Christmas in July!

Yep...this week had a barn that was festively decorated with candy canes, Christmas lights, and stockings, counselors who were wearing festive suspenders, and snowballs and blizzards were the talk of lessons.  It was Christmas in July week....otherwise known as week 7 here at camp.  After a weekend of work it was off and running Monday morning.  The bright side to the week was that I had no lessons to teach so I could focus on working on chores.  There were buckets to scrub, blankets to clean, and arena walls to wash.  Monday morning was spent helping get everyone out the door, riding Katie for Rachel's class to make sure she was going to be okay, and getting all the chores lined up to start working on.  The afternoon involved the clinics of vaulting, clipping/braiding, race relay, and medieval games.  I worked on buckets for the afternoon and got all of those scrubbed.  That evening, after supervising trading post, the kids and I picked up some movies for Marc, an international counselor who had gotten himself hurt week 4 and needed something to keep him occupied.  That evening, Sarah had Amie hold onto Image and she got her first ride on Image.  Then, finally, it was off to bed!

Tuesday morning was the Cayuga trail ride and the morning lessons went well despite the threat of storms.  We kept the kids inside and did lessons inside even though we barely got any rain.  :-(  I had to rescue the 1st period LV pool clinic from RV after they'd been left down there for 20 minutes and 3 of my horsemanship kids were down there.  The afternoon clinics were bathing, driving, mounted trail obstacles, and bareback.  During the clinics, I was able to get a few blankets done.  Even though I was extremely tired, the kids talked me into going to the pool while Amie was on duty.  We did some pool and then back up to the house.  Amie stopped by with the tractor and we got the round bales put out for which the horses were extremely grateful.  Then....off to bed.

Wednesday was Crow's trail ride and I was able to keep working on a few blankets until lunch time when we took Rae back to Indy and we picked up a horse on the way back.  GPS changed the directions in my phone so at first we went to totally the wrong spot.  Then we went the wrong direction on the road and had to turn around.  We finally got the horse picked up and back to home we went.  That evening we watched "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (Christmas present from Naomi because I had mentioned that I had never seen it!) and had a nice relaxing evening.

Thursday had Iowa's trail ride and that is always such a difficult cabin to get out the door.  They are unfocused, slow, and it's like herding cats to get them to do anything.  We get out the door about 20 minutes late but the ride went without a hitch.  I rode CJ who was a champ for his first time leading out a ride.  When I got back and picked up the rest of the cabins, Steve was already here to do a few trims.  I then had to load up 3 horses that were going to Kathy Kelly's and by 11:30 I was back and done with all of that.  Storms looked to threaten the rest of the afternoon but, as usual, they were just faking us out.  I spent the afternoon with Reagan making friendship bracelets and watching Holes.  A quick dinner at camp and then off to listen to a speaker on hormones and health.  Yeah, sounds weird but a lot of good healthy material in all of that.  It'll be interesting to find out where that journey takes me.  Ever since my surgery, my eating habits have been horrible and no exercise.  I know that I'm sluggish and tired because of that and it's hard to change in the summer when you are just trying to make it day by day.  But in two weeks, camp will be over!  Days off will actually occur and I'll get to sleep!  Yeah!

Friday morning lessons went well for the most part.  Lizzie, a torchbearer who was dreading the last day, had been having a few issues with her horse so I said I'd go out to watch and help.  Made it through everything although I'd have to agree about her horse being a little stinky so I hopped on her when lessons were over to try to get her back in a thinking mind.  I spent lunch up at the EC because I had a project to start....washing arena walls.  I was pretty productive over 4.5 hours as I got 3/4 of the arena done.  My arms and shoulders were wasted but I was done.  Off to dinner and then horse parade with our jingly horses ridden by our barn assistants.  Amie and I rode in on candy canes to the tune of Sleigh Ride with Tiny Tim wearing a Santa hat and bells to give out awards.  We stayed to listen to "Tecumseh Counselor" with some awesome alumni and then, the peak of the evening, listening to Heidi play "Touch of the Master's Hand" with Vince.  Heidi is a special woman and it's a delight to have her back from China where she is a missionary.  Then it was time to head back and complete some work after getting the chance to watch campfire.  I complete most of the tests and then head off to bed.

