kitch. We're just as proud as can be, both of our son and also of Kitch for being such a good teacher!!

This evening he went for another ride on Kitch and Kitch decided to get a bit unruly. He took off at a rapid walk (not quite a trot) through the bushes, headed back to the girls! The little guy wasn't listening to me and kept trying to get him to stop, pulling for all he was worth on the reins. Well, Kitchy just pulled right back and continued on his way! They finally cleared the trees and so I hollered out "Grab hold of one rein and pull him right around in a circle!" So, that's what he did and by golly, it worked!! He was more than a little bit shook up, but he was feeling pretty brave for hanging in there and getting Kitch stopped. I decided it was time for some fun to clear the air! So, I told him to follow me, but I made it tricky and kept darting around - he was laughing like crazy and having a ball! Me too! Except we decided that it was kinda like chasing cows at team penning! Me, a cow?! ;-) We ended the ride on a very good note, which is so important right now...

The boys were calling to a flock of geese the other night...

This afternoon I picked the boys up at school and met our oldest's best friend's mother there. She brought her son's hamster for my son to bring home. Apparently her son is allergic to the hamster, but she knew that we would give her a good home. My boys are thrilled - she's another sweetie, like Ralph. Her name is Cuddles. Her markings are so similar to Ralph's, but she's tan instead of gray. She's adorable!!


I guess it's been awhile since I took a photo like this - Daisy looks HUGE beside Haley!!

The boys found a little visitor in our garden...