A Cool Day

Well, yesterday we didn't get all our bookwork done, but it was a super cool day of learning, just the same!
First, we woke up in the morning to a newborn calf. 

 I never cease to admire how good of a mother Mama-Cow is.  Susanna took this photo & if I had another camera, I would have liked to get a photo of her & Alyssa tip-toeing as close as possible thru the early morning fog & dew in their pajamas and bare feet. :)

 The night before, my son (15) went with a family friend after youth group to spend the night in the Adirondacks to build log cabins for a Christian camp for Thursday.
My oldest took off for the day to her college classes.  She's a senior this year & is taking 2 dual-enrollment classes at the local community college.  She took chemistry last semester & is taking a math & english this semester.  She really loves taking classes.
 
The young girls & I finished the outside chores, got ready for the day & then went to dance class and then to the first homeschool gym class of the year.  There were a lot of new people & I met some pretty cool moms.  We found out that next to the church where gym class was they were having a draft horse auction at the fairgrounds.  So, we walked over there with 3 other families to go check it out.  I love spontaneous things like that!  Love draft horses...they are such amazing & enormous beautiful creatures!  There was one percheron/thoroughbred mix that was giving me the most sweet, endearing, curious look.  Oh, my heart!  Sigh.  With 7 1/2 horses already, we just can't even think about another one.

The rest of the day was spent doing odds & ends outside with animals & chores in the house & some schoolwork.  Susanna & I got cursive, daily grams, math drills & spelling done.  Pat was working on the shop with a friend, so I made dinner for everyone.  Hannah got home from school, cleaned tack, helped with dinner.  After I got the men fed, 3 of us girls went for a trailride.  It was getting kind of dark & I was stressing about that a bit.  Hannah loves riding in the dark, but I never have & I'm not confident riding like she is, but I've been wanting to get back in the saddle & this was the time it worked out.  So, I thought to myself, "do I want it bad enough?"
So, we went & it was so much fun.  It wasn't as dark as it looked.  I could see, but couldn't see the gorgeous fall colors, which I wanted to enjoy on the trailride...maybe this weekend, though!  The horses were so good.  My daughter has done such a good job with them.  They rarely spook, they go whatever speed you want to go at & they don't try to grab mouthfuls of grass while riding in a pasture.  Plus, we had the dog with us who was darting in and out among the horses & crashing thru the bushes & jumping out of hedgerows in front of them & in the middle of them.  Susanna wanted to lope off, so she did.  Hannah's horse didn't react at all (he's only 5), but mine (8) wanted to go, but with just a little pulling back on the reins, he didn't persist. The horses I rode as a kid were monsters when I compare them to our horses...it's amazing I survived those perilous trail rides on my friend's horses. LOL    

Jonah got home from the Adirondacks pretty late, but this morning, a friend posted a pic of what they had been working on, which they hope to finish next weekend:

Is that cool or what?! :)  What a great experience for him.  They do most of it be hand & he learned all kinds of things that he can do with a chainsaw that he never knew could be done, since he's only used one to do firewood.  I'm so excited about this opportunity for him!
Surprisingly, even with walking 45 minutes yesterday & going an an hour long trail-ride, I'm not too terribly sore! :)