Ridin' Horseback

One of the things I have really enjoyed as a parent is watching my girls experience things I did not get to experience as a child. I TRY not to live through them, though my dear husband often reminds me that the girls are not going to always get as excited about experiences as I would and not to be to disappointed when they aren't!

One thing Sissy has been able to enjoy that I did not get to, was participating in Girl Scouts. This is her 3rd year with Girl Scouts and her first year as a Junior Girl Scout. After selling cookies this year the girls were able to go on their 2nd horseback riding event (another thing I always wanted to do!). Sissy has always been a bit skittish of animals, no matter how big or small, but I did notice that it didn't take her long to become comfortable this time. The girls were able to tour the stables (there was even a colt in the barn!), brush the horses, clean their hooves, visit the tack room, and take a ride.

Next weekend Sissy and daddy will be going to a Father Daughter Horseback Riding evening at

Michigan Christian Youth Camp. They will ride on the trails, take a hay ride and roast hot dogs around a campfire. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Visit with Family

My husband's sister and brother-in-law stayed with us 6 days and they have moved on to visit a few more family members. We had a really nice time and the kids really enjoyed having their aunt and uncle here. We took them to Greenfield Village and had awesome weather.

The girls enjoyed a ride on a bus from the 1930's. It's funny when they are young and can't really understand how far back things are from. Since we used the American Girls for our history study this year, I find myself saying, "That is from xxx's time" so they can place the time in history we are looking at. For the bus daddy said, "John Boy Walton would have ridden in one of these." Because most of the stuff on t.v. now is trash and we do not have cable/satellite, the kids do not watch alot of t.v. other than PBS or rented old t.v. shows from the library. The girls really like watching the Waltons and Sweet Baby even declared once that she wanted to marry John Boy!

We stopped by the old photography studio which is the cutest building with windows all on one side to let the light in. We had fun looking like the people do in photographs from the old days.

And of course, to end our day, we enjoyed the yummiest ice cream ever!

I LOVE Free Toys!

My husband is on vacation this week while we await a visit from his sister and her husband (they should be here any minute!) While he is off he has quite a large list of things to do around the house. One of the things was to start trimming the many trees we have in our yard. He was trimming the branches and asking the girls to try to pull them into the back yard when he noticed they were "making a fort" with the branches and playing Indians. I love when kids are easily amused at simple things and love it even more watching the girls enjoy their friendship.

A New Niece

I just had to share photos of my new niece...this is Isabelle Ann. She was born last week and the girls are just loving the idea of having a baby around to ooogle at. This is my only brother's first child. He and his girlfriend are very excited. Congrats!