Horse Butt!

Sorry I didn't write yesterday, but I asked my mom to. I was really too tired. I was thinking about all I had to do, as I had a late report for school due. All I did was go to bed early instead. I just finished my report, so now I'm doing my blog.

Horse camp was really fun. After my mom dropped me off on Friday, we waited for some of the other girls to get there. There were six of us girls, not including Kelly's two daughters and one son. When all of us were there we went over the rules. Then our instructor Kelly told us what horses we were going to ride for the weekend. My horses' name was "Spirit". I had him the whole time I was there. We saddled up and went into the arena to walk in a circle and practice stopping and backing up. After that we all went on a trail ride. After the trail ride we went back to the stables to untack the horses and head up to where we were camping.

We unpacked our things at our trailer and went up to Gramma's house for dinner. It was a really big dinner table that had a thing in the middle that spinned that had napkins and stuff like that. That first night we had homemade pizza. It was ok. I'd rather have my mom's pizza. After dinner we went out to our trailer and got ready for bed. Our bedtime was 10pm.

Lucky me, I had a rooster right outside of my window. He woke us up bright and early Saturday morning. We all wanted to kill that rooster. He was really annoying. After we all were awake, we got dressed and went down to breakfast. We had waffles and juice. Kelly came to breakfast a little later than we did cause she had to feed the baby calves. She warned us yesterday that we should get a good night's sleep because today we were going on a really long trail ride. A really, really long trail ride! We packed our lunches and set off on our trail ride. We rode for a very long time until we came to a big steep hill. We went up the hill and a couple more hills till we stopped at a place for lunch. First we tied up the horses and loosened their girths, then took them down to the water trough. We had to be careful of rattlesnakes. After our horses were done drinking we took them back up and tied them up again. We walked for a couple of minutes before we sat down to eat lunch. We had ham and cheese sandwiches, chips and three gourmet cookies.

After lunch we went for a walk and ended up back to where our horses were waiting. We then set off back towards the barn. When we got back we untacked the horses and put them away. We went back to our trailer and relaxed for a little bit till Kelly came up. She got us a snack from Gramma's. It was ice cream and a cookie and left over pizza. Whoo Hooo!

We walked back down to the barn and we only got three horses, as the other one's couldn't be used for riding bare back. We had a bare back lesson by the arena in a pen. It was really boring cause my horse wouldn't trot. We were told to make them trot and my horse wouldn't trot no matter how hard I tried to get him to!
We walked them back to the barn and saddled them up. We had a roping lesson. After that Kelly took one of the horses named "Bud" and did a horse shoe cleaning demonstration. After that we all went up to Gramma's house for dinner. She had hamburgers and fries for us. We hung out there for a little while, then we went back to our trailer. When it was time to go to bed I wanted to stay up cause I wasn't tired!

Sunday the stupid rooster woke me up. I really wanted to hurt that rooster! We went for breakfast and then we walked back down the hill to the barn and saddled our horses up. We rode out to the arena and played some games. We played derby races, barrels, poles and a lot of other games. After that we went back to the barn and unsaddled the horses and went up to Gramma's to eat lunch. After lunch we went back to the barn and waited to be picked up. I was the first one to be picked up.

I had a good time at horse camp. I really want to go back again. It cost $300. to go to horse camp. I want to thank Nana for sending $200.oo to help pay for it. Kelly gave all of us a nice t-shirt.

One Tired Horse Girl!

"Mom, I've got horse butt. My shoulders are sore too."
These were the first words Cody shared with us when we picked her up from "The Work Family Ranch" this afternoon. She had a fantastic time at the Girl's Horse Camp and promises to fill you all in tomorrow. She is a little too tired right now. After taking a hot shower, she is snugged into her bed waiting for dinner to be ready. We're having BBQ'd hamburgers and they're almost ready. Talk to you tomorrow!

Mom

Horse Camp!

This coming weekend I'm going to be going to Horse camp in San Miguel, an hour away from here. It's a family that owns a ranch and they have a horse camp weekend for all girls. You can see on their website all the other activities that they have.
Today we are going to go shopping for a sleeping bag and some other supplies that I need. My mom is going to pick me up from school on Fri. and take me to camp. She's going to pick me up again on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to going there and I think it will be a fun time!

http://www.workranch.com/horsecamp.html

November Plans

We are leaving for Mexico on Nov. 15th. We are going to the Score Tecate Baja 1000 race that is happening that next weekend. We will be going to the same camping place where we watched the 500 race in June. That is a good place because we will see the race going in both directions. We are also going to bring the couch and tv for movies cause my dvd player drained the battery on the truck last year. We also may bring some stuff so we can make 'Smores. I like camping out for the races and I also like watching over the fire and getting to throw sticks in. Mom and Dern watch me to make sure I'm safe. It's nice to camp outside and see the stars at night when I go to sleep. Our friend Cy is going in his own truck and Dern's dad, "Grampa Joe" is going with us. Cy isn't staying for Thanksgiving.

