Just Horsin' Around

Once again, Dad's cousin Cherie brought her granddaughters down for a weekend of horse riding at Scott's. It was a fun weekend with LOTS of kids (9 of them one day!) riding horses! ;)

Isaac LOVED riding. Even the mini Spirit. He was SO proud of himself. "I can do it by myself Mom!"

 Ha!! Little Miss Anna, struggling for control. Boy does that sound familiar!!! 

 Isaac & Ellie waited patiently for their turns on the big horses.

 Silly Grace!!!

 The difference a year makes...Anna couldn't wait to canter on her horse this year!

 Good posture, but KEEP YOUR HEELS DOWN! Ha! 

 We have another horse lover in the family!

 Jacob rode for a little bit, but it's not really his thing.

 Amanda came one day to ride. We'll make a cowgirl yet out of this California girl! ;)

Jacob preferred Spirit.

As always, it was a fun weekend and we all appreciated Scott & Amy's hospitality!

Best Saturday Ever (according to Anna)

 We finally made it back over to Scott's place. After the competition in Texas, Scott put Maverick out in the pasture to give him a break from training. Then he took him to a feedlot, hoping he would get more used to being around cattle. Except Maverick got really wild again! Scott couldn't even catch him. It wasn't looking very promising for keeping him as Anna's horse. Scott said he would just put Maverick in with his therapy horses so he would be around people constantly and see how he did. If you tried to go up to him, he would run away. But as soon as you turned your back, he would come right up to you. So we were curious what he would do with Anna.

 He didn't even back away from her! And he followed her everywhere she went in the pen. Scott said with the progress he's made so far, she'll be riding him by summer! She flipped her lid and was doing somersaults (literally)!! She would have stayed there all day petting him, content as could be.

She asked Scott if she could ride a horse, so he got out an old bag of bones horse Buster for her to ride :) He's not exceptionally old, but he is very lazy!! So Anna got a good lesson in "show him who's boss" :)

 Scott gave her some great riding lessons and she caught on pretty quickly.

 Learning how to make him mind and follow her leads.

She even got to trot! She was bouncing around so much it was comical. He worked on teaching her to use her legs and bounce with the horse. She had so much fun!! And the horse Scott is on? A green one he's breaking! That's how laid-back Buster is...didn't phase him a bit when Scott's horse got a little antsy. 

We're hoping to be able to make it over there every other Saturday so Anna can continue working on her riding skills so she'll be ready for Maverick in the summer! :)

Fun at the Ranch

Saturday Scott had a fundraiser trail ride. We didn't go on the actual trail ride, but there were horse rides, games, treats and even an egg hunt! I took all three kids by myself so Aaron and a friend could get the trim in the bathroom finished (it looks amazing!). It was a lot of fun but I was exhausted by the time we got home!!! Anna, of course, loved the horse rides. Jacob has actually warmed up to horses, too. He rode several times.

My little cowboy!

Round and round they go!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! I need to print it off and frame it! She is my cowgirl, that's for sure. The other day she was whining about a little scratch on her arm. I told her that she needed to toughen up because cowgirls are tough. This is what she told me tonight:

Hey Mom, at school today I fell down and hit my elbow really hard. It really hurt. But I didn't even cry! You know why? Because I said to myself, "If I wanna be a cowgirl, I gotta be tough!" because I remembered that's what you told me.

I love her.

This boy. Oh this boy. He is a crack-up. He was playing around, entertaining everyone with his antics, I'm sure. I go to check on him and find him sitting in the Bobcat.

Hey Mama, how you tuhn dis on??

*laughing* I ain't tellin' you!!!

Why not?!

Because you don't need to know!

Yes I do. I need ta dwive it!!

You can't drive it. You can't reach the pedals!

Oh. I tan't get down. Heylp me.

Oh Jacob. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.

Travel Diaries *updated*

Okay, I emailed the wrong picture! Yes, I AM a tired girl:) But this picture is great as well...and from our drive home. We'd already stopped in KC for supper, but the kids were antsy and Mom and I needed to stretch our legs. So she pulled off in the Flint Hills along I-70. And much to our delight we found horses in the pasture next to the road! It was a pretty steep ditch down to the fence so I carried Jacob down and Anna surprisingly walked. I whistled and called for the horses and they came right over. I could tell they were very used to people. The male was a gorgeous paint-dark, dark brown and white. The mare wasn't as interested in us. To my surprise, Jacob wasn't the least bit afraid. He let the horse sniff his head and get really close. And he just belly laughed! Pretty soon we were pulling grass to feed him (which, by the way, Jacob declared was HIS horse and asked to ride many times!). Anna was a bit intimidated to feed him more than a couple times, but Jacob wasn't in the least! At one point when I turned around to grab some grass, the horse decided Jacob's hair looked good enough to eat! He just laughed and laughed. We stayed there for at least 15 minutes and when I said it was time to go, Jacob had a complete and total meltdown. "Nooooo! I not yeave my horsey!!!!!!" He had tears streaming down his cheeks as I carried him back up to the van. We went up the road a bit to turn around and as we drove by the horses again, Binga said "Tell the horse you'll see him next time!" To which Jacob sobbed "NOOOOOO!!! Not say bye!!!!! Not neh time!!!!" He cried for another 5 minutes. And then Anna decided to inform him that we could go to Scott's and actually ride horses (she was trying to be nice and comfort him, but it didn't work). Which set him off again. He wanted that horse. It was his after all, didn't we know?! We were almost home, it was completely dark, and he said something about his horse being asleep. Too sweet! Well, Daddy...I don't think there's any way you're going to get out of us eventually having a horse now!! :)

