Camp - Horseback Riding

 Hi, thought I'd start some catch-up.

A few days ago, the girls went to Tollgate to ride horses in the woods.  We (the boys) went along to take care of the horses.

When we got there we saddled and bridled the horses for the girls to ride.

Before they went for their ride, Aunt Vicky asked us to give the girls a lesson on getting the horses ready to ride.  I gave them a lesson on how to bridle their horses. She sat them down in the shade to watch.

Since Brodick and Ian haven't been around horses very much I had them sit and watch too. 




Logan helped me by demonstrating on a horse on the other end of the line so everyone could see well.

Aunt Vicky asked why we only demonstrated with the bridle and not the saddle too.  I explained to her that some of the girls had never been around horses and being girls, we shouldn't explain too much at a time.  She seemed a little irritated by this.


While the girls were riding we sat and talked about why Ian shaved his head.

It seems he has a new friend, Daniel, who is battling cancer.
He has been very upset and self conscious about losing his hair.  Ian shaved his head so when they spent time together they would look alike.  We offered to help him shave it more cleanly.  But, he said Daniel has spots growing back and his unshaved spots look like Daniels.

We are very proud of him for wanting to help his friend. We offered to include Daniel in anything we do as a group.  He said that would be great, but we can't take photos of Daniel for our blog because his mother does not want him on the internet. 

She is afraid someone might say something that would hurt him or someone might try to exploit him and his illness.  We're ok with that.

But, we will write about him as he spends time with us.

After the ride we got the horses ready for the trip home.  It was a great day.  The girls were talking and giggling all the way home.

 

Highland Games

 




Have you ever been to any Highland Games?

Nana, Auntie TracyAnn, Brodick and Tayla went to Athena, Oregon to their games on Saturday.

This is one of the few that still have sheep dog trials.  Auntie and Nana love to watch the sheep dogs work.  Reeces even watched them and enjoyed it.


Brodick thought it was really great. He said he
couldn't imagine the patience it took to train a dog to move the sheep around like that. The dogs have to move 4 sheep through a course and into a pen at the end. They get very little help. Whistles or staff movements are their only directions, when they get really good.
The novice dogs get a lot of voice commands.  It's funny to watch their trainers try to stay "cool".

Tayla liked the dancers, bagpipes, and harps best.  She had worn an Irish dance dress and looked very cute.


Nana really enjoys the Bagpipe players and bands the most.

But, what really caught Brodicks attention were the guys doing the Weight Games, especially the Caber Toss.

He plans to be in shape by next year.  He has spent the last 2 days looking for a log to use for a caber. He wants to start practicing now.  The rest of us finally started helping him look.  We haven't found exactly what he wants yet.

He also loved the kilts.  There were a lot of athletes on the field and every one had on a kilt.

He told Nana he needs a kilt.  Of course, I've asked for one before.  All four of us want kilts.

Nana had to peel him off the fence to get him away from the athletic field, when it was time to leave.

It must be pretty awesome.  They all got so interested in what was going on they forgot to take very many photos.

Maybe next year we can all go and I can find a reliable photographer.

 

Camp News - Aunt TracyAnns Pet Rock

I'm on a roll.  Hope everyone is doing well today.

We got together, after I posted the rock hunting story, and finished our pet rock for Aunt TracyAnn. It has taken me a while to put the story together.

Ian had a blast.  He is so not used to having other guys to do things with.  He stayed with whoever was working on the project all the way through.

We started by washing and drying the rock so the paint would stay on it good.  Ashley wouldn't let us use the kitchen sink.  She said it was too dirty and belonged outside under the hose.

Sarafina offered to clean the sink afterward, but Ashley threw such a fit we said we'd think of something else.

Finally, when no one was looking we washed it in the water bowl Nana keeps on the floor for Reeces.  The girls all thought we were awful.
   
   




We painted the rock black.  Ian got
to do the painting.  Logan was with him to help if he had any problems. I picked only one to paint so we made less mess.
 

Have you guessed what her pet rock is?