Saturday morning held getting chores like sweeping, spraying helmets, and picking up and feeding all the critters.  I got a few more blankets done.  Steven's dad came to fix us all an awesome lunch that we shared with the EQ counselors.  They had a greased watermelon race and I watched Gavin and Reagan while Amie and Ben went to their softball tournament.  After falling asleep watching the Olympics, I took the kids into Monticello to eat at Monicals and watch Ice Age.  Now we are home, watching some more Olympics and getting ready for bed.  Sunday will be here and before we know it, we'll be in the staff meeting once more, ready to begin week 8.  It's madness.  Complete madness.  But we're pretty awesome at managing madness.

2 more weeks....bring it!

It's Shark Week at the Barn!

Week 6 week 6....where did you come from?!  We are almost 2/3 of the way through the summer and here we sit, on the edge of week 6.  Week 6 got off to a fairly smooth start.  I had two classes to teach every morning that week so chores were out of the question.  Monday afternoon's goal was to get the round bale feeders filled during clinic time.  After I got the kids out the door and extra horses in the barn to eat, I got to work.  I thought this task might go easier this time with the horses being out of the paddock and at first that was true.  Then I got a radio call saying that Amie needed me to call her on Karissa's cell phone.  I went to grab my phone only to find that I got no reception.  No surprise so I headed in the house to see if the microcell tower might pick up the reception (like it's supposed to).  Nothing.  Walked all around the barn, driveway, and backyard.....nothing.  I grab Rachel's phone....nothing.  By now, at least 45 minutes have passed and so, lacking a vehicle, I run over to Scheumann to use the landline.  I can't get a hold of them.  Now I have counselors calling me to see if trail rides were still going out and I'm wondering where all the help has gone!  I run back over to the barn (still no reception for me but now Rae's phone has limited reception) and finish up the round bales and eventually I hear them back on the radio and my phone, after about 2 hours, picks reception back up and all the messages come through about them needing me to do the 4 pm trail ride demo....oops!  Wasn't through a lack of trying.  That evening, we go to the DeMoss' for some food and fellowship.  I come home to water the garden and dump pig buckets (and get the last one all over me and it was rank) and get a few things done for the morning (ice in the cooler, alphabetical list of campers for each cabin) and go on back to Amie's house.  Unfortunately, Gavin was getting sick that night and was a poor hot vomiting boy.  I stick around a bit because it's just Sara and the kids and she's a sympathy vomiter so I didn't want to chance anything.  ;-)  A little bit after they get home and a bit of chatting and it's off to bed.

Wrangler Class

Group 2 Riding Class

Tuesday morning trail ride went smoothly and my two lessons went okay. I have a group of very experienced kids and I was challenged to write up awesome lessons plans that would entertain them and still get them learning.  Very challenging and after the emotional toll last week took on me and my head being all sorts of messed up, I wouldn't say that they were my most stellar classes but I still did a good job.  Plus my first class wasn't entirely interested in learning but rather sitting on their horses talking.  I finally had to get somewhat stern and tell them that while I had a bunch of fun things to teach them, I wasn't going to waste my time if they weren't willing to listen.  My second class which were about 1 1/2 levels behind the first one, was actually a very fun class.  The girls did a great job listening and applying and improved so much in their position in the transitions.  I was so excited when they really started riding their horses with correct form and influencing their horse for the better.  Such fun times.  Afternoon was spent doing our second day of clinics-driving, bathing, bareback, and mounted trail obstacles.  We had some light rain and lightning try to disrupt us a few times but we managed to get all the clinics in.  Second clinic was shortened a bit but we got them all in otherwise.

Rain Dance!

By now, all the kids are sick and while Amie went to be on duty, I stayed at the house with them and also ran the sprinkler in the indoor arena.  I got all the rest of my postcards written then snuggled with Reagan while we watched Narnia.

