Saturday, August 28, 2010

Check it off the list!

You may not know that we have a wonderful 'to do this summer' list on our basement door. It's full of silly, fun, amazing things we wanted to do this summer. We're doing pretty well checking things off too. One major item that was left was 'horseback riding'. According to Abby, this could not be in a circle, it must be on a trail. That's not an easy task for 3- 6 1/2 year olds and an inexperienced mom! Tom is up north golfing/fantasy football drafting (why does this draft require an overnight??) so the kids and I took off to Allegan to tackle the horseback riding task. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about being the only parent, what if someone changed their mind? What if someone got scared? What if someone just plain decided they didn't want to go? Well, none of these things happened and we had the most amazing 1 hour trail ride. It was relaxing and fun. The kids loved every minute of it. They controlled their own horse (stopped them from eating, guided them back in to line, stopped them, started them, turned them), asked wonderful questions of the guide, were peaceful and quiet at times, looked at dragonflies, frogs and birds. Aside from a little soreness (ahem!) I was completely at peace for the entire hour. It was one of my favorite moments of the summer.

All 3 pre-ride
Abby on 'Bulldozer'
Sophie on 'Silly-Sally'
Noah on 'Mally'
The ride
The family after a wonderful ride (fyi my horse is named 'Trouble' and yes, I was a bit nervous about that!)

4 comments:

Chuck, Martha and Family said...

wow! amazing! love it!

GLMcD said...

Amazing!! That is the only word I can think of.

joan b. said...

Wow! The pictures are as fun as the stories the kids had of their ride :)

Not too many things left on that summer list....what a great summer!

Anonymous said...

What fun! That was always on my "to do list" when we would go Out West for vacation....ask Tom. :) Love the names of the horses, too. :) Miss you guys!