While the Summer Daze activities were occupying so much of our Star Stable time, we didn't linger in our stable. Now that things have calmed down a bit, we've been spending more time there: taking care of the equines ourselves rather than using stable care, doing stable chores, cleaning up our closet, etc. We didn't make a big deal of it at the time, but when we took home Vanilla the Gotland Pony, we filled the last stall in our stable!
This definitely warranted a celebratory group photo. We weren't sure we were going to be able to fit everybody into the frame, but we went for it anyway...
Just made it! It's not perfect, but we're pretty happy we managed to snap one where everybody's head is up and facing forward. This is not easy with 18 fidgeting equines, believe us! For the record, from left to right, they are: Frostflight, Tigertin, Desertdash, Magicmirror, Brightbeam, Riverrock, Arcticair, Snowsecret, Pandapie, Willowwind, Eveningecho, Carrotcake, Garnetgazer, Opalowl, Jollyjoust, Ladyluck, Nightnimbus, and Vanillavalley.
Also for the record, here is the stall arrangement:
last Rainbow Race
last butterfly catching
until next year, Ben and Bruce!
Immediately after Summer Daze, Star Stable gave us another Trailblazer Track. This particular one is called "Trail of Wilderness," and never fear, they made sure to note that the saddle pad is faux cow hide.
We will happily earn the free items (our favorites are the stable care tickets and top-notch horseshoes), and here's hoping we won't have trouble finishing it even though we will be on vacation for one of its weeks. Sounds like we're not going to miss out on any of Camp Western, at least.
Moving on, if you read Julie's last post, you're probably wondering what happened with the bazaar. Did we take home an AQH?
We did see a few of them around, chilling...
....until it's time to zoom!
We came close. On the final day of the bazaar, we got this far - even had a name ready.
We didn't, though. But before you go getting blown away by our self-control, it's not because we've decided against an AQH altogether. We just decided to wait for October, when (hopefully) this horse will be available again.
Meet Tombhoof, the magical skeleton horse on an AQH base. It at least makes sense for this one to look sad and/or tired most of the time. This will give us some more time to enjoy our full stable as it is, before anybody has to be relegated to the pasture. This also means we're going to blow some major star coins this spooky season, assuming we can take home both Tombhoof and Duskgrim from Galloper's Keep.
Speaking of spooky, some dark, glowing rocks appeared by Jasper's farm a while ago. We first noticed them when en route to the Goldenhills Championship. With a little more time on our hands, we finally decided to find out what they were all about. We eventually met the witch Pi up the mountain.
These make me think of pop rocks for some reason.
They danced! Even Jollyjoust got in on it, and down came the rain.
This left the pass clear (and very pink), but there's something dark and ominous out there...
Great, just great. Shadow monsters from another dimension (or whatever Pandoria is), and as usual, Clara has to face them solo.
Yeah, that's what we figured, Jolly. Off walked Clara alone.
Hiding from the shadow seekers wasn't so bad, thanks to the conveniently-spaced thickets. At least no crouching was involved!
Yep, found the portal, alright!
That turned out to be the "easy" or at least, "easier" part. There was a helpful-looking sign that said "Shortcut." We assumed it was a shortcut back to Pi and Jolly, but instead it just led to a cliff with no discernible way down. We tried easing Clara down said cliff in various directions, but only ended up getting stuck on a ledge. This meant having to log out, relog, and start totally over. Then on our second attempt, we forgot to click on Pi first and made our steathly way back to the portal... only to have nothing to show for our efforts at the end. Once we finally made it to the portal the third time, we had a hard time retracing our steps and got caught by shadow seekers multiple times. In the end, we made it out... only to receive a "come back later to continue this quest" message from Pi. Fun times.
I will leave you with something else that was frustrating (this time for Mom) but well worth the effort. Mom got this "sew your own sloth" kit for her birthday this year. The box indicated it was for ages 8 and up, but there's no way Mom could ever have done this as an 8-year-old! It was missing some of the thread it was supposed to come with, with one color missing entirely. Multiple areas of the felt pieces were not pre-punched properly, rendering the plastic round-tipped needle it came with useless. The instructions also left much to be desired. Fortunately, she had extra thread and needles on hand and lots of patience.
We think he turned out really cute! <3 Despite the struggles, it must've been a positive experience overall, because we see she another similar kit on her wish list now. =)
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