Next, Brodick came up with the idea of putting 
sharp white fangs on it.  He used tines from a broken plastic fork.

Guessed yet?

And Ian wanted to add "blood red, dripping eyes," so it was up to him to get them painted on it.

 Pet rocks are more fun than we would have believed.


We bet you've guessed.  Not an easy secret to keep.

Brodick thought we should put the leash on it and tell her if it is just stunned and not dead she could lead it around and play with it.

I decided that meant we needed color on it's back too in case it got turned over.

 You're all sure what the pet rock is now, aren't you?


Logan put the spots on it's belly. 

And figured out how to put legs on it. 


I helped him with that.

And you guessed it; It's a big, black, dead

SPIDER!!
 

We made a pretty good team.

We took the spider and put him on the lap desk where Auntie TracyAnn sits and works.

 

Then, we covered it with tissue paper and put a note on it.  "Happy Late Birthday Auntie".  Her birthday was a few days ago.

 

We know she loved it, because when she lifted the gift wrap she screamed.  All of our sisters scream when they get something the like.

 

But, did you ever imagine a spider could remind you of a snake the way this one did?

We may do our own pet rocks, if the girls ever do them again. This was really fun.

 Have fun with your own summer projects.  It's good to be creative.

Camp News - Pet Rocks

Good afternoon

Back again, with more camp news.

The first project was picking out pet rocks and painting them.  None of our cabin (boys) were interested in pet rocks.

We went along in case the girls needed help with their projects or in case any wild animals came along and scared them.

You would be surprised what can scare a girl.  The other day a spider dropped on Aunt TracyAnn in the living room.  She screamed so loud the scared everyone in the house.  Nana told her she wasn't coming to find her spider because she was sure it was on it's back, feet in the air and dead from the fright of her scream.

Girls can be very silly.

We (the boys) had a great time.  We found some rocks for projects and one for Aunt TracyAnn a pet rock.  We haven't finished it yet.

We didn't paint out in the woods.  The girls were having fun painting and giggling, so we let them have the paint table to themselves.

NOTE: Their projects can be seen on The Bolton Girls Travel Journal blog.

We patrolled the area for scary things while we looked at the rocks for something interesting.
 
We were in an old dry creek bed. It was a great place for finding all kinds of rocks.

There was a stream nearby that helped keep it cool and sounded so great.

Everyone would enjoy another trip there some time.

Have a great evening.

FYI: I just found out we made Doll Diaries.  A post was done on us.  How about that guys?

SETTING UP CAMP

 

 
Hi, Kyle again

Summer is here and Nana decided some of us didn't have enough to keep us busy.  So, she signed Kityee, Katyee and all the boys up for summer camp.

Personally, I think the girls wanted Logan, Brodick, Ian and myself around for help.

Oh, that's right, you haven't met Ian yet and don't know much about Brodick.


Ian is our newest brother.  He came to live with us from a friend in Redmond, OR.  She is downsizing before college in a couple of years. He's a great kid; but has always been around all girls, so having brothers is a new experience for him.
Our first summer camp job was putting up tents.  Isn't that supposed to be part of the camping experience?  Shouldn't everyone know how to put up a tent?

Brodick and Ian volunteered all four of us to put up the girls tents plus our own.  Brodick thinks it's his responsibility to take care of girls.  Ian didn't know any better.

Oh, lets admit it, Logan and I would have probably done the same thing if we'd been there.  I know Kityee, Katyee and Taryn know how to put up tents.  And it doesn't hurt to be nice.

But, their camp leaders should make sure they all know how to set up a camp.

These tents were very easy and we all had fun working together to put them up.

The girls are going to be very crowded in two tents.  I hope Nana and Aunt Tracyann get them at least one more.

While we were putting the tents together Brodick found a large feather. 

When the girls met to make their next plans after the tents were up they wanted to see it.  So, Brodick took it over to show them.

Their camp leader ended up talking him into going in front of the girls and telling them about the feather.  He did pretty well.  After the talk he gave them the feather.

Then, we went off to play and got as far from the girls as we could.  Too far to be called back for more chores.

All in all it was a very good day.