Little House on the Big Ranch & Mist's first haircut

Mist: after hair cut and before below.

She is in love with it. Feels like Supergirl. She donated the 9" they cut off to a wig manufacturer that makes wigs for cancer patients.

Friday night: Peter and I went for a bike ride. It was great--the weather was so hot and sunny. There are sooo many steep hills up here that it was a killer workout. Then we watched some of my "Office" DVD's. The girls watched "Mary Poppins" upstairs. 

Mist is meeting several girlfriends today at a local mall. She did this for the very first time on Monday evening for a few hours. I don't think 12 year old girls should be hanging around a mall together for fun. I let her go the first time because the girls she was with are darlings and I have strict rules about how to behave at the mall and I know my Mist is a wise and smart little girl.

But a friend who couldn't make it on Monday has arranged a big group of the friends to go today. I have said Mist could go again, even though I am against 12 year olds at the mall as entertainment. If she were 16, maybe. I'm fine with it if an adult is also at the mall at the same time, keeping somewhat of an eye on the group. So I told Mist, this cannot be a regular event. I'll let her go today because all her friends are going, but after that, I want a parent hovering quietly in the distance. Does anyone agree with me that malls are no place for 12 year old girls to hang out?

Peter teaches all day today. I have to take Tabs to soccer at 9am and Mist to ballet rehearsal at noon. I am planning to take all my babes to "UP" 3D tonight. It looks cute.

Yesterday Fernando got neutered. You'd never know--he has so much energy post op. Today he is a little tender--I gave him his painkiller dose. 

O'Keefe Ranch: Pip and I and Tabs went to the O'keefe ranch just past Vernon yesterday. It was a gorgeous hot day for it. I enjoyed sitting with Tabs teacher on the bus ride down. He is an interesting and cool guy--he loves to travel, loves working with kids, seeking adventure and loves sports--kinda like me. He told me he's had 13 concussions from playing youth hockey and that he still has to manage the disastrous side effects from the damage.

The class trip was fun. The landscape is sooo beautiful and the ranch cool. They have actors in the general store (kids can buy candy) and in the old school house and the mansion tour. 

It was perfect except for the old biddy school marm. She acts like everyone is a real student of hers from the turn of the century. She gave everyone an old fashioned name and led them in a mock class. 

Everyone, except the Pip and I. She treated us like we were unwelcome lepers. She told us to sit on chairs in the back--out of the way and not to bock the isle. She gave everyone an old fashioned name except us. (All the other parent volunteers and helpers were treated like her students too). I thought, this is garbage. Dear little Pip and I were playing along, pretending it was the old 'n days, singing "God Save the Queen" and calling her "Mam" and she's acting like we are not a part of the group! Psycho B on her part. So I looked out the window wistfully--if she wasn't going to include us in make believe, I wasn't going to pretend anymore. I caught her gaze out of the corner of my eye, and she could tell I was affronted. She then decided to back peddle a bit and hand us some graphite so we could do the alphabet like the rest of the class. A sane part of her brain realized that she was being a total B and that perhaps, as we were paying tourists, this might affect her job somehow. Anyway, it was too little, too late and although I was polite to her, I still feel the pain of her rudeness/rejection of me and my darling baby girl. In retrospect, I wish I'd stood up in class and said "Excuse me Mam, what about us?"

However, I took some great photographs of our trip and will post them tomorrow. 

My secret passion (not secret anymore) is to buy land, lots of land, lots of glorious land with an old farm house on it and play "Little House" all year long whenever I have need to escape from the city.