Back to School... FLU!

Wednesday should have been Briley's first day of Kindergarten... but Tuesday night she starting puking... THE FLU HIT! She was sick until about 2 a.m. and ran a temperature until about noon, by 1 she was ready to go to school. Briley was devastated that she was sick and had to miss the first day of school. She has watched Brett get on and off the bus for 2 years, and been waiting to go to school forever. The last month we have been counting down the days until Bri goes to school. This morning, she ran into my room and jumped on the bed and whispered, "Mom, do I go to school today?" And I finally got to say, "Yes!" She went to school, ran to that big, yellow bus and never looked back!

As for mom, she puked for almost 6 hours, laid on the couch for 12 hours, had a temperature for about 24 hours, took a 3 hour nap, and missed 2 days of school! We are hoping the other two have better immune systems, only time will tell!

Believe it or Not!

You will never believe what happened to me over the weekend... let me set the stage. August 22 was the last Midwest Family Rodeo. Our family had a successful year, not necessarily with price money, but in other ways. Brett is becoming more confident with her riding everyday, and actually wants to ride everyday. Briley has a love/hate relationship with her pony, but loves to ride by "herself." Blake has had a "personal trainer"... thanks Steve, and is learning more and more. And for myself... Saturday, I won a buckle. I wish I could tell you it was my excellent horsemanship or speedy goat tying... but that's not it at all. I won the buckle for being 'the runner" and yes that's really funny. If you know my "track record," you know I am a slow runner, always have been, always will be! Never a track star in high school, and I haven't gotten any faster over the past "few" year! Anyway, in Ribbon Roping, a roper ropes a calf, then the runner takes the ribbon off the tail of the calf and runs across the line... that's me, the runner, I'm the 2009 Champion Ribbon Roping Runner at the Midwest Family Rodeo. Thanks Rog!

Good news, bad news!

Well, let's start with the good news... my computer is working again... so I can blog. The bad news... for me, summer is over and I am back to school. I have been in meetings for 2 days and tomorrow is the big day... the KIDS come back. The good news... they (the kids) are so excited on the first few days of school, new clothes, new supplies, getting to see their friends, and most of all smiling and ready for a new year. As much as I dislike getting up with an alarm, and going back to the working world... I must admit the excitement and energy of the first few days of school is amazing. Can we bottle that enthusiasm up and save it for cold February days?

Vacation

We have returned from our vacation this year... some might argue that everyday day is a vacation here on the Lough Ranch, but it's not! (school will start very soon) We traveled to Estes Park, Colorado for the Craig Family Reunion.

In Omaha, we stopped at the zoo for a break. This polar bear was swimming in circles, the same path, the same strokes, over and over... zoo life must be rough! The girls liked the zoo, but enjoyed the sky ride the best.

This is our "cabin in the mountain" we (Lindsay, Adam, Blake, Leslie, and 4 girls) stayed in during the trip. It was located in Allenspark about 30 minutes form Estes, and how we found it at 11:00 at night, I will never know! Thanks Mable... the Magellan GPS thing.

There was a COLD little stream behind our cabin... Bri fell in!

We enjoyed the Craig Family Reunion... visiting with lots of people, playing on the swing set, a round of miniature golf, and trying to figure out how many family reunions Blake has attended??

We also traveled UP into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Absolutely amazing views... and to think it has been like that forever... so beautiful and clean and chilly... and a little hard to breath. We hiked up a little rocky place and found some snow and made a few snowballs.
Overall, we had a great time, but boy were we glad to get home to our own beds, and be finished with the 16 hour car ride!