One Last July challenge Layout

I challenged myself to 31 layouts in July of this year. I didnt quite make it but I dont mind because I did do 11 layouts that I likely would not have bothered to do.

I put in one last effort to get this one done tonight!
this kit is by Fotosusu of lots of places including DigiscrapShak.com and the kit is called Country Shine :)

Beach beach awesome beach!

After the horse riding lessons and soccer et cetera last Thursday we went to the beach! I cannot believe it's the first time this year, it's been SO so busy Im just not sure when we will ever get there!
Scott was actually on vacation last week, picked an awesome week with great weather and all, but we didnt really do much...since he travels so much with work, it's a vacation for him to get to stay home. SIGH if only I got out as much...
Anyway Thursday night after soccer we were all packed and part way there so we got some ice cream and went to the beach. It's about an hour away.

Now this is where Ive gotten spoiled past 2 years. I dont want to go to the beach, spend a few hours and go home, having been full of sand, used public smelly toilets, and been hot all day. I need to have a cottage to retire to when tired, sleepy, too hot, or needing to shake off the sand. I need to sleep with the waves and wake up surrounded by windows that show the water and sand. You think it sounds unrealistic to need this? See I am spoiled cause that's what I GOT and now it's what I want all the time. I could have done without the BEETLE the crawled over my head but I will take the rest.

We went with friends, Brian's mother owns the cottage and she lets them use it and LUCKY us got to go over and spend a night! :) It was too awesome.

We got there before dark, the kids didnt swim, the tide was in, we missed the sun set but it was still sorta light out. The kids played and then bugs chased us to the deck and then inside. The kids went to bed "eventually" and then we did. Scott came sometime after 11 SIGH and spent the night too.


And I did wake up with the waves in my ears and the sun in my eyes and a little body beside me of the little girl who was scared in the night.





The kids got up, made sure everyone else was up, and got into their bathing suits. They went RIGHT out onto the beach. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? :D And they stayed there the whole time we were making breakfast.

Scott and Brian had their coffee on this nicely placed bench and they watched the kids in the water and sand.
Leanne and I made breakfast.

We had watermelon, french toast, and bacon. SEE WHY I CANNOT JUST GO TO BEACH FOR AFTERNOON? How does one give this up? The kids ate outside and in (whereever they wanted) and they came nicely in shifts so food was always ready for them. Spoiled!



After breakfast everyone went out. The older 4 kids and men went out in the water and Leanne and I cleaned up and followed with the 2 smaller kidlets. Annika worked very hard collecting rocks so we went around collecting those. We also collected some hermit crabs which are really fun. We caught a creepy little shrimp that nips at our toes when tide is out, I really HATE those things!
the kids had their boogie boards to play on, they were quite far out but there were sand bars to keep them grounded.




Annika and Sage stayed closer to the beach.





Scott left to go golfing and we stayed on after a yummy cooked/warmed/bbqed dinner (LOL SEE SPOILED ROTTEN) then mid afternoon we headed home and did very little. LOL
WHAT A GREAT BEACH TRIP!

The Horses Last Week

The kids were riding again last week, and their lesson was so good! LOL

The night before we went over to brush the horses. It's not all about playing with them. Really it's not. I enjoy brushing the horses almost as much as riding them. it's nice quiet time.


Rebel and Genie were having a nice little snack. It was late in the evening anyway, and getting dark out.

The girls had a little lesson in Mane Pulling. Im not really sure there's a good way to do that anyway lol but it's a time consuming thing.



Rebel was just trying to eat his hay in peace.


And Genie was not too impressed with being bothered while she was supposed to be resting. She'd had a hard day with a hot lesson and all.

Next thing I know, the kids are ON the horses. It was getting super dark anyway, and they could barely get Rebel to leave the hay area lOL.

Taylor, Lane, and Holly all rode poor Rebel til it was too dark to be able to see him.

Fast forward really quickly to the next morning. REALLY early. I wanted to get out for our lessons before it got too hot, which means sometime around 6 am. We did manage to get there before 830, miracles DO happen. LOL!
And the weather was absolutely perfect.


They had to brush and tack the horses first. This part takes a long long time LOL!

then we head out to the field to ride. :) Taylor is working really hard on position. She had trouble keeping her feet from sticking out in front of her like she's riding a lazyboy recliner.

And making sure Rebel keeps going is challenging too. He really wants to eat that grass.




Lane rode Genie around to get her "jumpies" out so she would be ready for Holly.



Taylor decided to jump Rebel. The jump was very low and here they were walking over it. Taylor spent a lot of this lesson keeping rebel going. He's not convinced that she can make him go. LOL


Trotting....

Holly and Genie getting tips from Lane. I kinda enjoy watching the two of them with the pony. I can work more with Taylor, Lane and Holly are having fun, and Holly kinda takes to it naturally so it's easy to let her and Lane just go to it :)







Taylor and Rebel "trotting" over the jump.

It's so nice to see my two girls riding together...



To cool the horses out, we took them on their first trail ride :) we crossed the road and walked up through the fields. The kids were getting tired by now.


And the cows were very curious!!

The kids got introduced to another part of riding this week...Cleaning the Tack.