A New Horse Show Part 2

The weather was a little crazy all weekend going from rainy to nice in the blink of an eye.  Just before horsemanship we had a few drips of rain and EG hid under my jacket to keep her new hat dry.  Stanley wasn't so sure about the red monster on his back.

Twenty minutes later, they were lined up for the horsemanship championships and the sky was blue again.

The next day was English day and EG and Stanley found a spot for a nap between classes.

And Stanley told me about his displeasure at having to practice again.

The princess showed off that pretty smile.

Then got serious about winning again.

First place for English Equitation too.

We finally noticed that they had this spot set up for pictures and just before we left we took advantage of it.  

Equestrian Girl and Stanley won the age group high point, 4 classes and the Western Pleasure Championship!!  Not a bad haul for a weekend!

A New Horse Show

A couple of weeks ago we went to a new horse show.  It was the Michigan Open Championship Show held at Shiawassee Fairgrounds.  This was the fairgrounds where Equestrian Girl hit the dirt hard 5 years ago and spent 8 days in the hospital.  This would be the first time back there.

But the sun still rises there and we ended up having a great time with EG and Stanley winning LOTS of awards and ribbons.

They started the day with showmanship.

And won.  A blue ribbon and a tall boot bag.

Next was Western Pleasure.

They won that too.  And got another blue ribbon and a western boot bag.

That put them in the championship class that included all the adults.  The stakes were high and the competition was stiff.

My girl and her pony looked lovely and painted such a beautiful picture against that cloudy sky.

When they lined up to announce the winners we were nervous.  It was a BIG class with 22 riders and horses.

And they won!!!!  A big neck ribbon, an etched glass trophy and a fleece jacket.

So proud of my dynamic duo!!  Stanley wasn't impressed and stuck his tongue out at me.

To be continued.

I've got a SKY thing going...

My camera seems to want to take pictures of the sky lately.

I was feeling patriotic when I shot this one.  The clouds were pretty heavy though.

Just a few minutes later the sky was mostly blue and the winds had calmed down.

This was near Lansing last week - you can't quite see the effect that I could see.

Here you can see it better toward the bottom where it looks like waves.

It was just so cool!  Some folks told me it looks like the surface of the water when you are UNDER it looking up.  Maybe.

And of course, a sunrise over Windsor, Canada!

The Henry Ford

Earlier in September we took a field trip to the Henry Ford to see the Titanic exhibit.  Photos were strictly prohibited.  I complied.  It was a pretty cool exhibit - as you entered you were issued a "boarding pass" for the ship in the name of one of the real passengers.  Sometimes you would see items that were found for that person.  Motocross Boy was a perfume salesman and most of his perfume samples were recovered in the wreckage.  It was amazing to read how many people hadn't planned on taking that ship but because of a strike in London, many other ships weren't leaving port so the passengers were shifted to the Titanic.  One man was kidnapped before boarding but his baggage made it on the ship.  

All three of us "survived".  It was fun to see the kids googling the names of people from the ship to learn a little bit more about them.  

We also did a quick tour of the rest of the museum with Equestrian Girl stopping for a rest with this guy watching a movie about flight.

Baja Part 3

This track is so big, it's really hard to get good pictures.  No matter where you are, you can only see small sections of the track.  I try to move to a different section for each moto but that still leaves big gaps of time where you are just standing and counting seconds until you can see you boy again.

This is near the front the track and a rather unexciting place to be once they are off the starting gate.

This is along the front too - a place where my boy did a belly smacker a few years ago sending us to the hospital thinking he had internal injuries.  The medics saw bruising on his stomach.  It was just dirt.

This is more towards the middle of the track and I was shooting into the sun so we've got some creative liberties with color in this one!

This is also more in the middle where they keep disappearing behind trees.  It's funny how many times I have taken a picture of a tree with a kid behind it.  I guess I don't even see the tree...weird.

Ah - free advertising.

Watching this stuff from behind the camera is sooooo much better.

Looking all mean and dangerous!

This is that new thing they call a "wall".  They can't jump it, must go over very slow because there's a sharp turn at the bottom.

You can get a sense of how sharp the drop is in this picture.

Looking down and out over some of the camping areas.  Where I'm standing is about 3/4 of a mile from the road and there are campers all the way out to it.  Then a road takes you to the back of the track where there's more camping and where we were.  It's a little quieter up here.

Jumping into the wild blue yonder!

And going down, down, down.  Gulp.

Did anyone notice the leaves starting to turn in some of the other pictures!  Fall is on the way.

Baja Brawl part 2

There are always lots of riders at the Brawl - you can see from these starting line shots how many were in one of Motocross Boy/Man's mottos....doesn't look that bad here.

 Or even here.

 Here you can see a few more riders coming in from the outside.

 And now they are starting to pile up.

 Holy moly!  And all going into a very tight turn!

Starting to spread out a little again.

And the leaders pull ahead leaving the rest in the dust.

More space between the front of the pack and those in the rear.

And the leaders are off and heading out fast!

The 2012 Baja Brawl

I'm way behind in posting pictures of the Baja Brawl this year - it was Labor Day weekend!!

As always, the brawl is as much about partying as racing but the kids love it.  It might have something to do with the free cans of Monster Energy drink...

It was a beautiful weekend with blue skies and mild temps.

Motocross Boy/Man was in fine frame and jumping everything in sight.

 And he was faster in his corners.

Love this picture!

This side of the track has a huge drop in elevation - you can kind of get a sense of it here.

Or here.  This is only showing a very small section of the camping.  There were over 3000 people at this race!

This "wall" was a new feature - it has a very steep drop off on the other side and goes right into a left turn.

To be continued!