Riding at the Barn Dance

Each year the riding center we volunteer at has a barn dance. It is a great time. There is always some great food, but the best part is always spending some time with the people we have grown so fond of out at barn. A couple weeks back we were unable to attend a training class held by Randy Kraling--a professional horse trainer from southern Minnesota. Emphasizing the natural behavior of horses, so much of his work is basic body language to get the desired behavior.


We have been very fortunate to have a band that volunteers to play. There isn't always a lot of dancing going on, but they are pretty good. I love the Johnny Cash songs they play. Last year when we were at the Mall of America looking for an outfit for my daughter--a clerk in one of the stores we went into kept asking, "This is really for a barn dance? A real barn?" I know it sounds kind of old fashioned, but we really do have fun.


There is also some wagon rides drawn by the draft horses and a hay ride pulled by a tractor. This year was great! We had extra volunteers come out and had three rides going at the same time...made for a smooth line flow! Even though I didn't go on the rides this year, my boys did and had a good time.


My boys also got to ride the horses for a short time. They enjoyed themselves. In between everything, they had fun playing with the other kids out there. While they were playing, I kept an eye on the silent auction items that were out there.


Other people got their face painted and had some goodies. The raffle tickets also sold very well this year. I was concerned that the fundraiser was not going to go very well this year because of the economy, but we did okay and have more money for feeding the horses! We really do have fun while supporting the therapeutic center.

dancing, music, and running

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have written. Can it be over a month already and May is nearing an end? How fast time can go. We are happy to be sitting at home cleaning up at a slow pace.

Last weekend seemed to go by in a whirlwind. Friday morning I brought the kids up to the cities for some field trips. We first went to the 20th anniversary of the Minnesota Dance Festival at the Fitzgerald theater in St. Paul. We saw a cute dances from several ballets, including swan lake and a new children's ballet which I cannot think of right now. We also saw a cute couple of tap dancer's that had a funny routine and a flamenco dancer who was accompanied by a guitarist. Very cool morning.

After the dancing, we went to Burger King--I think the last time we went to BK was last year's dance festival! Since it happens to be Minnesota's sesquicentennial this year, we are lucky to have hosted the only original printed copy of the Declaration of Independence that travels on exhibit. Since it is a printing press copy, rather than a hand written copy, we were told it actually came out faster than what we think of when "Declaration of Independence" is mentioned. It was nice to see just the same. We had hoped to see more of the Minnesota History Center when we were there, but we left to meet up with my brother and his kids.

Later that evening, when we went to a full performance at the Minnesota Orchestra. The boys had had enough of sitting by the end of it, but all in all, they were pretty good. We stayed at my brother's that night because we had to be back up in the morning. I was glad we did it, because we got back to his house at 11 and it would have been midnight if we had to drive home.

The next morning, the kids were running in the Medtronic Twin Cities Kids' Marathon event which allows kids to choose a half mile run or a mile run. It was fun because they get to run with other kids, get a free t-shirt, cute medal for running and lunch afterward. It really was a fun morning. After getting home the kids went horseback riding--Alex with the other volunteers at RideAbility and the boys at a dear friends home. Mary, Kathryn and John are truly wonderful and my family so appreciates theirs.

A very, very full weekend. I was happy to spend Sunday morning writing and the afternoon lounging. This spring has been extremely busy with the horses, my daughter's work on the farm, school and my work. Even with all this, my poor hubby has been working crazy hours and I think this is the first weekend we have actually spent any time together.

I also wanted to add the following for anyone interested. The page is a link if you want to try the test out yourself. I found a typing test on another blog. As a homeschooling mom, I know my kids will be curious. It is a fun way to encourage them to use proper typing techniques to get faster.

76 words

Speedtest

I hope you have fun doing it as well!