Meet Bobby

Last weekend my parents brought home Bobby, a 25-year old Arabian kid-safe horse. The kids took turns riding him with me in the pasture. He's a very quiet, friendly horse. He still has a lot of pep for an old gummer though.

Bobby came complete with a kid's saddle. My dad and I took both kids out for a ride in the Owyhees on Monday. Elena rode Bobby by herself and had a great time. Sorry I don't have any pictures from that ride, I was busy dealing with the other, not-so-well-behaved horses.

Worst Birthday Party Ever?

Yesterday was Elena's birthday. We celebrated in our usual fashion with a swimming party at the local YMCA.Things started heading downhill on Thursday when Audrey got sick. Then Kenna, followed by Leah, Mae, and of course Escher came down with pinkeye. When you count parents and siblings, we were down about 20 people. We persevered. We encouraged everyone to eat seconds because there was so much food. 

We started off with a quick swim, but after about 10 minutes the lifeguards kicked everyone out of the pool for a standard potty break. We took advantage of the break to eat. Afterward we went for another swim. Then this happened. Actually the lifeguard told me there was a "chemical imbalance" in the pool, but this guy vacuumed the same spot for 40 minutes so I drew my own conclusions. We managed to keep six wet kids entertained for 40 minutes and enjoyed a nice long swim afterward. I stayed clear of the "vacuum" area.

Here is a picture of Elena and her friend Piper from school. Piper is a few weeks older than Elena; not only is she taller, she wins the hair category by about 10-1. Piper's brother Jason, Elena's Friend Zarek and her cousins Alex and Katie also attended.

 We managed to have a surprisingly good time. We may even give it a try again next year.

Dance Class

Occasionally Miss Laura lets parents watch dance class. Miss Laura hates having parents present because the kids don't pay attention. Last week we arrived a few minutes early (while another class was in session), so I sent Elena to change her shoes and stood by the door to make sure she changed her shoes and sat in the appropriate spot before leaving. Miss Laura asked if I was waiting to speak to her. I took the hint and left.

If you've never watched little kids learn to dance, you're really missing out. It's so bad it's good. None of them move in rhythm, about 3/4 are doing the wrong move, and they occasionally stop mid-dance and run to the bathroom.

Most of the kids kept looking at their parents and running back and forth to talk with them or get a hug. Some of them were screwing around and had multiple "discussions" with their mommies. Not my girl. I fought the urge to coach her and I think it really paid off. The above photo was about the only time she even looked in my direction. Elena loves dance class and takes it pretty seriously for a girl pushing 5. Surprisingly, one of the best girls is the chubby one you can see in the mirror in the photo below. Chubby can't do cartwheels though. Plus she had to run over to her mom for a drink every 5 minutes.

After some ballet, the girls switched over to their tap shoes. Elena struggles with the finesse steps, but she excels at stomping. And marching. Her marching skills would make Hitler proud.

The night ended with tumbling. I tried to get some pictures, but from my angle I got nothing but backside shots.

Hunting Season Is Officially Over

This time of year Karen and I both shed tears. Hers are tears of joy; mine, not so much.

The season started elk hunting with my dad. We had a great time together in eastern Idaho. Here is a view of the country.

I did a little waterfowl hunting along the way.

My real passion is chukar hunting. It was a very wet and muddy season, but Guinness and I did our best. He will be ten years old this year, but he still hunts like a champ.Things really "clicked" for us this year, mostly because I got a GPS collar and just let him do his thing. It takes a lot of trust to let a dog go out of sight and assume that they will come back and find you. This year he had points ranging from under 10 yards to over 400 yards away.

Another somewhat recent development is that Guinness has accepted the kids. When Elena was young he would always hide in a separate room. Now they snuggle together at nap time.

On my last day of bird hunting I came across this buck that likely died of natural causes. What a great way to end the season!

Tomboy In the Making?

Elena really likes to help me with projects. When we bought new bar stools, she helped me assemble them. It turns out the bar stools were too tall for our island, so I ordered shorter ones. She helped me assemble them as well. Here she is working the allen wrench to fasten the seat to the legs. She stayed up way past her bedtime both nights to help me.

 Here's another view. Total tomboy, right?

 Hmmm. Scratch that.

Winter Carnival

We spent the weekend at the cabin to play in the snow and take in the opening weekend of the McCall Winter Carnival. Luis, Lisa and Alex stayed at the cabin with us. Justin, Bev, Zarek and Escher stayed at their cabin nearby.

The first order of business was to check out the ice sculptures. Below we have the biggest snowman ever:

 Olaf and Sven. If you don't recognize these characters you don't have kids.

 ...And the giant cake honoring the 50th anniversary of the winter carnival.

 

As we were strolling around town to check out the ice sculptures, we happened upon the kids' night light parade gathering. We commandeered some torches for the kids and quickly left. Here is Marcus with his torch.

 

After acquiring torches, the kids were hungry. I carried Elena on my back while Luis did the same. As we were walking along the sidewalk, we could all hear the normally quiet Marcus yelling "TREE, TREE, TREE!!" Apparently Luis forgot to acknowledge the added height of his passenger and nearly wiped the poor kid out. 

We all got food from the fair-style vendors and found a seat for the fireworks. Marcus is a HUGE fan of fireworks. He was enthralled and even clapped during the finale.

The next day the guys took the older kids ice fishing while the girls hung out with the little ones. The kids spent most of their time playing with the sled and really enjoyed the sunny weather. I actually got a sunburn. The ice was slick and I think Elena and Zarek fell about 50 times each. Elena landed a nice jumbo perch. She named it Sprout Jr. A smaller perch I caught was named floppy.

 Here is a Mexican twist on ice fishing.

While we were out fishing Karen took Marcus out to play in the snow. He loves to crawl around in the snow and throw it at anybody within range.