Amanda planted sunflowers by the house this year. The tallest one is three times her height!!!

Last fall Vicki met Alexis on her school bus. It was kind of an accident as Vicki had been left off the schedule for some reason and ended up riding the #10 Jewett City bus. Alexis was a fourth grader and Vicki was sitting in the back of the bus with all the older kids…As always Vicki makes friends easily and about a month later she was invited to go to six flags with Alexis’ family. At six flags Vicki had some spending money and bought a beanie baby shire horse or maybe a clydesdale. Alexis did too. They called them Hershey and Kisses. Since then whenever they play together the ponies come with them. They are pretty worn at this point both feature stitches and have been debeaned and washed multiple times. Today the ponies went swimming at Hopeville Pond.

This morning Vicki and I headed out on a trail ride.  Vicki was excited because Alex had given her permission to ride Dakota. I could tell she was a little apprehensive when she was grooming Dakota and said: “Mom, he’s big”. I rode King. He was as always great. We trotted and cantered down the roads of Pachaug and Vicki said she loved the pony. On the way home Dakota suddenly started head tossing and acting like he was going to run off with Vicki. She was freaking out. Dakota was upset by her freaking out and the bugs that were attacking his sweaty body. We stopped and calmed down and while Vicki was still a bit worried coming home, all went well. Note to self, Vicki does best trail riding for about an hour, then she is toast. Maybe hunter paces will have to wait a year or two for her.
But, we had a good time and covered 6-7 miles in an hour and a half. Pretty good work out. Now I just need me some bug shields.

As a child I loved to read. I would go to the library and come home with lots of books on the newest topic of interest, or some novels to read. I spent many nights up late reading. Then I would sleep late. I am still a night owl and I am trying to get back into pleasure reading but I am so darn tired I always fall asleep when trying to read at night.
Today I took my kids down to the library. They love to go and immediately disappear in search of their next read. Alex goes upstairs to the young adult section because he’s read most of what interests him downstairs in the juvenile section. Vicki goes off in search of her next horse book or Nancy Drew. Amanda picks out two books quickly and then plays quietly. The library volunteers and the youth librarian recognizes us. In a town with a school the size of Griswold’s this is pretty sad. We go once a week on average, because my kids read a lot. Alex devours books. Vicki will not go to bed most nights without finishing the book she is reading. Amanda insists on two stories before bed. I strongly believe that video games and TV are rotting our children’s brains. Alex reports that is all the boys in his class talk about.
So why do you wonder do I not buy a kindle or nook instead of constantly going to the library? Well we had a tablet with a Kindle reader on it and Alex was a fan, but the kids broke the screen, and we refuse to replace it until they’ve earned the money back. I just don’t want their eyes staring at a screen for hours. The feel of a real book and the library experience is important. The unusual quiet that enters the house after a library trip is priceless.

Every family struggles with juggling all the kid activities, parent hobbies, jobs, volunteering, and so on.  Our family is no different.  It is easy to add on one more thing here, and there, after all, that activity is only 1 hour each week.  Some of the hardest decisions are the ones where you stop doing something and draw back.  We have been having a lot of discussions about this lately.  Obviously, we invest a lot of time and money into our agricultural activities, and in particular, with the horses.  However, as we have added one more thing here and there, we reduce our available time to ride the horses, keep them in shape, and help the kids improve in their riding.

Therefore, we made some tough decisions this week (the kids did get included in the choices).  Alex is stepping out of Boy Scouts.  That was a hard choice since I grew up in Boy Scouts, but I think this is the right choice for Alex and for the family.  Also, Vicki will be ending her participation in Girl Scouts.  I sold my wood working tools because I don’t have time to use them for big projects any more (it has been almost 4 years since I did a real project).

Instead, we are choosing to focus the family on our farm activities, the core of which, is horses.  Both Alex and Vicki will be attending 4-H camp this summer, and will be taking a goat with them for Goat Week.  They will also be riding in at least one Pony Club horse camp.

Sometimes, you have to just draw a line in the sand and re-focus things.  For us, horses are THE Main Thing, and we just have to make sure to keep that priority at the top.