Tag Archives: Amanda

kids

8th Grade Awards

May 29, 2024 Rob 3 Comments

The school year is coming to an end and with the transition to high school looming, 8th graders have a stacked schedule. We have already been to the last middle school band concert and field trips abound. Tonight was 8th Grade Awards night at Griswold Middle School and Amanda cleaned up. We didn’t keep exact count of everyone, but we are pretty sure that her 8 awards was the highest for an individual. She received:

Griswold Players Art Award for outstanding achievement in the arts

Sharon Kivlin Memorial Award for demonstrating a strong interest and achievement in Science while exhibiting positive attitude and work ethic

CT Association of Schools Scholar Leader (see Celebrating Amanda) for outstanding scholarship and leadership

Griswold Administration Association Award for highest grade point average in 4 subjects: Geometry (taken at the high school), Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science

Griswold Administration Association & Faculty Book Award for the two students with the highest overall grade point average

When she opened all the envelops, she found 6 books (only 1 she had already read) and checks totaling $115! I think she was happier about the books but plans to spend the money on more books.

kids

Celebrating Amanda!

May 22, 2024 Rob 2 Comments

Our baby turned 14 on Saturday! Quinn took Amanda and two friends to the Providence Mall to go shopping, eat food, and play at Dave and Buster’s. We weren’t invited. In addition to a bunch of clothes, Amanda wanted a new tack set for JJ in her pink and purple colors.

On Monday evening, we attended the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) Scholar Leader Banquet. Amanda was one of two students from Griswold Middle School chosen for this award. The GMS Principal explained he allows the teachers to make the selection of awardees each year. The award is bestowed based on scholarship, leadership, and community involvement. The event was held at the Aqua Turf Club and included a formal dinner. Each student got to choose a teacher to attend with them and Amanda chose her 7th grade Language Arts teacher.

Amanda will be attending the Marine Science Magnet High School in the Fall.

horse, kids

Spring break is for riding

April 18, 2022 Anna 2 Comments

Amanda and Quinn have spring break this week. What else would you do but ride the horses? Quinn had driving lessons (in a car) this afternoon, so Amanda and I (Anna) headed out on a trail ride. Huey got some severe rubs from his new Scoots Boots on Saturday, so Amanda rode Missy for the first time. Huey gets a pass until Rob has the time to put shoes on him. We did almost 11 miles in a little over two hours. Amanda and Missy did fine together, walk, trot, and canter. Amira and Missy pace well together, and get along, with only the occasional mare face at each other. Of course, Rusty was happy to join us and should sleep well tonight.

endurance, horse, kids

They Grow Up So Fast

June 4, 2020 Rob Leave a comment

I’ve been at endurance rides where I see parents putting their young kids on these full size horses and hitting the trail. We have always stepped the kids up through various size ponies until they graduated to full horses as teenagers. Until Amanda. She is the 3rd child, so rules tend to go out the window.
Amanda has been spending time riding Mojo on short 2-3 mile trail rides with Anna. She rides Mojo in the arena at the walk, trot, and canter. But she wanted to give Teddy a try. So, this evening, I was planning to go out for a training ride with Mojo and I decided to let Amanda join me on Teddy. Of course, Rusty went too. It was her first time riding Teddy on the trails and she loved it. Teddy was a rock star.

We did 11 miles with lots of trotting. Of course, when we hit the nice open flat road, Amanda was begging to let them run, so we did. At one point, I looked down at my Garmin to see Mojo and I were moving 17.8 mph and Amanda and Teddy were passing me. Post workout analysis reveals we exceeded 24 mph this afternoon. Not bad for a 10 year old girl on an Arab.

As we rode, I kept thinking “So this is what it’s like to trust a horse.” Teddy isn’t perfect, but he takes care of Alex and now it seems he takes care of Amanda. Maybe Teddy will be Amanda’s next endurance mount (Huey isn’t done yet). They grow up so fast; the kids do too.

horse, kids, Uncategorized

Horse updates

April 30, 2016 Rob Leave a comment

Last weekend was family trail riding. Amanda rode Huey for 6 miles, including about 3 miles of it by herself, off the lead line.

This morning, Alex and Vicki had a jumping lesson with Pony Club. It was a nice cool morning and they both did great. Both pairs, Alex/Nike and Vicki/Devil are very well matched and we hope they will have a lot of fun together this summer.

There are no photos, but King went back into work this week. He has recovered better than we expected from his EPM. He has definitely lost a lot of fitness over the winter, so it will be a long, slow conditioning program. We are cautiously optimistic that he will be in the 60-70% that are able to make a complete recovery from EPM and resume full activity.

Today we said farewell to Echo. While we loved his personality and got along great with him, he just wasn’t quite the right match for what we are looking for. So, our search for the next horse resumes.

horse, kids

Riding in the snow

December 15, 2013 Rob 1 Comment

As is the tradition, the girls had to do some bareback riding in the snow. Vicki loves to ride bareback in the winter because it keeps her warmer. Vicki decided to try out Dakota, Alex’s new pony, while Amanda rode Huey. This was Vicki’s first bareback ride on Dakota and it went well. Both girls had a good time and no one fell off.

Alex and I will be doing a trail ride in the snow after lunch.