Horse Camp

Bode spent the week going to horse camp.  He learned some knowledge about horses, how to brush them, how to lead them, and how to sit on them and ride them.  He seemed very talkative after each day of camp, which we took to mean he enjoyed himself.  On the last day, parents could come out and watch their kids ride.  When I first heard this, I thought Bode would be "riding" the horse, which in my mind meant sprinting around on the steed.  I should have realized my error, as I know it takes a long time to learn to ride a horse, to be able to gallop and run on a horse.  Plus, he's only eight :-)  But it was neat to see him a top a horse and (sort of) controlling her with the reins.

I also took a movie of Bode riding the horse...as you can see, it's a little different than I had envisioned, but it's still pretty cool.

As part of the camp, they painted the horses (I'm sure the paint will wash off).  They were learning about the skeletal structure of the horse, and why it's important to understand this in order to be a better rider.

Bode also learned how to lead the horse from place to place.

The camp also had some goats and a donkey.  Bode really loves animals, and we are trying to convince him to be a vet.  Unfortunately, he doesn't like blood :-)

Next week is the last camp of the summer.  Bode will do a half-day competitive swim camp.  Following this, we will spend a last weekend in the mountains as we all prepare to go back to school.

I harvested some vegetables from the garden.  I'm quite pleased with the production.

Lettuce has been going all summer.  I figured out that even if you aren't going to eat lettuce, you need to tear the leaves off every few days.  Otherwise, it will grow to the point where it won't be edible.  The carrots and onions are doing great--still have around 30 carrots growing and 10 onions.  The potatoes are the best producing crop.  Three potatoes will feed us at dinner (in addition to the meal), and there are probably 30 more potatoes growing underground.  The green beans came in nicely, and we ate them with some pork chops.  We even had a large cucumber, which we ate with a salad along with some snap peas.  I'm hoping to get some corn in the next couple weeks, and I have five more cucumbers growing.  The big surprise is I actually have two watermelon growing...but they are still quite small.  One is the size of a grape, while the other is the size of small kiwi fruit.  There's 25 days until September, so here's hoping it stays nice and hot.  We might get some melon before the summer is done.  Pleasant week to all.