HHR take 2

There were, of course, horses to ride! After Anna spent an hour holding kittens, she went out all by herself & stood in line to ride. She looks like a natural!! :)
Sent from Jennifer's BlackBerry

Wild Mustang

I let my children ride a wild mustang. I'm serious. I didn't know it was a wild mustang when I put them on, but it was! :) Scott was out by my grandparents' moving some of his long horn cattle and said we could stop by and help/ride if we made it in time. Of course, we'd already left home so I had to ride in capris and flip flops! But it was still so relaxing. I really miss riding. It's peaceful.

But I digress...the wild mustang. See, Scott is doing a competition--he gets a wild mustang and breaks it and trains it and then shows it. I think he has a total of 3 months to get it done. The wild mustang he got? Turns out he wasn't so wild! I mean, he was truly wild but he wasn't wild. Am I making sense?? :D Scott said this horse never bucked once! He was very relaxed and easy-going on our mile+ ride! I almost didn't believe him when he told me that was the wild mustang he was training. So we got pictures and one day Anna & Jacob can tell their grandchildren that they rode a wild mustang before they were even old enough for school! ;)

Telling me all about this horse. We rode about a mile from where the trailer was to the house. And we walked the whole way. So it took a while. And that whole time, I don't think Anna stopped talking. But seriously? What's better than being out in the middle of nowhere, on a horse with my daughter? And seeing an amazing sunset (even though we almost got carried off by mosquitoes!).

Mama, is this horse a boy or a girl?

Well, I don't know. I forgot to look before I got on. I think it's probably a boy.

Hmmm...I think it's a girl. We'll call her Horsey.

Okay, Anna.

Well, maybe it is a boy. Is it a boy or a girl?

I don't know Anna. I think it's probably a boy.

Okay. I can tell him "Good boy"!

Okay.

Mama, I really like horses. I wish I could ride a horse every day.

Me too, Anna. Me too!

We should go to Scott's and ride horses again.

I know. That was fun, wasn't it?

Yes! Can I have a horse?

Maybe some day you and I can both have a horse.

I like horses Mama.

I know...you mentioned that already.

After she finally gave up and came inside, she told me next time she's going to wear her cowboy boots to ride. Me too Anna! Flip flops are NOT made for horse riding!

Last time Jacob was in the saddle, he screamed. This time? He loved it! In fact, when he had to go inside, this is what he did......

laid on the floor and cried! Maybe I'll get him trained, yet! :)

Fun Day!

Today, Kim and her kids came with us to the zoo! And then we went to Scott's ranch to ride horses!! The big kids were super excited.

So, here are a bunch of pictures from our exciting day:)

These lemurs were hilarious! At first they were just laying around but when they noticed us standing there, they sat up like this...like they were "performing" for us. The kids thought it was pretty funny.

Jacob was allowed out of the stroller INSIDE the aquarium building:) He loved seeing all the fish!

We also met my cousin's wife Amy and her little boy Daniel at the zoo. He was very enthusiastic (contrary to this picture!) :)

This is a piranha...I'd never actually seen one before. If you look really closely, you can see its teeth! One of them in the tank was missing part of it's top b/c the others had started eating on it! The worker said that if they don't get fed, they just start eating each other. They get fed little mice and the piranhas eat them whole!

The Annas :)

The tigers! They have a white tiger, too. Those are some magnificent animals! Jacob did NOT like them, but all the others did.

Anna Mae, ready to explore!

I am just in awe of God's creations!

The white tiger looked really old. A lot older than I remember from last time we were there a couple years ago.

Everything is "dada" for Daniel! He is very enthusiastic about things, though! He'll point, jump, and forcefully say "DADA!" It's so funny.

Anna watching the spider monkeys.

...............................................................................

Now the horses!! It was so much fun and Anna and Jake were SO EXCITED about it. We had our sack lunch and the kids about knocked the door out when I asked if they were ready to go ride! :) Kim and I had our hands full...Anna Mae does NOT like dogs, so she wanted to be held. And Jacob would just take off, which wasn't good b/c there were several horses in the pen when the big kids were riding! And Daniel was the same way! So we alternated between holding kids and taking pictures:)

Once we got out of the riding pen, we didn't have to keep them so close. And Jacob went right up to this horse and tried to pet him! Not the least bit afraid.

Just a little closer horsey!

Mr. Horse Rider himself! I put him up there and right away he grabbed the saddle horn and raised up one hand, as if to say "Come on Daddy! Let's get goin'!!" It was so funny.

SO CUTE! :)

Anna Mae, on the other hand, was not so impressed! Even with big brother Jake on there, she was having none of it! Jacob didn't like it either. He was up there by himself and he just screamed!

He preferred the ground and playing with the puppy Hoss. He just squealed and laughed!

Mama's girl! When she first got on, she looked like she wanted to scream but after a few steps, she really liked it.

Jake LOVED it. He was so completely excited and started talking 100mph! And he didn't stop talking the entire time he was on the horse! :)

He just pointed and jabbered:)