July

July was another interesting month. We had some much needed renovations on our house. The last week in June the interior of the house was painted. I painted the kitchen and half bath but we had a company do the rest. That was followed but having ALL new floors but in. That renovation took place at the beginning of July. The house was turned upside down with things in the middle of rooms and in boxes. 

We needed to get the animals out of the house one day. The dogs returned that night but the cats needed to be away over night because the steps were finished and sealed and we needed to stay off them for about 12 hours. So off we went to a local hotel. That was an adventure. Sophia and I went out to lunch while Steve stayed back with the animals in the hotel room. He somehow let Otto out and did not realize it for about 30 minutes. It took us another 30 minutes to find him. We had two other couples and the hotel manager looking for him. Mr Twinkletoes and Otto were out of sorts while we were in the hotel. Mr. Twinkletoes was hissing at Otto. I was worried but once we got home they were back to normal.  And check out Mr. Twinkletoes ears. They are no longer folded down. 

And our house looks great!

Sophia attended Horse Jamboree with her 4-H friends again. This is a weekend sleep away camp. Her and Emma gave a team demo on horse breads and took first place. They were the only ones doing a team demo so the competition wasn't hard but the experience is invaluable. Learning to speak in front of judges is going to take her far. 

We took our annual July 1st photo a little late because the referral picture was packed away. July 1st marked the twelve anniversary of seeing Sophia's face in her referral photos. I still get excited when I think about receiving her referral. 

After the two weeks of renovations we got in the car and drove down to Kentucky Horse Park for BreyerFest. Sophia has been saving up for this event for over a year. She bought our admissions in as part of our agreement for this trip. This was $235. She also saved every penny she earned or received as a gift and ended up buying herself 16 horse while down there. She spent over $600. She loves each horse. She even learned how to barter at the horse sales that happen in the Clarion hotel at night. She also worked a trade outside the special run tent and managed to get a shiny appaloosa horse which was one of the 175 models they made for this run.  We got to see shows and meet horses. Sophia participated in a horseless jumping completion on Saturday. She also took some workshops. Rachel, a friend from the barn went with her mother so Sophia spent some time with her while there. 

We did a 1 mile walk/run to benefit a horse rescue on Sunday. Sophia ended up hurting herself on Sunday at lunch when her and her friend Rachel were jumping over horse jumps. She misjudged it and hit her toe. The nail broke it was pretty painful. 

We went to Claiborne breeding farm and learned about how the race horse breeding program works. Secretariat was at this farm during his breeding "career."

Sophia decorated our car windows for this event. She was even interviewed for the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/style/horse-girls-breyerfest.html

We were home for two days and then Sophia and I went to Connecticut to visit Linda and the girls. We stopped to see Aunt Philly on our way to Linda's house. She was thrilled to see us. I hope I am as spunky as she is when I am 95 years old. We went to a breakout game place and a town fair. We also had a family gathering where many of the Buccetti and Kuszpa cousins came. it was nice to see everyone.