weekends together

5/28/11 Saturday
It seems like our schedule has sped up since it is the end of school year, graduations and summer.
We are trying to cram everything in and these times are fun and exciting especially for the girls.
We bought more senior horse food for Cookie Dough and Rice bran for weight gain, you see older horses like Cookie Dough have a hard time keeping their weight on, especially since he has lost some teeth and we have to soak all his food.  Cookie Dough can not just forage and eat hay and grass any more because the grass just ends up falling out of his mouth in big clumps.  Older horses need extra care to keep the weight on, it is not healthy to have an over weight horse either.  Some passing tourists have reported Cookie Dough to the animal shelter as been to skinny, but they know he is old and that we are feeding him.    I was told that the rule of thumb was that if you can see an animals ribs then they are too thin and malnourished.  Rest assured that Cookie Dough is not malnourished, and we give him vitamins in his food mix.
One of the big girls close friend just flew in with her family and they are so exceited to spend time with her.  How much can you cram into a week is the question.
We decided to take the whole family to see some of Makena and Raven's friends graduate from high school.  I was going to take the easy road and just split us up or do one event as a family and then split up taking Jewel home, but the older kids wouldn't hear of it.  Makena said that it was important for Jewel to get out and learn how to behave and interact, and she was right.  I was just thinking of the easy way for us all.  I get stuck in our routine, I like Jewel's food and stuff to be close by, I guess we all grow when we are not in our comfort zones.  The graduation was beautiful as always and far too long for Jewel, I fed her keeping her happy until the food was gone and she became unsettled.   The graduation was outdoors right on the grass cupping the beach and ocean, a perfect setting, but the sun became to much and since it was not about Jewel or an entertaining show she got board fast.  So I pushed her in her wheel chair taking a nice leisurely walk, we ended up passing a Luau by the hotel and she far preferred watching the polynesian dancers.  It is always tiring to take Jewel out to events, but being out doors made it worth it.  We put a diaper on her knowing that the bathrooms would not be close, brought lots of water but apparently not enough food.   All in all Jewel did well and was happy to be with us taking in the new sights.  After graduation we went to one of the after parties.  We stayed until 10 pm and she got to eat lots of good food, be with her family and other families and even go swimming with the kids.  Makena took Jewel into the pool and they had lots of fun together, these moments are so special.  Jewel wants to be included and to do what her sisters and the other children are doing, this is not always possible and when we can get her to join in on the fun, she and we are very happy.  Driving home we saw large dear, and a huge buck.  We have a lot of dear on this part of the Island, they come out at night and it can be quite dangerous when they run in front of your car.  We pulled over to see if Makena could get some pictures, and Jewel yelled, "dangerous," and "stay in car, scary."  We did not let Makena out in the dark and we were not able to spot the dear again.  Such happy moments when everyone helps out and this is when doing family as a team makes it magical.