Wednesday morning ride was Iowa and after a breakfast of sausage and gravy, I wasn't feeling too hot.  I made it through the lessons and went to the house afterwards to lay down in the A/C.  It was a pretty hot day and I hadn't planned on doing too much but a communication issue meant that I was going to a Nancy lesson with Sara who was going to ride twice.  A rushed load of some horses and gear and we were off.  I wasn't too pleased because all I wanted to do was sleep in the A/C.  It was so hot in the suburban with no A/C and we were dripping sweat before we even got on our horses.  Had a hard ride with learning to really open up my hips and sit the trot.  Ouch.  That hurt and took all my core.  And it took all my sweat too!  It looked like it was going to storm while we were there but, as usual, all thunder and lightning and no rain.  :-(  We got home and chatted with Amie around the table and then off to bed I went.  I was praying for rain so that I didn't have to go on the early morning trail ride......

Crazy Sharkbait

Steven all "cool"

.....And at 5:30 am I got my wish.  Thunder and lightning and pouring down rain.  When I got back up around 6 am, I had to look at the radar and make the call as to whether or not the ride was going out.  One radar said one thing and the other said another but I went with my gut and it was the right call.  The skies opened up around 7:45, right around the time we would have been heading out.  I get to sleep in a bit and then breakfast at Amie's followed by lessons in the indoor.  After the morning lessons, we head to Rossville and the new trails at Wildcat Creek.  We played some "hot horse" Chinese fire drill style and had a good time riding other's horses (I took Latigo).  We eat out at Pizza Hut and then Amie, Sara, Rae, and I head to Kathy's for another night of "relaxation."  I needed that because I've been unable to "unwind" at the end of the day lately and I've needed to just chill and forget about all the stuff that's been going on and the lack of money.






Friday morning make up ride with Crow went well and lessons went okay.  I had a girl fall off when her horse slipped slightly at the jump and as the horse and rider tried to correct themselves, she flew over the horse's neck.  Yeah, it happens but it still bothers me because I always think I could have prevented it.  She was a little banged up and shaken but okay.  The afternoon saw me doing a few chores and then Sara took Amie and I into town to  pick up my truck and then I went to the bank.  A not so stellar dinner later and trading post was here.  Margo Gray, a counselor from 2004, was here visiting and I only got a few minutes to catch up with her until I had to get going to the horse parade.  Unfortunately I didn't get to talk to her anymore and catch up but camp relationships are awesome because it's not always about quantity but quality.  After horse parade and EQ awards, it was back to the dining hall to grade tests.  I got about halfway done when I lost all focus and decided that the tests could wait so off to bed I went.  I had to work the weekend so sleep was priority.

Saturday morning was spent grading and returning tests, meeting with counselors on duty, and straightening up some rooms at the EC, finishing feeding and sweeping, and spraying helmets before it was off to begin weekend duty.  After lunch, Amie and I spent a few hours getting all the tripper material organized and finalized (KOA reservations, destinations inbetween-Horse Cave and Churchill Downs, and maps printed).  We gave the trip leaders a few hours off (they'd just come back from a 2 week Florida trip) and let the kids go to the pool.  After the pool, it was off to dinner with the stayovers and I did their pool laundry so it'd be dry to pack the next day (and Ben's 2 weeks of laundry too!).  We went over the trip itinerary while the kids watched "How to train your dragon" and after some last minute details and late night chats with the trippers, it was off to bed!

Trail Riding at Wildcat Creek on Thursday

Justin and Keeghan in my Wrangler class

Sunday morning I saw them off around 9 am and then hung with stayovers.  This is the roughest part of the weekend as you never got to click "off" from the previous week and recharge for the 2 pm check in but rather you roll right into the next week without a break.  I decided to let Rachel run my staff meeting so that I didn't have to run around and worry about getting there on time.  After check in and swim checks, I got to working on schedules.  Just when I thought I'd be going home early, Amie had me address a ton of envelopes sending horsemanship certificates out.  We got a lot of stuff done and were done about midnight and off to bed at 1 am.  Hello week 7!

Week 5 Survived! Barely.

After the heat wave of week 4, week 5 was supposed to be a walk in the park.  First off, after surviving the heat wave, everyone shut down a bit.  Tired, sick, and just plain wiped out.  You push so hard to make it through the hot times that when there is a small respite, your body shuts down.  The theme for the week was safari week and the counselors really got into it.  It makes things a little more fun and spices up the same old routine.  This was the first week for equestrian day camp (11 campers), a full horsemanship of 62 campers, and I had 36 campers at EQ camp.  A very full camp.  I had a class of 5 campers continuing my trend of teaching a class a week.  Thankfully, Monday was the first day I wore my contacts and I was so happy about that.  It's going to be a good week, right.....?

