Horses, horses, horses...

I leave my horse off for the winter, and now the kids pony too. But every spring I get the itch to start working them again. I can't wait to get them shed out and start trying to find time to ride. And so far this winter has been more like early spring. I am already getting the itch. Maybe it's because last summer I got to ride a lot more then I have in a long time and it wasn't even my own horse. I got to ride two very nice, well trained jumpers. Ah, just like the old days! When i worked as a groom I got to ride alot and it spoils you when you get to ride really nice horses. My own little pinto is a very green,8 coming 9 year old! I really need to find more time for him, because I think he'll become the kid's horse. He knows the basics but I just haven't given him enough time under saddle. Maybe this year...But as always by fall, I can't wait to pack it up for the winter!!

This was on TV back in 1975...

I remember watching this when I was a kid, I've never forgotten it.


My question is who let a 5 year old watch this!!! No wonder I never forgot it!

I think Emily and I have a connection...

or maybe we just think alike. Last night while watching TV a commercial came on for Michael Buble singing Jingle Bells. It was a weird look or something, it just struck me as strange and as soon as it was over Emily said, "ok then". Like she was thinking the same thing as me. Also, Curt had to borrow his Mother's car (since the new truck is getting it's bumper fixed from hitting a bear) and when he came in the house I was thinking of asking to make sure he didn't leave the keys in the car but before I could ask him Emily did!!

Finally an update

It's been a long time since I wrote on this blog and a lot has happened! I'm not sure if I will get everything in the right order, but here goes. We had a Hurricane and lost power for a few days, felt an earthquake while down at the Jersey Shore, the kids pony got really sick and we thought we were going to have to put him down (thankfully he recovered completely!) and we had a freak snow storm just before Halloween that once again knocked out the power for a few days.

Speaking of Halloween,


we usually go trick or treating at the local shopping center, which we did the Friday before Halloween. Then we had planned to go to a "trunk or treat" at a local park on Saturday and another one on Sunday at a nearby church. But then the snow started falling Saturday morning and never stopped until much later that night. So we lost power and missed out on trunk or treat but by Monday (the actual Halloween) I had no plans what to do with the kids. I saw that our mall was doing trick or treating that night but in the past it wasn't very good there, so I asked my brother about where they go and we decided to join them. Tyler was very happy to be going to "real houses" since we have never done that!! They had a great time with their cousins, even if it was cold and there was snow on the ground! Oh and I saw a bear run though a couple backyards too!!

I may have created a monster!

Emily has been asking for real riding clothes. We were in the area of a large tack shop that I knew had a large second hand section, so we went. It is not close to us and since we were there I had to get her stuff! It was cheap and in great condition and they had everything she needed in her size.

She of course LOVES her clothes!


She tried them on when we got home that night and she asked to sleep in them!! (I didn't let her) Then she wanted to wear it to the barn the next morning, again I had to say no. She can't keep anything clean! I should have bought a pair of "every day" britches! She really wants to do a horse show now too! So we are looking into going to a local show for leadline and see if the pony will mind. We don't know if he's ever been to a show or if it will freak him out. He has been so good for the kids I hope that he'll be his same calm self.

So anyway I did let Emily get dressed in all her stuff to ride in the afternoon. She didn't care it was hot she wanted everything on! She still wants to wear the britches in the house, so thankfully they are machine washable!

Tyler says he would like to show next year! So I still have time to get him clothes, but he really has a good relationship with the pony. The other day when Emily got all dressed up to ride, Grandma and Grandpa Cooper came to see them ride. Tyler was in his usually attire, shorts and crocks!


But he is really getting better in his riding and he loves to work around Killian and feed and take care of him. So when we were walking up from the ring, Emily wanted to lead him up and I helped her and Tyler was behind us with Grandma and Grandpa, but Killian kept stopping and looking behind him. I said to Tyler that Killian was waiting for him. So after the second time it happened Tyler caught up to us and went in front of him and Killian never looked back! It was really cute, like he didn't know why Tyler wasn't with us.

Fun in the HOT, HOT sun!

It's been a hot few days and tomorrow isn't going to be any better! But we've been staying cool. Yesterday we went back to the lake at High Point State Park.

Emily had great fun running in and out of the lake about a thousand times.

They still didn't make it to the top of the monument however. It was closed for the day by the time we got up there.
When we got home the kids wanted to show Aunt Cindy how they can ride their pony. But they didn't want to get dressed since it was so hot so they rode in their bathing suits. They have yet to ride in proper clothes!

Emily has been obsessed with "the Black Stallion" and she wanted to re-enact a scene...

Tyler had his turn too...


Now today we went to the Land of Make Believe and it was great! The perfect day for it too, it was sooooo HOT!!! We had a large group of family and friends that made it even more fun. Tyler was on the water slides nonstop! He never even went on the other rides.


Emily wasn't really ready for the water slides and she went in the wading pool, the lazy river and she went on the "dry" rides (Merry go round and stuff like that). You really needed to stay wet though and by the end of the day we got Emily on the big water slides and she loved it!! She went once with me and once with Cindy and the rest of the time she went with her idol, her cousin Kaitlyn! She went as many times as she could fit in before they closed the slides for the day!

Photo credit to my sister Cindy! :)

Day at the beach...sort of

It's not the ocean but it's supposed to be hot all week, and I was dripping sweat just doing the barn this morning. So with nothing better to do the kids and I went to High Point State Park and went swimming in Lake Marcia. It wasn't too crowded when we got there then a day care camp pulled in! It got a little crazy for a while but the kids settled in and Tyler and Emily had a few nice kids to play with. The water was pretty warm and the kids had a great time swimming. When we were done we drove up to the monument and had a look around. It was pretty hazy so we couldn't see too far.

We went up the first set of stairs but I wasn't going to the top!

I did it once when Tyler was little and I actually carried him most of the way. Once was enough for me! When the kids are older some one else can take them up (Daddy!)