We've reached the end of July already? It's scary how fast the summer months go, isn't it?
I think it's partly that vacations make time go faster, because while Mom and fam took theirs, my sisters and I took a vacation of our own: an extended campout in the backyard.
We had a great time riding, working on jigsaw puzzles on a big chunk of cardboard, playing cards, catching fireflies, telling stories around the campfire, and playing out elaborate stories in the lawn with our toy horses and dogs. We also had time to pursue our respective less overlapping interests, such as working to train Silver (my dog) to pull a little cart (me), reading a thick book that I never would've chosen from the cover (Bethany), working on a story (Julie), and filling up a whole sketchbook with animal drawings (Lily).
Mom had a pretty great time on her family's vacation too. They stayed at the same place in the country they've been to many summers before.
the view out the front
the little bedroom Mom shared with Grandma
the bathroom downstairs still has a cute duck border =)
They completed many jigsaw puzzles too.
the owl puzzle from last summer finally got finished!
they sorted the pieces by color on this one to make it easier
Mom brought this one =)
this one was too big to fit on the card table, so they had to get creative
why aren't fancy cookie tins a thing anymore?
Disappointingly, the pool was non-operational this year. Since it was smoking hot weather-wise much of the time, this prompted Mom and assorted family members to visit Lake Michigan much more often than in previous years. Fortunately, swimming conditions were good most of the week: green or yellow flags flying and water warm enough to linger in.
On the evenings it wasn't raining, they headed back out to the lakeshore to watch the sunsets, and they did not disappoint.
Somebody had connections to get them access to this gorgeous pool for several hours on one afternoon too. Iridescent tiles, no-slip tile work around it, infinity edge, lake view, fancily landscaped waterslide... Wow!
It was rough to return to regular life this past week, especially for Mom, as crazy hard as she had to work to get caught up at work. Still, there's nothing quite like one's own bed, complete with a whole bunch of stuffed animals waiting for you. =)
We were happy to get back to HI3 after two weekends in a row away. Probably because of those two weekends off, we're not going to be adding any new equines to the herd in the calendar month for once. There are two honorable mentions, though.
First up: this wide-barreled dunalino stallion.
He has a great genetic stat total for a wild, and he was surprisingly speedy for his build.
Even though he accelerated and turned like a bus, we probably would've kept him had it not been for his orneriness. :(
Of course, he didn't buck Pepsi off at all the two times she tried him out. He was annoyingly prone to frequent rearing up when placed, though, in addition to the ear-pinning and kicking, so no stocky dunalino for us.
The second honorable mention: a champagne mare who takes the term "spindly-legged" to a whole new level.
If you can tear your eyes off that, she's quite nice. Beautiful coloring, full mane and tail, ice blue eyes...
...and no huge strikes against her metrics or personality-wise.
Unfortunately, we couldn't get past the micro-mini hooves.
Those were the only two standouts stat-wise this month, but I will leave you with a few others that made me smile.
