Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Gingerbread House Party

Am letzten Schultag durften die Eltern in die Kindergartenklasse und mit den Kindern ein Lebkuchenhaus bauen. Erst haben die Kinder drei Lieder gesungen und dann ging es los...



Hier die Zutaten fuer das Lebkuchenhaus, welche die Eltern schon im Rohzustand mit Milchkartons gebastelt haben.

Jonah gibt sich redlich Muehe, die Glasur auf das Dach zu streichen.

Cole, Jonah's bester Kumpel, mit seinem Haus

Jonah's fertiges Haus. Er hat es dann zuhause natuerlich direkt aufgefuttert...

Carter Cullinan Gates

Chris' Bruder Tim und seine Frau Jessica haben unerwartet am Samstag, 29.12.2012 ihren Sohn Carter zur Welt gebracht. Jessica hatter erst am 24.01.2013 ihren errechneten Geburtstermin, aber die Fruchtblase ist halt am Samstag frueh geplatzt. Abends um 19:00 Uhr erblickte dann Carter auf natuerlichem Weg das Licht der Welt. Er ist gesund, 49 cm gross und ca 3100 gr schwer, also 'fertig'. Auch die Lungen machen keine Probleme und am Sonntag haben wir die neue Familie im Krankenhaus besucht. Am naechsten Tag konnten sie schon alle nach Hause.

Tim mit Carter

Ich wollte ihn natuerlich auch halten!

Chris mit Carter

Monday, December 24, 2012

...and Merry Christmas from the gang, too!

(Nellie 8.5 years, Tobi 4 yrs 11 months, Peanut 10 months)






Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Alles Liebe zum Weihnachtsfest von uns aus Colorado!







Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Arapahoe Hunt Pair Pace

The Arapahoe Hunt Pair Pace took place on September 22nd in Larkspur, that's about 20 minutes south of Parker. Kate rode this event already a couple of times and after ensuring me that the horses are really safe on this hunt and this is all fun, I was in!
We only trained the horses a little over little jumps so that we were sure that the horses can do the jumps but all obstacles had an option to be passed in just riding, no jumping required!
The Friday before the event we could walk the course. We took a map out of a bin that showed us where to ride but it is always better to walk all the fences just to know how they look like. In total there were about 19 fences, varying from 0 to 3.5 feet tall.

The above and below picture gives you an idea of 'what' to jump. The high jump on the right, the low jump on the left or just pass it on the outer left.





This is the water crossing. No horse had any problem with this. The creek was about 4 feet wide and an inch deep..lol




This is the map with the way we had to ride. All in all about 14 minutes of fun!


Kate washing Tempo.

And then it was Thunder's turn while I loaded the trailer with all our gear.

Shelly walking the horses to the trailer, that is parked on top of the hill.


Thunder and Tempo are such good troopers, they just walk right into the trailer! Most of the trailers here allow the horses to stand in an diagonal. This trailer is big enough for 3 horses.


After our ride a picture from Thunder and my 'participation' ribbon.



The trailer from the side. Does not look that big, does it?


Me on Thunder. Photo taken by a professional photographer. Of course that lady was sitting at the side of the two obstacles I did not jump :-(


Kate and Tempo jumping.

Tempo was pretty hot so Kate needed to force him to slow down at times. But this shot is however still beautiful!