Saturday, August 09, 2008

Gypsi's New Friends and "Green" Backpacks






Pony Gypsi moved up to La Cresta to be closer to my mom and Megan's horse, Tex. She moved to my student's ranch (which I wrote about in a previous blog) and it has been absolutely heavenly! I could probably leave the girls there for a week, and they would never know I was gone.

The girls roam all over the ranch- they feed the swans and fish, feed carrots to the guini pigs, collect the chicken and turkey eggs, visit the cockatoos, and pet the "old folks" (an old donkey named Ears and his ancient companion.) They pick peaches off the trees, feed (and brush???) the turtles, and basically run carefree until we FORCE them to get in the truck to go home.

Pony Gypsi's new roommates are HILARIOUS. She is in a huge pasture with a tiny donkey named Dirty Harry (he looks like the donkey from Shrek), a buck-toothed llama name Llami, a goat, and a mare named Darla. Gypsi has never been happier, and she fits right in with the menagerie with her fancy, multi-colored eighties mane and the batman sign on her fat bottom. The arena at the new ranch is the perfect size for the girls (mostly Emma) to ride in. I'm so happy just being there.

I'm so glad the girls have this beautiful place to roam. Coming from Bishop, I have an extreme love of the outdoors, and I remember running home when it got dark to eat dinner. Until then, my sister and I were roaming the neighborhood with all of the other kids, climbing in the hay barn, building forts in the field, wading in streams, visiting the neighbor's sheep, and picking wild roses. Kids need to be outside!

On a final note, I took the girls school shopping, and we made our last stop in the backpack section, which is always a big deal. The backpacks were tempting this year! There were Camp Rock backpacks, High School Musical backpacks, Hannah Montana backpacks, and backpacks with those new-wave colors and skulls all over them (which I told the girls they couldn't have...I think skulls are a bit morose for second grade, but then again I'm all about happy things...)

Grace picked out a pink backpack with a monkey on it, but it was Emma who surprised and impressed me. She found a backpack with all kinds of earth-friendly messages on it- statements about recycling, planting trees, and lessening waste. (Pretty big concepts for a second grader, I thought, but I realized that our family's cloth shopping bags, recycle bin, and "green/organic" lifestyle is starting to rub off!) The coolest thing about Emma's backpack is that is is made out of recycled water bottles! I told Emma that her backpack didn't have wheels on it like Grace's, and she replied, "I don't mind, Mama. I like to be earth friendly." I was so proud of her!





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