Lots of riding

When all the cousins came up, everyone took a pony ride.

And Miri got some quality time with ol' Shorty too.

  

It was Aleaha's job to walk him. Ground Work, we call it.

Later on, Quigly found an especially dusty place to roll. We went over with two bays and a roan and came home with two roans and a bay.

And we discovered that Shorty likes watermelon rind. :)

Riding on her own!

Aleaha had a fabulous time on Shorty!!! She really-really-really wanted to be able to go on a  trail ride without being on a leadrope, so we worked up to that. First, she had to show her chops riding independently, as a brush-up on skills learned last year. So with the other 2 boys in the corral, she walked around the pasture. I made her do this bareback, because it really builds good balance.

And then, our dreams were made true! All three of us went out for a ride together.

She was thrilled! And so were we.

The sound and the sight...aaaahhhhh!

It was heaven! All the horses were well-behaved, the dog as our "flusher" our front, and we had a marvelous time. This will be the favorite memory for me of the whole trip!

To town for the parade

We were headed into town early on parade day, and we had made plans to stop at a neighbor's house to pick up an extra horse, just to lighten their load a little (they were bringing 7 horses for the Mounted Band to ride, so we were happy to help). On the way, while came across this guy in the road.

It wasn't like he was all that menacing, but we had just watched PBR the night before. We know what they are capable of! So it was a smidgen uncomfortable to be out of the pick-up to knock on the door, with him swaggering up the driveway. (And yes, you can hear me explaining he's definitely a boy in the audio)

As we staged for the parade, we all promised we would not be there longer than we should.

Quigly was a total champ. Great boy with all the trains, giant flags, barking dogs, and whatnot. Like Chris said and Gramma knew, he's a winner!

The girls were ready for the parade!

We tightened cinches and sort of tuned up.

Aunt Jeannie took some amazing photos during the parade. Look at these cuties!

A bit pensive.

Mostly a ham.

Soooo much fun!

Yes, I'd like to keep doing this.

PBR

On a whim, we took in Professional Bull Riding one night. Wow, it was something else. It was loud, is what it was. Ay yi yi. But the girls seemed to enjoy it.

Until about 30 mins into it, when Miri conked out.

Aleaha, photobombing her sister.

Escape Eastward!

This is how we vacation....

First, we pack up all our jeans, t-shirts, shorts, tank tops, skivvies, long socks, short socks, riding boots, tennis shoes, flip flops, and swimsuits. We find the "little TV" and all its cords and headphones, plus a few DVDs, plus some other jimcracks and activities for the trip. We put all of this stuff into duffle bags -- approx. 3 per person. We try to be extremely organized, so that we know where everything is.

Then we go to the grocery store and buy lots of good food plus road snacks (not-so-good food). Find all the coolers. We forget to buy ice, so we put that on the Last-Minute List. We gas the rigs, check the tires and oil.

Then we pack up most of our saddles, pads, bridles, lead ropes, assorted halters, fencing supplies, sweet feed, gobs of fly spray, and the ever-lovin' tub of Bute. Also hafta check to be sure we have fishing poles and tackle box. Fortunately, most of this is already in the horse trailer, so that part is an easy chore.

On the day of, we load up most of the horses, plus the dog. Then we spend all morning trying to get out of Dodge. Just getting to the freeway seems to take forever. Must make several stops to complete the Last-Minute List.

And finally, we are on the road with our load.

I might have to break this up in a few posts.

Stopped at Burger King before getting on the freeway. Must make sure nobody is hangry. (Cuz man, if they are...)

Immediately upon arrival, we went for a bug-catching walk.

 

And we sampled the wild strawberries!!

Jodi helped give some exercise to Arby. (She was a Godsend!)

And then we were in good shape for pony rides!

She asked to take him on a lone ride, to help remind him of his manners. WOW. What a difference this made. He was good as gold!

She took him down the road a spell, and it was the best thing for him.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had some serious chill-axin' to do.

And once properly rested, it was time for Daddy's first ride on his new mount, I Bee Quigly.

"He's a winner!"

In a later ride, Daddy was taking the all-appropriate selfie...

(Here's the shot he got.)

 

Lots and lots of riding.

It was awesome!!

Nice shot of the horses corrals and pasture.

 

Each day they would rest a bit. Arby was generally the appointed look-out while the other two snoozed.

Welcome, piggies!

It was finally time to go get the new batch of pigs! We made some major changes this year, buidling an uber-pen that should work year-to-year. 

The girls were excited to paint the gate.

I made them wear old clothes, put their hair up, and wear gloves, but they really didn't make much of a mess. A bit of black paint on the concrete, but mostly it went where it was supposed to go. Whew!

We have to teach the little piggies to drink, so here they are filling up the temporary water buckets.

They both fell asleep in the pickup on the way home that evening. What a day!

As we began to unload the pigs, Smokey was on -the-spot to manage things.

He kept a very keen eye on them!

They seem to be adjusting very well to their new surroundings. We have a motion-detecting spinkler and motion-detecting light near their pen, to help ward off any curious coyotes who think they want free pork. But it won't be long before these guys are big enough to fend for themselves and the threat is lessened.

Bring on the bacon!

Outing to Enchanted Forest

We carved out some time from our always-terribly-busy weekends to tkae a family break and have a picnic lunch and visit to the Enchanted Forest.

We picnicked at Willamette Valley Vineyards. The girls thought it was fun to pull the cooler up the hill.

Amazing view. Daddy and Mommy reminesced about our first anniversary, where we visited here and had a picnic.

Awful quality of shots, but it's nice to document that we actually did this stuff.

They ran around all the little vignettes with great joy.

Little Ol' Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

Happened to get one kid coming back from a slide while the other was about to go.

This was sort of ironic...Daddy was originally supposed to be at Woodburn racing on this weekend, but the transmission wasn't cooperating, so we were doing other things. As it turned out, he did still get a chance to "go racing"...in a form of electric car!

He took each kiddo around. They loved it!

(My hideous photography skills, coupled with a stupid camera, are killing me here...)