Better Late....

Horses: This picture is from last weekend's HUS class for Novice Youth at the Paint show in Allegan. I was having downloading troubles and finally found a work-around.

Tuesday we had the distinct pleasure of meeting one of my on-line horsey friends! Shannon and her husband Don came down from near Mt. Pleasant to help us with Stanley. A few weeks ago I posted that he had gotten his lope back...but it didn't last. I think it was a combination of not reinforcing it long enough and Equestrian girl just not being so sure what to do. Shannon reminded Stanley how to lope which he loudly protested with the tiniest little bucks - it was hilarious. Then her and Don had Equestrian Girl doing some very specific exercises with him and he looked awesome! Three cheers for Shannon and Don! We had so much fun and left the barn to have a great lunch at their favorite restaurant which just HAPPENS to be a few miles from us. Great encouragement for them to come back often!!

Over the years I've been able to meet a few online friends here and there and it's always been such a pleasure to put a real person behind that email address. Shannon was no exception and I hope she'll be able to help us more in the future. She was very impressed with both Equestrian Girl and Stanley so we felt pretty good about that!

Motocross: It's BAJA BRAWL weekend! Scott just finished making 150 t-shirts with a very cool logo on them - I bet the sell like hotcakes. This is one of the biggest race weekends at one of the biggest tracks in the region. They expect over 900 bikes...and with every bike is usually at least 2-4 people. It's crazy out there. RV's, bikes, golf carts, dogs and kids everywhere. Rock and roll music blasting 15 hours a day. Bikes racing 12 hours a day. And we are supposed to have 77 degrees and sun for all but Monday. Perfect!! Motocross Boy is totally geeked and they JUST pulled out to head up. Seems kind of silly to get there this afternoon when practice doesn't start until 3:00 tomorrow but I know they are excited. Equestrian Girl and I won't go up until tomorrow night - we like our beds and running water.

Homeschooling: We had such a great homeschooling week with today having the big highlight of the week. Motocross Boy still had two math assignments to get done before Dad would even consider leaving for the Baja Brawl today. He needed some help (or so he said) but I was busy trying to churn out some work for the paying job and Dad was busy finishing up the t-shirt job. I suggested he ask Equestrian Girl for help since she's so good at math. At one point I was laughing so hard I had to leave the house in search of Scott. They were working on estimating sums - very easy stuff. Motocross Boy was just totally guessing at the answers and after each one Equestrian Girl would say, "No, you have to look at it this way...". Then he'd blurt out another answer and very patiently she'd again say, "No, you have to do this first...". I would have been losing patience long before she even came close. They finished the two lessons and Motocross Boy came in to show me that all his work was done. I suggested he thank his sister big time. I thought I heard what sounded like a hug (and don't ask what a hug sounds like other than an "umph" from the person getting hugged too hard) and managed to peak around the corner fast enough to see Motocross Boy giving his sister a huge hug of thanks!!! THAT is why we homeschool.