After the race we are staying in Ensenada for Thanksgiving. Last year it was at our house, but this year we are going to have Thanksgiving at Terry's house. Terry is our really good friend that we hang out with in Mexico. We take care of his dog, "Dewey" when Terry is away. Terry lives on a really big hill, a few minutes away from our house. We usually walk to Terry's house. I like to go down his hill on my bike.
We will be coming home the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Feelings

I thought I knew how to say it, but now I don't. I know what I feel, but it's hard to put it into words. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but my feelings are hurt all the time. My feelings are always hurt because sometimes I really think my dad thinks that his girlfriend and her kids are the real family and not me. Once my dad's girlfriend gave my brother money to buy something for us to drink to make us go away, to get rid of us so she could be alone with my dad. We were supposed to be eating breakfast together. That really made me mad. I just wanted to shove her away and tell her to leave my dad alone.

My dad tells me that the reason he doesn't want to be with me is because he says that I don't want to be with him and I don't talk to him when I'm with him. That's not true. The reason why I don't talk to him so much is because I don't have much to say to him and he doesn't let me have feelings. He tells me not to cry. When ever I have to say goodbye to him he tells me that I can't cry. That makes it worse. I'm not mad at him or anything, I just don't want to talk to him cause he won't let me have my own feelings. My mom says there's nothing wrong with having feelings. There's nothing wrong with being sad to leave someone you love.

I wish that my dad had a girlfriend that liked children and who is nice, then maybe he would like children too.

Another time my feelings were hurt was when my dad told my mom that he wasn't the one raising me. I heard him say that over the phone when he was talking to my mom. I felt like my dad wanted nothing to do with me and I didn't like that. It also hurts when he says the reason why he can't come up and see me is cause the gas is too expensive. He always has gas money to do other things, but not enough to meet us in Santa Barbara so I can spend some time with him. Gas money is more important that I am.

I have to be someone I'm not in order to be with him and I really don't like it.

I would like it if my dad called me more often on my cell phone. He said the reason he bought me the cell phone is so he could talk to me. I think the real reason is that my mom told him I'm not old enough to have one cause I'm not old enough for the responsibility. He bought me the phone anyway, and now he hardly ever calls me. Maybe once a month. I'm usually the one calling him, and I'm not the parent.

My Nana said that maybe what he can do is get me a doll from every country he visits. I think that maybe then he would see me more often giving me the dolls. My dad travels a lot. I never get to go with him cause it's his work. He gets back to the hotels late and it's boring work meetings. He never calls me from his trips. I always thought it was cause he couldn't. Usually my brother's the one who tells me that my dad is gone, or my grandma or someone else telling me he's gone. Occasionally he'll tell me when he's leaving. This last time I called him he told me that when he gets back from his next trip, and I get home from horse camp, he said that we'd find a way for me to spend some time with him, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

When ever I do get to spend time with him, he leaves me with my Aunt Cyndy. She's sick in the mind. Once her husband Dave told one of my cousins that it was inappropriate for my step dad to be living with me cause they aren't legally married. When he said that I just wanted to tell him to shut up. It's none of his business. He's not even related to me. Dern's a really good dad to me. If it wasn't for him I would never get to spend time with my mom cause she'd always have to work. My aunt told my cousin that if my step dad really did marry my mom then I wouldn't be related to her anymore. I told her that wasn't possible. No matter what happens to my mom, I will always be related to my cousins. I wanted to ask my Aunt why she would say that. She's mean to me. The last time I was there she told me that I was parenting my cousins by just simply trying to teach my cousin how to do multiplication right. She threatened to call Grammie, my other grandma and say that I was acting up bad. I wasn't really scared cause I knew Grammie was smarter than that and knew that I wouldn't really do anything bad.