I had a camper who proved to probably be my toughest student...ever.  I know she knew how to ride.  But when she got on our horses, it all seemed to go out the window and she was nervous, tight, unable to relax her seat and thighs, and leaned forward badly (her instructor at home told her she leaned too far forward....haha).  At first she rode Keeghan and the first lesson went badly.  I thought maybe if she had a chance to get a day under her belt she might relax and just go with the flow so I didn't change her off Keeghan (who hates it when people are tight on him) and I didn't have a bunch of wiggle room with horses either.  For Tuesday's lesson, I brought in an assistant to help me with her so that I could keep the other 4 campers going forward in their lessons.  We were going to play a game called "Pac-man" that I had just made up and was the inagural playing of it.  This camper came around the corner and Keeghan started cantering (leaning forward and being tight on him makes him want to canter) and she fell forward onto his neck and that only spurred him on to go faster.  At this point, there really isn't much I can do because I know when he stops, she's gone.  He ran quite quickly from one end of the arena to the other and, much to my prediction, when he slammed on the brakes, she flew off the side. Thankfully she picked herself up off the ground before I even got to her.  I had her sit with Erin while we continued the lesson and I decided that the schedule must be rearranged for her to get another, more flexible horse that she could figure out her body position without him getting fussy.  All throughout the rest of the week, she rode Cramer, a normally western horse but pretty easy going.  Interestingly enough, she seemed to take on the trait of whatever horse she rode.  On Keeghan, she was tight.  On Cramer, she was wiggly.  But with the help of Erin and lots of coaching and "re-dos", we got her more comfortable and I think she started to understand how much her seat and body position were telling the horse and how much they like the relaxed seat and thighs.  The others in my class were a hoot.  Izzy on Luke (she's very talented but still young....lots of potential), Ellie on Blue (he made her work SO hard riding every stride of every day, no break but she never gave up), Elena on Pholly (quiet and strong), and hilarious Victoria on Junior (she always made me laugh) were a bright spot in an otherwise dark week (more on that later).  We played Ultimate Trail Ride with both a creek (overturned cavaletti) and a river (upright cavaletti) and they loved the course, Angry Birds with breeds, Cowboys vs Indians, and, of course, a little jumping in the cross country field and their week had been made.  The other campers were fun but a little challenging.  Hard to motivate to clean the barn and to get their horses tacked up.  I had one young man, Brenton, who had fallen off last year on a trail ride with horsemanship and came up to us in equestrian camp to give it another shot.  I put him on a steady reliable horse (Dude) and even got him to come on our trail ride.  Turns out that Brenton would receive our Character Counts award.  Mostly for his good work ethic around the barn and positive attitude, but also, in my mind, for courage and perseverance.  Good good kid!















Events outside the barn tried to overshadow the things happening inside the barn.  Monday afternoon clinics went well with  me able to get some chores done during them like scrubbing grooming tools, water troughs, and getting the feeders ready for round bales.  Monday evening was spent helping drive Haddie in a different cart (didn't fit), giving Reagan "riding lessons" on Flicka, and putting out round bales.  That evening we listened to Sara's speech on bull riding and then we were off to bed.  Trail rides this week were a little late getting out the door, mostly due to the campers lack of motivation.  Tuesday afternoon were clinics again and I helped with driving since we had three teams of ponies (no Haddie).  That evening, after dinner, Sara and I went to Walmart to buy lots of yummy presents for our counselors and staff to give them a reminder of how much we appreciate them.  I spent way too much money there.  I stayed up until 2 am putting together their care packages and instantly regretted the decision once 6 am rolled around.  Up and at 'em for the trail ride and we get back to the barn safe and sound.  For reasons that I cannot ever discuss, that's a day I won't ever forget.  I received some news that morning that broke my heart into tiny little pieces.  No, no one was sick or dying but still very serious just the same.  I received this news and heard the accusations just after getting back from the trail ride and I tried my very best to hold it all together at least until lunch.  I comforted my friends as best I could and was still numb from the shock of it all.  I was distracted, horribly distracted and unfocused but I kept it together for my class and numbly did the chores.  I was in shock, not even showing emotion yet, but just a state of shock.  Thankfully, after lunch, I got to go with Sara and go to the chiropractor.  She knew what had happened so we could talk about it.  After that, it was a long evening of helping out, being a friend, and loving on my family as much as possible.  Thursday's ride went as usual and while I was still in another world, one that didn't involve camp per say, I was still able to give my campers the best I could.  I spent the afternoon continuing projects from the night before and that night, we got the chance to go to Kathy's for a night of relaxation away from camp.  A little bit of alcohol ;-) and some venting and lots of tears later, it was almost midnight.  In the two days prior, I had had 4 hours of sleep one night then 4 1/2 hours of sleep the next.  Even though I went to bed at 1 am on Friday, I still got almost that amount of sleep in that one night (7 hours).

