City Slicker

One of my friends generously offered her parents house for a day of fun and horse riding for all of us and the kids. We descend on their house, they bring the horses out, let the kids ride, take us for walks on trails through their land and then feed us... sign me up!

So what does one wear to such an event.

Why these of course...


Could I be any more lame? (please don't answer that, I am fragile right now)

Seriously, I show up in flip flops and immediately take notice that I am in fact the only one. *sigh*

A few self deprecating jokes and I try to forget about it.

Then I look at the other kids...


My poor boy.

I get me being stupid but being stupid for my kid... that's a whole other level of FAIL.

More self deprecating jokes (probably too many) and I try to forget about it... again.

Laura's parents bring out the horses and Chase bravely follows Adam (Laura's son) as one of the first to ride.

I stupidly walked back to take a picture which was met with extremely dislike from Chase. So this is how we rode for the rest of the time.

One hand on the knob thingy (technical term) and one hand tightly grasping mine.

I love that I am his comfort.


After a few times around the ring we let someone else have a turn.

Which is about the time I started to look down...

and see that my poor exposed feet were rustling among the leaves. Which wasn't too bad... until you stared for a second or 2... and saw the spiders just hauling tail over all the leaves and twigs.

The fact that I didn't climb to the top of the 30 ft trees is a testament to my ability to hold it together. But I was freaked the hell out. And yes... a few crossed over my feet.

Typing it just made me shiver.

I couldn't be less country if I tried.

Bekah just kept telling me not to look down... a hard feat when you are convinced you are being eaten alive by spiders... also a hard feat when you are trying not to fall over because uneven terrain and stupid beach flip flops don't mix.

Sometimes my stupidity overwhelms me.

But I tried not to look down and just enjoyed a nice walk with Bekah holding Chase's hand and Alexander holding mine... I'm not sure how that happens so often ;~)

Once we were back from the walk I asked Chase if he wanted to ride again but was met with a firm "No fank you". "Are you sure you don't want to ride Elmo?". "Nope, I don't". "What about Charolette? Do you want to ride Charlotte?". "No fank you."

Ok... no more riding. At least he did it once which is what I really wanted.

We headed back down toward the house where Laura's parents had picnic tables set up with hot dogs, hamburgers, fruit salad, pasta salad, baked beans, chips and drinks. It really was quite a spread.

My boy and I enjoying some lunch.


Chase really liked his ice cream sandwich... he had his and mine!


We did a little more horse watching...


and we spent some quality time with Snoopy.

After all that fun, it was time to go home and make an attempt at "Quiet Time"... which has become the new norm at our house. I never thought I would hear myself say that but after all the sleep battles, this was just the direction he was headed. I no longer care if he sleeps (although it's nice when it happens!)... all I care is that he spends at least an hour and a half in his room for quiet time. Occasionally I have to go back there to solve some problem or make him stop jumping... or in rare cases, make him stop screaming *sigh*. But for the most part he gets it. He sits in his crib (yes he is still in a crib... the toddler bed is coming soon) and looks at books, rolls around, talks to his bears, rearranges his blankets and occasionally, throws it all out on the floor.

2 positive things to come from quiet time... 1. when I walk into his room he smiles and says "quiet time is over?". I smile and say yes and pick him up. He wraps his arms around me, gives me a hug while patting my back and says "Hi Mommy" in a sweet soft voice. That has become a new favorite time of the day. And #2... bed time is a hundred times easier. He's in bed by 7:30/7:45 and he rarely makes it to 8.

I on the other hand am up at 11:12 and wondering why. Goodnight!