4th of July - Part 2 of 3

Probably the biggest hit of our whole day for the kids was the fire truck. This entertained them longer than the bounce houses did. The firemen were so nice and patient with them. Each of the kids took their turn "driving" the fire truck. Conner of course wanted to sit in ALL of the trucks that were around even though they were not fire trucks.

I love the picture on the right with the hot-air balloon lifting in the background. My husband catches such great pictures!

The only reason we were able to pry the kids away from the trucks was because the hot-air balloons started going up. This year marked the 12th Annual Hot-Air Balloon Rally in Lexington. July 3rd and 4th at dawn and dusk a bunch of balloons would go up. You could pay a large chunk of money to go on a long ride or go up in a tethered balloon. We preferred to watch from the ground. It was pretty neat to see a bunch go into the air at the same time.


Leland LOVED it!

Addition to Part 1 - While Leland was riding the pony I walked beside her the entire time. About half way through I felt something wet splattering on my legs. I looked in the sky to see if it was starting to rain, and it was not. Then I made the mistake of looking behind me and I noticed a trail of horse poop on the ground. It was not just one plop, there were several. I then realized the wetness that I was feeling was horse poop splattering onto my legs. I was totally grossed out. Between this and our previous experience at the Horse Center, I am not a big fan of horses or ponies.

4th of July - Part 1 of 3

We had a wonderful day celebrating our Country's Independence. The VMI parade grounds hosted a fun day full of activities. We started the day strolling the craft vendors and Leland enjoyed her first pony ride. She was a little hesitant at first of the ponies, but after petting one she decided she would ride.

There was also a kids bike parade, but we decided to be spectators this year instead of participants. Leland enjoyed watching all the kids on their bikes. One more reason for loving this town... kids who wanted to be in the parade met at the library where they got a pack of decorations for their bike and free water' after the parade they got free hot dogs and watermelon.

We then headed over to the Virginia Horse Center to meet Chuck's sister Mitzi and her family. There was a horse show going on so we decided to let the kids go see some horses. That did not turn out so well. We thought it would be fun horse jumping and such, but instead it was prim and proper Arabian horse competitions. These were some ridiculously serious horse people. I'm usually not a fan of "horse people" because most are fanatics. We were in a huge arena with maybe 60-70 people in there. In the 30 minutes we were there, 2 judges came and told us our children were being distracting to the riders and might spook the horses.

In one competition we watched there were only 2 competitors. TWO??!! How great is 2nd place when there are only 2? Our kids were clapping and cheering. If you are going to compete in anything you should be able to handle some cheering from the stands. I was a bit upset. By the time the 2nd judge came over I was irritated so we left. But not without a few choice words for the judge. [Chuck's note: I was so proud. Ashley told the judge, "That's okay, we are leaving now because y'all have made us feel very unwelcome with your rudeness."]

In the future, we will just stick to the rodeos and bull riding that come to the Virginia Horse Center where they encourage yelling and cheering.

After lunch and naps we headed back to VMI for more fun. We started with the bounce houses. There was a slide, obstacle course, and 2 that you just jump around in. The 1st time down the slide Leland did fine, but scratched her wrist on something. So the 2nd time she was more nervous. She sat at the top for a while then finally went down on her belly. Poor Tara (almost 2 year old neice) was in the obstacle course when it started to lose air and collapse. Luckily they had workers inside to help and he got Tara out. She was so nervous getting in but didn't seem to realize what was happening so she wasn't traumatized.

This is My Country!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I checked out a patriotic CD from the library. We had it for only a few hours when Leland found her favorite song. She wanted to listen to it over and over. I had no idea she would pick it up so quickly. She definitely has those Gates' singing genes in her. (Everyone who knows me knows that singing is NOT a Rathburn trait.)

More about our fun patriotic week later.

Elder Ballard inspires my new Blog

I tend to believe that those that frequent our blog can easily determine that we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known colloquially as Mormons. While many of our friends (and blog readers) are LDS, many of our close friends are not. Nevertheless, I hope all of our friends can see that our religion is important to us.

Today, I was reviewing my Google Reader RSS feeds and saw one from the Church entitled "Mormons Encouraged to Share Personal Perspectives Online to Explain Their Faith". It talks about how the July edition of the Ensign, a monthly magazine put out by the church, features an address by Elder M. Russell Ballard that encourages Church members to participate in the growing online discussion about the Church. In the talk, Elder Ballard, a member of the Church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles, says:

"There are conversations going on about the Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches. While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the Church are established one conversation at a time."

The Church's Public Affairs Department developed some nice guidelines set of guidelines and suggestions for Church members who wish to use the Internet to explain their religion to those of other faiths.

After reading this, I have been inspired to do what I have been procrastinating for so long --- develop a separate blog of my opinions of life, politics, religion, sports, or whatever fits my fancy. One of the talents God has given me is the ability to write well. I also am somebody of strong opinions --- the jury is still out on whether that is a gift from God. I believe it is a gift, if I can control my opinions.

This blog, as the name and title line imply, serves the purpose of updating our friends and family on our family activities. I don't want to muddy it with too much of my personal pontifications. This new blog will be a place where I can put my thoughts down, perhaps for others to read and discuss, but mostly for me to remember my personal development and for my children to see some day. I envision it being something slightly similar to that of my friend Carson Calderwood's Conservative Cake and Liberal Icing, but a little less about the Church (although still included) with more about politics, education, and sports.

I am working on the blog now and will keep you posted when it goes live.

Amy & Dixie Visit

Chuck's sister Amy and one of her daughter's - Dixie - came to visit. They were on their way to DC for July 4th and decided to make a stop in Lexington. Amy works for Alaska Airlines and we love that she and her family fly for free. Hopefully, on the next trip, all 6 of them can come. We were able to do lots of fun things in the 2 days that they were here.

One of the reasons Amy said she wanted to come was that she saw a previous blog post with a picture of Leland walking hand in hand with her cousins to the park. So, of course, I had to capture a picture of Leland and Dixie walking to the park. Maybe this will help convince more Gates cousins to visit.

Day 1 - It was a rainy day while touring downtown Lexington, but we still had a lot of fun.

Day 2 - Toured W&L campus, Lee Chapel, and Virginia Military Institute (VMI).
This was the first time that Chuck and I did an official tour of VMI. Since it is summer, and no cadets were there, we actually went into the barracks (AKA prison like building). Usually only cadets are allowed in the building.

We also visited my favorite place in the world Boxerwood Gardens. We actually went TWICE! Dixie was hilarious "eating" her mud pies.

Chuck really was with us the whole time - he's the photographer of the family and not in one picture.

Some other cute cousin pics: Tea Party with dolls and taking a nap with their Webkins.

Thanks for visiting, we hope to see you again soon.