How I'm feeling?  Hurt, betrayed, confused, and suspicious.  A broken heart takes time to heal and although trust is much harder to restore, time will help.  I was struck and brought to tears (again....happening a lot these days) by the song "Forgiveness" by Matthew West.  Forgiveness  It's not something I can give away at this point but in time, God will help me to do so.  It feels impossible right now but as the song says "Show me how..." and He will.  To become bitter is to take the poison yourself that you intend the other person to take.  The sting of the pain so real and vivid must subside a bit before it can happen.  I am a friend, a loyal friend, and I will stick by through thick and thin....no matter what.  What happened hurt all of us but it will not destroy anything.  Thankful for family and true friends.    Week 5 was merely survived and thankful for a new week with new kids and a new start.  Time will only tell about the repercussions of the events of the week but the truth will shine through and God will make all right.

Heat Wave Continues!

What a week 4.  It's been a very interesting week of campers and situations....and of course it's been HOT!  Not just almost 100 degree days but intense humidity with no breeze at the EC for relief.  Sunday was an odd day for check-in as an intense downpour (finally!) hit us as the campers were going to check-in.  We stayed inside and decided to interview campers at the pool instead.  As we got over to the pool and a few cabins were getting their swim check, distant thunder forced everyone back inside.  I got my 3 cabins interviewed then walked the circle to help Amie with her cabins.  It was a relatively early night as I was done and home by 11 pm.  Yeah, that's early for us.  Monday was NUTS!  First off, tons of radio calls concerning calf bottles, missing horsemanship campers, and a camper with breathing issues kept taking my concentration away from the tasks at hand.  We have a very young and inexperienced (and unfocused) group of campers who know nothing about how to tack up and have to be monitored and helped at all times.  After the craziness of Monday morning, I decided that I needed to grab Amie and head to Monticello to eat some Taco Bell and run a few errands.  We decided to move our clinics to Monday/Tuesday this week and I am glad we did as it was nice to do it in the low 90's rather than the high 90's. :-)  You know, there is a difference....haha.  Monday was vaulting, clipping and braiding, medieval games, race relay, and equitation.  I helped with vaulting and there was no air flow in the barn so even though I was just lunging a horse, I was dripping with sweat.  We had fun trying different ways to vault onto our pommel horse.  Monday evening was finishing chores, having at least one person cry on my shoulder, and patch up one horse's eye.  I had noticed that my eye was burning a bit that day and was hoping that eye drops would cure the burning (but that would not be the case).  Another growing problem was the irritation from always being in sweaty clothes but thankfully, dry clothes and a little bit of Gold Bond were going to do the trick.

Tuesday morning brought the usual trail ride, lessons with my 3 girls (one of whom is quite ADHD and is absolutely hilarious to have in class), and clinics of driving, MTO, bathing, and bareback.  Definitely glad by this point that we were going to have clinics over by the time the dangerous heat indexes arrived because it was already feeling miserable.  A strange occurrance was that our haflinger pony, while pulling the cart for the driving clinic, bucked and cantered while in the cart and broke the shaft.  Odd behavior definitely and that cast a mood over the clinic but the kids still got a kick out of driving the other two carts (one with a team of minis driving it).  We finish up the clinic and head to dinner,  My eye was tearing up a lot more and red and discharging by dinner and thankfully my dad, after hearing that the nurse thought it was pink eye, wrote me a script to get drops.  After dinner and trading post, we head back up top to see if we can fix the cart at all and to wait for the tons of grain that were about to be delivered.  We fussed with the cart to see if there was anything we could do to make is usable again but a new shaft will have to be made.  I headed to Delphi really quick to see if I could pick up my prescription and pick up some milk.  I get to the pharmacy to find out that while they've had the prescription for over an hour, they haven't gotten it done yet so I could come back tomorrow or closer to closing time.  Frustrated that I'll have to drive back in in an hour, I drive on back home to help unload 3 ton of grain in 50 pound bags into the observation room and I drive back into town to pick up the eye drops.  I come back to help finish unloading the grain into the hopper and trash cans at Main stables.  After finishing up a few loose ends, I watch Amie's kids while she drives the cart around camp and then help hose off the ponies and head to bed!

