These pictures were taken as we were waiting for sweet Gracey's horse riding lesson to end. The trainer we go to is amazing and their land is a kids paradise. They have dogs, horses, playgrounds, bikes, trikes, baseballs, bats, hoops, swings, dirt, mud, cows, manure, motorcycles and most importantly to Luke, helmets. As you can see in the picture.

When we arrive, he can hardly contain his excitement and need to get unbuckled from his car seat. He immediately runs into their garage and puts on a helmet, gloves (backwards) and sits on the child size bike. I can sometimes coax him out to play on the toys, but he always has a helmet on whether on the teeter totter or playing ball.

I have to dress the other 3 children who are not on the horse in pants and rain boots to keep them as clean as possible. It is hard for me, but nothing a box of wet wipes can't fix until we can get home for a bath. I have to strip them all down and clean them as best possible before they can get into my car again. They hate that part, but the reward of a 2 hour playtime at a horse ranch is well worth it. Megan stares at the cows mostly and is fascinated by them.

Gracey does not have a picture attached, since she must concentrate on the horse, and cannot seem to do that if she knows she is being recorded by camera or video. She is so darn adorable! They claim she is a natural and she loves it so much. They have her walk, trot and lope (gallop) in circles and then forms or patterns they are teaching her. It is vital that she direct the horse not with the reigns, but with her head. The horses are very in tune with the rider, and does what it is told by body movements. When she sits on her back pockets and says "whoa", the horse will stop. She can be at a gallop, going towards the fence and it will stop just short of running into the fence when she tells it to. She has also learned to "spin" circles and go around and around by digging in her heel and sitting on the pocket she wished the horse to go in. She can spin him pretty fast and it is so fun to watch. She then stops the horse by simply pulling back and sitting on her pockets and saying "whoa".

It may surprise you all to know that the only thing she really struggles with is speaking loud enough for the horse to hear her as well as the trainer. Most of us know that Gracey says what is on her mind always and it is usually at one level. She is very calm on the horse and her trainer asked me if she was shy since she could never really get a response from her when asked a question. I laughed and told Gracey to answer loudly and be confident. Last week after 2 months of lessons, they have moved her to the large arena so she has more room to maneuver the horse.

Since it is summer now, and hot already, we will be having lessons early in the morning. When I say early, I mean like 6 am and it is a good half an hour from our house. I'm not too sure how I will finagle it since the other three children will still be in bed, but we will figure something out. The kids usually sleep from 7 pm to 7 am, so we will see how tired they all are at waking up at the crack of dawn to get there. I would have her stop for the summer, but I stopped karate last year with Megan for the summer with all our trips and me teaching swim it was overwhelming to get her there. I regretted it the first day in the Fall when we took her back. She needed to continue as well as Gracey will need to. There is no use in starting all over again.

I am hoping to get a picture of Gracey on her horse one of these days and will post it as soon as I get a good one! I need Rachie here to take action shots with her fabulous camera and her expertise.