Then and Now

Zach. 2006. 8 years old, love his sweaty face after the Fun Run!

Zach. 2011. 13 years old, love his smile!

Zach

Zach loves airplanes

Zach loves root beer

Zach loves Russia and Roblox

Zach really loves Dewey,

   But Zach would rather ride Ole Yeller!

Brownie loves Jess

Brownie may be a brat at times but he sure loves Jess. We had a few people over here to play with the horses. Jess took on the task of walking the younger kids on Brownie. It wasn't long before she realized that Brownie was following her around exactly. So they played follow the leader for hours :)

Here is my little cowgirl and her horse.

You've come a long way, baby!

Wow, it has been a while since I have been inspired to blog....

It has been a little more then a year since Jess has been riding her own horse Brownie. I still remember the tears the first time she tried to ride the brat! I remember the feeling in my stomach, I remember thinking,  "What have I done?" Jessie was so timid, I was looking for a horse that would challenge her.  Brownie reminded me of the horses I rode as a kid, all bark no bite. After that first meeting I was not sure I had made the right decision, Jess, it seems, was afraid of the bark.

Jessie's was still afraid to trot on her first trail ride... But here we are a year later at Hardy Creek...

shhh I would pull the trailer with a car if I had too..

It had been awhile since Jess and I had a chance to actually go OUT and ride so we headed to Hardy Creek Corridor. We had already been riding about 4 hours when we came to a fork in the road.

I being the parent that I am, automatically went down the "more difficult" blue, trail.

Jess, "Mom, why didn't we go down the black diamond trail?" Me "I thought you would be to scared, want to give it a try?" Jess, "Umm Yeah!" (said as only a 11 going on 16 yo can).

Away we went, I went first and I have to say it was steep but Turbo being trusty Turbo plucked his way down. I hear Jess telling Brownie that he doesn't have to trot down the hill....

It wasn't until we hit the bottom creek that I realized, YES you guessed it we were at the "DROP OF DOOM!" For those who haven't heard Rachel and I tell and retell the story -  First go around with the DROP OF DOOM - Down the hill, across the water, up the hill again with not a whimper or tear from Jess. After I knew we were safely on the other side I told her where we had gone.

Jess, "you guys were afraid of that?" 

What happened to my timid little girl? I don't know but I was so proud of her. I just wish Rachel was with us to see how far Jess has come....

Fun with Water

Just a quick post today as I am tired but I wanted to show you what we were up to today. My kids are in Canada and I know they are having fun but when they see this video they will want to kill me.

Kids and thebeach

There is something about the beach that brings out the "kid" in kids. Both my kids are in the cool stage now and you won't find them playing purely for the sake of playing and letting off energy. However after we finished riding, they begged to play. I spent the next 2 hours watching them run around freely without a care in the world. It was such a joy to see them so uninhibited.

Jessie vs the seagulls

One of the things I love and hate about my daughter is her love for animals. I do love how kind and compassionate she is but it is annoying when I want to kill a fly or a spider....

When we were at the beach Friday the seagulls were having a field day catching crabs. Here she had just finished saving one crab, good thing she didn't look behind her