We can't help but take pictures of the horses. They are so pretty.............



This is our "green" horse, George. You'd never know he hasn't been ridden much. I'm really amazed how calm and content he is.

This is pretty much Minnie's usual stance. She likes to show me her a**. I'm thinking she's trying to tell me something........maybe along the lines of..."You're so not the boss of me". Little does she know, I AM the boss of her! :)
Speaking of pretty..........
There's the love. She DOES know I'm the boss of her!!

Does Al look happy, here? No???? She reluctantly got on the tube. She was ok as long we were going nice and slow........
There's concern growing in Ally at this point. I think Mark was at all of 10 mph.
This is the cut-off signal. She'd had enough. That's ok, cuz it was now............................................................................
MY TURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though most of our July 4th weekend was laid-back, we had to get some good hard fun in. Sunday we went with Wrights tubing. The kids/adults had so much fun! Unfortunately, the camera battery died right before Max AND Jay both knee-boarded!! Neither had any problems getting up or staying on! I was so proud.........................................:):):)



WOOOO-HOOOO!!!!! This is Megan and Max. The boys jumped at the chance to go tubing. They were daredevils!
Max requested this picture. He found it hysterical.
Jay and Abby. Can you see the smile on that kid's face?????
Thumbs up for a great ride. They just hit a big wave and stayed on!

Most of you got the memo regarding poor Gracie and her surgery debate. Basically, it went like this......the vet said Gracie blew out her knee and we could let it go, scar tissue would cover the tear, and she would heal that way. However, arthritis would set in and she'd never be the same. OR, we could do surgery. We opted for surgery, but I was so nervous. We personally knew several people who's dogs had emergencies during or after surgery. The day I took Gracie in, I was a mess. I couldn't stop crying, even though I tried for the kids sake. As we were leaving, I told the staff to make sure the vet knew to not give up on Gracie. If something happened during surgery, she was to keep going. I think they understood this request-although it may have been hard to hear me through the broken, sobbing mess that was me.

She came through surgery just fine. We got her home and the hardest part has been keeping her from jumping, stair-climbing and basically over-doing it.

We have had a slight complication (at least I hope it's slight....) Gracie has developed a urinary tract infection. I'm praying it's that and not a kidney issue.

Boo is very confused by all this. I know he's thinking, "Why does she get to come inside and get all the petting and attention?"

So many things wrong with this picture.......5 kids on a trampoline, no netting, no spring guard....Don't judge me.........I was not in charge here :)
Our July 4th was extremely low-key this year. We spent a day at Wright's, and I finally got to play "Rock Star". I could have played all night. I really didn't have a knack for the drums, but the guitar.......I totally rocked!!

We didn't even go to any fireworks. A mistake we won't make next year. Maybe we all needed a calm, relaxing weekend. Anyhoo, we had a good time hanging out together. I see boating in our future for today. Finally, a day warm enough for it!!!!!!

We went to this movie last night,
and it was HILARIOUS!!!!!! It's not often that I laugh all the way through a movie. This one is up there with "Dumb and Dumber" If you want to see a great comedy, this is the one!

This is the Mojul River. It is just a tributary of the Amazon. We were told there were places on the Amazon River you could not see the other side.
The broken Konvi. It lost a bolt that was, apparently, most important to the shifting process. After about 45 minutes, another bolt was found to temporarily fix it. Ken had to drive in 3rd and 4th gears all the way home.
As we waited for the guys to play mechanic, we explored the nearby buildings. Julie and Kae found another tarantula~just in case you thought the first one was a fluke. Their webs were pretty cool. There were lots of little tunnels in them. This spider was on the ceiling. Watching it move was freaky (the other one in the boathouse just stayed in one place)


***All in all, this trip was so very enlightening. I have never been one for a lot of material possessions, but I was still deeply affected by all that the Brazilian people DON'T have and are still so happy. Especially, the river people. As someone on the team put it, they are the richest poor people you'll meet. I also can say that I was never so happy to be home( and away form the fire ants!!!!). I really get upset with the excess of the United States. We, as a culture, have to have it big, bigger and biggest. Living as the Brazilian people do for just a week, taught me to scale it back as much as I can. One of the other pieces I took from this trip was that I feel the need to expose my kids to more foreign language. I was very impressed (and envious) of those who were fluent in Portuguese and English. It really opened my eyes to the wonderful world of bilingual........