Weekly Update

Hawaiian Beach Girl! This was what Shayla came up with for the "Costume Class" entry at the fair - a fun event. Well, after it spooked Skeeter and she landed on her back (Her first fall since last year at the fair.) she decided she would not be entering the costume class this year.
"He's never spooked on me before so why risk it and try it again. I'm not entering." Those were Shayla's words to Shayne after the fall. We both felt she made the right choice and she could just show up and cheer her friends on that day.
Summer 2005 Christi at horse riding lessons
Shayla's enjoying her summer. She's been making homemade ice cream with her "condo friend" and her grandma at the lake. Yummy!
The annual summer trips to African Wildlife Safari Park. Here the friends are feeding the zebra. Amazing! The girls are also getting a lot of use out of their Cedar Point passes. (Yes, much to my shock, this year Shayla rode the Dragster, Wicked Twister, Magnum and she loves the Maverick too. YIKES!)

Christi feeding the animals, Summer 2006, age 9

Shayla also made her yearly trip to Kings Island with her cousins, using her Cedar Point pass. We were hoping to meet up with a sweet family who followed Christi's journey for so long, but we were unable to get together as we have other summers. On our way home, we did get to stop and meet another sweet family; their mom and I have been "Internet friends" since shortly after Christi was diagnosed 2002 but we had never met before. Ironically, she moved to the great buckeye state so we stopped to say hello. Unfortunately, we had to rush to get back to take care of something else, but at least we got to drop off some Ballreigh's potato chips from our hometown (smile)!

Here's the annual Vortex shot - a picture tradition started in 2006 on Christi's last trip to KI. This year Shayla enjoyed riding coasters Christi never got to, but I know she would have loved: the Beast, Flight Deck and the new Diamond Back roller coaster.
Of course at KI on Tuesday, I had a few sad times remembering how much Christi loved going there with her cousins and how I long to have those good times back.

Shayla finished her six summer piano lessons we "encouraged" (cough) her to take. When she came home from her new school telling us that everyone could read music except for her, we thought it would be a good idea. She actually liked it, but didn't like the 30 minutes of daily practice we required her to do. We offered to allow her to continue the lessons once school started, but she declined. Sister was a great piano teacher for Christi and Shayla had about 18 lessons back in 2005. We do love hearing lovely piano music in our home. Hmmmmm. Hopefully, she'll be better prepared to start her flute lessons once school begins. I did buy her flute this summer so now that she can read music pretty well, I think she'll be good to go! Photo: December piano recital, 2004 Christi & Sister Marietta. Shayla wore that dress to Christi's funeral about two years later.
Even though our time was too short, it was wonderful to see my cousin's little ones this week as they flew in and Aunt Marty brought them to our home for a visit. What cuties!

Happy Birthday dear Dad! I miss you so much! Rest in peace and don't let Christi get on your nerves. (Photo Dancing with Dad at our wedding, 1991. My dad died just five years later at the age of 55 from a sudden heart attack while on vacation in Michigan. I miss him!)