If I don't end up at my Aunt's I'm just dumped off at my grandmas. Not that I don't like being there, my grandma's really nice to me, we watch TV together and every night when I go to bed she comes into my room and sits there with me till I'm just about asleep and then she'll give me a kiss goodnight and go to bed. I really like it when she does that. It's nice knowing that she cares for me. My grandpa goes out really early in the mornings to go to the Y to go swimming with all his friends. My grandma stays awake and I usually get up and go lay in bed with her. I like it when I do that cause she tells me what's going on and what's happening with all my family when I'm away. I like this time with my Grammie.

When I spend time with my dad I would like to go to his apartment and maybe rent a couple of movies and stop by Cold Stone or Jamba Juice. I would like to watch the whole movie sitting with him on the couch cause the only other TV is in my brother's room. I'd really like to spend the night with my dad and my brother. When ever I go see them my brother shows me his salt water aquarium. I really that. I don't like to sleep in my cousin Kelly's room cause she has posters on her wall that scare me. I would like to get there a little bit earlier than I usually do cause then I'd have more time with them and not just pop in for a second and have to go home or go to bed.

When I get to finally see my dad I'd like to spend the time with him. Not that I don't love my other family members, but I miss my dad.

My Uncle Billy is more of a father to me than my dad sometimes cause he's the one who always writes back to me on my blog and when ever we see each other he always sits with me and we watch TV if we have time. He also lets me have feelings. He always tells me he loves me and always gives me a hug. He's never yelled at me once. He always tries to treat me and my little cousins the same. No one is more special. I really like it. One time he even took us to a movie on Christmas day. Everyone else ended up going, but I felt that he was the one who wanted it to happen the most. I really like it when my Uncle spends time with me cause it makes me feel loved.

My 17 year old brother Connor is usually nice but he says that I harass the cat. He also says I can't swim very well. Usually he's nice on the phone, but he also gets mad and gets a little mouthy to me. When ever I say something he turns it into negative. This upsets my dad. Then he gets mad cause my dad yells at him about turning everything I say into negative. Sometimes my dad exaggerates a little bit.
Sometimes when my brother, cousins and I swim at Grammie's house, Connor gets mad at me. He says the reason why I can't play is cause I always get him in trouble, I cry and I cry to grammie and that my cousins swim better than me. He acts like my cousins are the sisters and not me. I really would like it if he would play with me too cause I like it when my brother plays with me. I wouldn't mind if he even threw me in the deep end cause I know that he would always help me if I needed it.

If I could have my way, my dad would get rid of his stupid girlfriend and meet someone nicer. My brother would play with me and my cousins the same and not say that I can't swim as well as they can. I'd like it if my dad would want to spend time with me and understand if I don't have anything to say to him sometimes. It's nice to just be with each other and not have to talk specially if someone doesn't let you have feelings. That's pretty much it. I would also like to spend time with my grandma and grandpa and my little cousins, but not with Aunt Cyndy or Dave at all.

Cody

Our day at the Harbor Fest

when we were walking home from dinner, the sun was setting behind us.


Today when mom and Dern went for their Sunday morning walk, they found out that the Harbor festival was going on. We drove down to check it out. There were a lot of cool things there, but most of it was really expensive. My mom and I both got matching red heart blown glass necklaces. We took a tour of the Coast Guard Cutter GEORGE COBB. The ship was big, 175 feet long. One of the coast guards said that there are only 25 crew members on board. We climbed to the top and I got to sit in the captains chair. We also saw where the crew eats, drinks and hang out.
There was a big screen tv showing the football game.

For lunch we stopped by one of the food booths where I got a smoothie and a hotdog. Mom and Dern wanted to get a tri tip sandwhich, but they were too expensive. We went to the Hoffbrau instead where we shared some onion rings and they shared a roast beef sandwhich.

We drove home and took a nap. We had a really nice time at the festival.

My mom and I walked to Taco's de Mexico for dinner later on. Dern had to go to work. The sunset was really nice on our way home. My mom tried to take a picture of it, but it didn't come out. We are really lucky to be able to see the sunset over the ocean every night.
We got home and started to work on my blog. I had a really nice Sunday.

Our Skateboard weekend

Mom and Dern surprised me one day when they said they were going to the store. They did, but they also stopped by Wave Lengths, the local surf store. Now Dern and I have a skateboard. It's really nice. The bottom of the board has a picture of an Elephant-mermaid on it.

Dern helps me a lot and he is still trying to help me put my feet the right way. We also went to the skate park. We just watched all the other kids skate that day. A few days later Dern bought me some elbow and knee pads so I won't hurt myself. We're still having a really good time, but unfortunately we are not having much time to play with it together cause Dern has to work night shifts and I'm not allowed to ride it by myself in case I fall.