Wednesday morning I awoke with a goopy eye and head off to my trail ride with Crow.  It went okay except for being very late in getting out the door.  Kids this week were just not as experienced as other weeks, or rather there were fewer experienced kids so it takes them twice as long to do everything.  Classes with my hyper active children went well...they were hot but they went well.  It was also the 4th of July but there's no days off in the summer, even holidays.  After lunch, we decided that we should get our chores done as quickly as possible and then take advantage of the pool.  Our barn staff and us (plus Ben and the kids) were able to hit the pool and relax and feel cool for about an hour then headed up to the house for root beer floats.  After dinner, Forrest, Mark, Steven and I rounded up some counselors and we had a movie night with Up and Talledega Nights.  Just nice to do nothing for the evening and sit in air conditioning!  And I love giving my counselors a place to go to be away from the kids.

Thursday morning trail ride was....hot......and late.  When you get back from your trail ride in the morning and find yourself sweating up a storm, it just isn't right!  I was frustrated with the time it took us to do everything and I was frustrated with drama that was occurring within our staff.  Classes went well again and by this time we were very very glad that we had changed clinic times.  Amie went to go pick up grain in Francesville so I picked up her kids from day camp and we hung out at the house.  They watched a movie and I finished up a couple of chores then headed inside to work.  We head to the pool (again!  two days in a row!) right before dinner then off to the cookout we go.  After helping Amie out with a few chores after dinner (a few more chores than expected), I head back up to watch a movie with Mark.  We'd spent all week looking for the Muppets movie but couldn't find it anywhere till I had an epiphany and we found it in the back room.  One Muppets movie later and we are off to bed!  Week 4 is almost over!  Heat wave not quite over.

Friday classes went well with my girls getting to experience some jumping.  That always makes them ecstatic.  The amount of sweat I poured out that day was ridiculous.  The temperature is over a hundred, the heat index is well over a hundred, and the arenas were like saunas.  Hot stagnant air.  I finish up chores after lunch then  pick up the kids while she goes and gets horses from one of our barn staff's place.  While I work on tests at the house, I hear some chatter on the radio about sprinklers, alarms, and sirens going off and after a little bit more chatter, I figure out that Scheumann had a pipe burst in the ceiling and there was water everywhere!  Dave called me to bring the scoop shovels so that they could work on getting the water off the carpet but someone found a carpet machine to pull up water but all the taxidermy, furniture, and electronics got soaked when it burst.  I had NO appetite for dinner after the week of heat and it's almost time for the parade where I will carry my grandpa's flag.  Even the horses were rebelling with my standard mount for the flag is trying her best to overheat.  We cool her down a bit and  after we dressed her in polos and me in a vest, shirt, jeans, and chaps, off we go.  It was so hot wearing the whole getup.  I carry it to campfire then take the flag on stage during the anthem.  Duchess was pretty good about it and she stood mostly still on the stage.  After working on a majority of the tests, I decide that some could wait till the morning because Steve was coming at 7:30 to work on front shoes and I needed to be somewhat coherent for him.  So off to bed I went.

