All horses love Halloween, even the horses at the Free Rein barn. They decided to take a week off from giving rides and are going to celebrate Halloween tomorrow in the way all horses do; extra hay!

I actually had a week off before this. Our family flew to Tampa Bay, Florida, and enjoyed a week at the beach on Captiva Island with our friends, the McLendons. We had a fabulous time, the weather was fantastic, and the company was great.

I am looking forward to seeing Chester next week!

  Friday the 15th of August at riding, Chester and I were headed back to the barn when my helmet needed an adjustment. Susan, my side walker, pushed it up a little using the brim, and it cracked! I had been planning on purchasing a new helmet this winter, as my helmet will be five years old at that time. The life time of a helmet is five years. Needless to say, I need to buy a new one now. By the time, I had dismounted, the cracked brim had fallen off! So, a shopping trip to The Tack Trunk was planned.

My summer just got busier! Pam, my boss at Rainbow Connection Daycare, is running another daycare in the Northtown area. Starting June 9th, I will be reading Monday and Tuesdays mornings to the children there. So now my work schedule will be four mornings a week!!! No sleeping in this summer.

I received my first paycheck December 6th. What a great feeling!!! I am having so much fun working and it is great interacting with the kids. My job coach, Shannon, has been assisting me and we are getting along great.

Last Friday my Spokane Valley Heroes group had our first get together since the summer break. We are a group of young adults with developmental delays and we meet together just to have fun. Friday night was game night. Everyone brought pizza and salads for dinner and then played a variety of games. We had a small group but had lots of fun. I played Farkel, Pictionary, and a game that we brought called Loopin Louie. Our next get together is going to be a Halloween dance.

FINALLY! Exciting news! Jeanne from Enso, my employment agency, found me a paid job reading to kids at the Rainbow Connection Daycare downtown. I will be there two mornings a week for about an hour and a half. I’m really excited and will be starting the first week of November. I will let everyone know how my first day goes.

Wednesday was my first day at my new job at Rainbow Connection Daycare which is located in downtown Spokane!!! Pam, my new boss, got me set up with their computer timesheets and gave me a code for the front door. I am an official employee! It was so cool. I read to four different groups of kids; the five year olds, two-three year olds, four year olds and the one year olds. I will be working Wednesday and Thursdays for about an hour and a half each day. It is AWESOME to finally be employed.

Dad, mom and I just got back from a trip to Captiva Island, Florida. What a beautiful place! We met our friends, Dave and Shirley and their son Aaron’s family, and had a very relaxing week. Sitting on the beach with my toes in the sand, swimming in the Gulf and the pool were the highlights of the week. We rented a beach wheelchair that had great big rubber tires that would go anywhere on the beach, even floating in the Gulf. I came home with a sack full of sea shells that we collected and a lot of great memories.

The Spokane County Interstate Fair opened Friday, September 6th. I entered a latchhook pillow that my mom helped me make of a Christmas bear. Here I am with my pillow at the fair, and it has a blue ribbon on it!! This is my first time entering anything and I am so excited!!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The New Year is bringing preparation for the Free Rein Annual Barn Dance. It will be held February 2nd this year. Last week mom and I went out to the barn and helped a group of 10 get the newsletter ready to mail and invites for the Barn Dance.