Hearts and Hooves July 27 2010

Today we went to Hearts and Hooves of Lockhart again!

Miriam is stoked about the ponies! Miriam really wanted to go too but she had to work at her other job protecting America. Even though she doesn't have to, she spends her lunch hour with YSB. :)



When we got to the ranch, the owner, Veronique was glad to see us and so were the ponies because we brought apples which are much more yummy than house plants!



Everytime we go we learn more about ponies from Veronique's talks...


For example how to work with blind ponies like this cute guy!


Of course Elmo has to hug every pony there...


After cleaning the horses and renovating a brick stall, Elmo let us work on her burn tool for our summer art project.

Random Day July 22 2010

Before we went swimming we sat down and played a very good game of Apples to Apples. Our new volunteer Lee actually won his first time playing the game ever!



Jecca won a lot too...




probably because she has a special monkey friend to give her good luck...


LOL she actually signs him in too whenever she comes to the YSB! Very important that monkey :)

Our other volunteers also played and Brian kept coming up with really scientific explanations for his cards! Super smart!


And Patchez was our token super cool guy with his groovy glasses...

Nature Center July 2010

The San Marcos Nature Center rocks! There are so many cool creatures including turtles, lizards, rats, fish, spiders, guinea pigs, and frogs! Even though snakes look scary they actually feel really cool!





Well apparently some people just love snakes in general...


Yes we are all hardworkers in the YSB team!


We are CRAZY cool!

Hearts and Hooves July 13 2010

Today we met a "new" friend! A brand-new to the world pony! She was pretty cool!



Looks like she is now everyone's favorite...


Of course Elmo had to grab her up and get a picture... Hearts and Hooves is like a holiday for Elmo!


Of course we always help out when we go. This poor horsie had a hurt food that we helped put a medicine boot on...


This horsie also had a hurt food but one of our kiddos showed his expertise with horses by getting the equine to actually walk to the stables for treatment when no one could really get him to move!


We ended the day by helping to transport some of the ponies to a neighbor's house to trim that person's lawn. Very eco-friendly :)

Bowling July 2010

We went bowling today!




We love...


Bowling!


And treats!


And our YSB friends!

San Marcos River Work Group Again! July 2010

Today we helped out again with the San Marcos River Work group!



We worked hard!







Friendships grow stronger when we work together!

San Marcos River Work Camp July 6 2010

Today we lent a hand to the San Marcos River Work Camp since they were short on volunteers. The camp is a program where youth work together to renovate homes for the poor and elderly. We actually made a few friends from Louisiana who were also working there!



We also made a mess of ourselves but we definitely made a difference too!







More good news...our doves have made a new baby that is growing strong!

Another Rainy Day July 1 2010

Boy that Hurricane Alex sure has been giving us a lot of rain! We got rained out of more plans but luckily there were a few breaks in the down pour so we could go and play outside!







The girls are super strong and athletic too!

Rainy Day June 29 2010

Hurricane Alex has given San Marcos a lot of much needed rain but we also got rained out of a few plans....oh well we still have fun playing games at the YSB!

This "pass the ball with your feet" game that Elmo taught us is super fun and gets challenging when you add more balls going different directions!





We have a ton of board games but monopoly is probably one of our favorites!







That day we also had a teen practice her future career: teaching!



Speaking of teaching, our resident art teacher Elmo finally finished some of the name art she promised us!

Hearts and Hooves June 17 2010

Our first trip to the Hearts and Hooves Ranch!

We started off by getting to know the director, Veronique, and doing some therapeutic warm up exercises. Her organization helps people recover from things by using traditional therapeutic exercises as well as encouraging people to work with horses because they can read your thoughts and comfort you. :)

Then we started to gather up the horses and mini ponies...




And then we started to wash them!









Tiny babies!



We love helping!