Saturday I was up early with Steve our farrier and even got a few chores done before anyone else arrived.  Also, a gentleman was here to unload our manure pit so the barn was a happening place. Fed horses, swept, did odd and ends chores, and took some pictures with the campers.  Definitely a hot day!  I got done at 12:30 and was going to watch the kids for the afternoon while Amie worked and Ben had a softball game.  Fell asleep watching Rookie then we headed to the pool which felt like hot bath water instead of refreshing cool water.  Back to Scheumann for dinner and Amie, Sara, and I spent some time just chatting about the previous weeks in Kampen.  We fed the rest of the horses and mini-farm about 11:30 pm and then it was off to bed.  Sunday morning I woke up a bit earlier than I wanted (unfortunately with a headache) and did the mountain of dishes that had been accumulating.  Made Sara and myself breakfast and soon it was time to head off to the meeting.  Week 4 in the bag.  It was a hot one but a successful one.

Heatin' it up week 3

Tuesday morning trail ride

Obviously, the story of the end of week 3 was the heat but that's not how it started out.  Sunday was a mostly normal check-in day.  Monday and Tuesday were fantastic weather.  Medieval games on Monday were led by Steven and Celyn with a record 9 kids in almost every clinic.  Tuesday morning was cool, almost cold, on our early morning trail ride.  I woke up a little bit later than I should have and of course, they arrived a bit earlier than normal.  But we still got out the door on time.  Tuesday afternoon I grabbed Gavin and he and I headed down to Indianapolis to grab a new phone.  I'm glad he went with me as I was so tired driving down that his constant chattering kept me going.  The Apple store is an interesting experience.  Hardly anyone else in the mall but this store was a buzz of activity.  We come on home and after a few chores head home at 9 pm.

Starfishing Tuesday night

Wednesday morning was a wee bit warmer than Tuesday.  Trail ride was successful and morning lessons go well.  We are starting to have a few campers come down with the stomach bug that'd been going around.  Wednesday afternoon had been changed to be barn activities since Thursday was going to be super hot and we'd rather they go to the pool instead.  Mounted trail obstacles were Harry Potter style this week and driving the team of ponies was fun as usual.  So glad to see the counselors coming up with new ideas that all their own.  It was definitely starting to get hot Wednesday as Rebecca found out after wearing a heavy rain coat all afternoon playing in the Harry Potter trail obstacle scenario.

Is the heat starting to get to us?

Thursday morning's ride went well, surprisingly well despite it being the youngest cabin to take out and we took out extra boys.  It's usually hard to get Iowa out the door but we did well.  It was hot up at the EC but there was a breeze and there was no humidity which makes it that much better.  Amie and I worked on chores here and there until about 3:30 ish and she went to go get the kids and I grabbed stuff for the pool and met them down there.  A nice dip in the pool and we went to Scheumann for dinner then went home to work on postcards.  Home and to bed.

 Kids in my class this week jumping the course.

Epic poses for epic classes!

Friday Friday Friday!  Friday was humid.  No doubt about it.  Lessons went well.  My class of 7 english bronco/junior wranglers had fun jumping on the cross country course.  Horses were soaked and so were we by the end.  It was a good class.  It might have been a large varied class but it was fun.  We played ultimate trail ride, pirates and ninjas, and did some obstacle courses.  The girls were awesome and soaked up all that I had to offer.  Lauren, our eventual Character Counts winner, was so sweet and cheery all week long.  This picture pretty much sums her up.

We quickly finished chores on Friday and Amie and I headed to her house to escape the heat and eventual "storm" (barely any rain in it).  After working on some tests and blurbs, it was time for the theme dinner (Superheros) and then closing campfire with Jordan, Adam, John, and Forrest riding.  Another presentation of EQ awards (Sage got 7 years!) and grading some more tests and I was in bed by midnight.  Saturday brought chores, parents to the barn, and I did a quick mow of the cross country course.  Mark and I hung out in the afternoon watching The Muppet Show then went to Amie's for dinner (venison and corn).  Home again and I was looking forward to sleeping in.  Unfortunately, that got ruined by an 8 am phone call telling me that a horse was loose on Springboro.  I checked for almost an hour but after checking all our pastures, I concluded that it wasn't ours (plus why would just one of ours get out??), I went home but there was no sleeping.  :-(  Hoping to catch up a little bit more tonight but that's highly unlikely.  :-/  Week 4 is here.  Independence week.

Happy 4th of July everyone.  The highlight will definitely be carrying the flag at campfire.  No fireworks here.  There's a fire ban.  We'll think of something else awesome to do though.  Until then....have a great day!