Monday, April 07, 2008

Trip to the ranch!

The next morning after bowling we took a field trip to a ranch where the kids learned a bit about ranch animals and also got to ride on horses. In her continuing spirit of trying new things, Elizabeth climbed right up on that horse. At first, they even let her walk the horse on her own, as you see above, which made me nervous because she's never been on a horse before. Eventually someone came and led the horse. Caleb also got to have a ride although he was led the entire time. They loved the animals and whole ranch scene, so I'm considering enrolling Elizabeth in a little day camp there this summer. They do have a homeschool class there on Thursdays, with more ranch learning and horsemanship. But right now we're committed to ballet, AWANA, T-ball. I think that's enough, but am willing to consider it for next year.



Emma loves birds. She followed the "quack quack"s (ducks) all around and then she saw these geese headed down the road and became extremely excited. She called them "quack quacks" too, and chased them until they ran into a horse corral. she was even flapping her arms. I think that in this picture she looks like she's one of their little gaggle waddling along. Very fun.

"Fun" activity...

Ian, Caleb, Elizabeth and Abby (Above)


A couple weeks ago our staff went bowling. We're trying this quarterly fun activity thing, so this was our first one. It was pretty fun, it was the first time our kids had been bowling, which means that I have not been bowling in over 7 years! So we went to the lanes at the student union at Fresno State, which are a good family place to go. At first Elizabeth said she did not want to do it, but since everyone there is like extended family, I said she had to She did, and she did so amazingly great! She beat everyone on her lane, including the grown-ups. Yes, the bumpers were up, but she still beat the grown-ups on her lane! And actually, she beat everyone on the staff except for Luke. Little miss competitor keeps saying that, sounding disappointed that she didn't beat Daddy too. I know as a child - and sometimes even now - I have a hard time trying new things, and I do not want her to have that same hang-up. So I am thankful that she was somewhat successful and also that she enjoyed it.


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