Chloe's last adventure at Rockin' Horse Ranch

The catch-up news wouldn't be complete without mentioning a little about Chloe's last riding lesson in Canada.

She and Keira went on the last morning of school. Keira's mom and I decided it would be okay if the girls went to riding first thing in the morning and attended the last day of school after that, since Chloe really wanted one last lesson before moving.

Well, it was an adventure! Holly and Ben went with us. Chloe was allowed to ride Zippy, her favourite horse at the ranch, and was pretty thrilled about it. She and Keira just got the horses tied up in the indoor arena for tacking up when a couple of mares out back of there kept running by the open door and whinnying, getting Porky and Zippy all riled up.

Tina ended up doing the tacking up AND having to lunge both horses to tire them out a bit. Shortly after that, the lesson started in the outdoor arena.

At some point, some movement caught my eye- there were horses out loose! All of the kids got off their horses and stood while the rest of us spread out to herald the runaways in the right direction. Holly somehow stood on the outside of the gate and one of the horses kept running right up to her- finally she had a minute to get on the OTHER side of the fence, where I am sure she felt a little safer... lol

The horses were put away and the lesson resumed. I have to say, I am always amazed at how well my youngest, smallest daughter can handle so much horse! She may be tiny, but she is mighty, that girl!

Her love for horses is apparent and her confidence grows every time she rides. Hopefully we can find a stable here that she loves as much as Rockin' Horse Ranch.

Heidi's Grade 8 Grad

Since I only just started this blog a week or so ago, I haven't caught everyone up to speed on how Heidi made out at her graduation just before we moved.

What a girl!!! She had been chosen as the female valedictorian for the graduating class ahead of time, so that she and the boy who was chosen could plan their speech. Heidi says she has wanted to be valedictorian since third grade- so you can imagine how thrilled she was.

The only award she was really hoping for was the English award, as Heidi loves to read and write stories. The one I was hoping she would get was the all-around proficiency award, which she assured me she likely wasn't a candidate for, as there were many very smart kids in her class.

Well, in addition to the Valedictorian award, Heidi won the English award, the French award, the all-around Proficiency award, AND the Principal's award for leadership. The principal nearly cried when describing Heidi and her efforts and accomplishments.

You couldn't have found a more proud mom that night, I have to tell you! Heidi had her own cheering section there, with myself, Holly, Ben, and Chloe, plus Brenda and Jessica from Oshawa, and my sister Sandy, Nick, Ghassan and Maya from Ottawa. You can imagine the noise we made every time Heidi got called up to the stage... lol

Time

I am sitting here in the quiet of the morning, wondering how I got so lucky. I have so much in my life now, that it is hard to believe my life was once so different.

Though we all deserve to have love and joy in our lives, it doesn't just appear by itself. We have to be willing to work for it and to be open to it. Sometimes it doesn't come in the form we expect it to.

I was just thinking of the day ahead, how wonderful it is to have the luxury of time to clean my beautiful home, to make things nice for my loving husband and the kids.

Time is truly a luxury, and though I think I knew that before, I didn't fully appreciate it until I moved here. Even though we have been keeping extremely busy unpacking and settling in, we still have time to do things we love, like sharing coffee out on the patio before Rich goes to work, like taking bike rides after dinner, like reading together in the evenings, like just being together when we want, talking or not talking.

Life careens along at such a speed! I am very thankful to be able to see it slow down some here, to fully enjoy every day.

More Garden stuff!

We had a lovely dinner out at Frasca in Boulder last night. We have been there a couple of times before, on my trips here. But I have never been there in the summer, and never experienced their tasting menu. I can't even describe the food there, it is just so sublime. It makes me feel that my cooking is seriously lacking- but then inspires me to try to cook with more fresh herbs and to make more things from scratch.

On the weekend, I made homemade pasta along with homemade bread and a fresh caesar salad, and it actually turned out pretty well. Lots of work, but worth it.

The front garden is doing well, the roses are starting to bloom! We have been watering faithfully twice a day as directed by the garden centre. It is a pure pleasure to see things take root and bloom, and to have my very own rose garden. Another dream come true!

Renaissance Festival

Well, another busy weekend!

Saturday, Rich and I went up to Loveland to get meat, and checked out the big town BBQ as well- Loveland Loves Barbeque, a part of the Summerfest in the Rockies.

Yesterday the five of us spent the day at the Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, Colorado. What a day! lol

We got a portrait done in costume at the beginning of the day, hopefully I can post a photo of it here tomorrow.

These photos show Chloe bungee jumping and the bell show before the jousting. We had a great day!