Birthday Eve

I'm sure you were wondering why I didn't ride on my birthday. Well, because I rode the day before! I wanted to ride at the Lake Mineral Wells State Park on their equestrian trails and usually if I go in the middle of the week I nearly have the park all to myself! It's the busiest on the weekend. I also wanted to take Kaidence. She loves to go with me.

Here she is riding "shotgun".

I  don't pull the horse trailer as much as I used to and with this new truck being longer I still don't have a system for hooking up quickly. I was having more difficulty than usual. After 30 minutes of not successfully getting the truck under the goose-neck, I was so mad that I said "to heck with it"! Well, that isn't "exactly" what I said but you get the idea. To work out some frustration I chose to weedeat around the barn and trailer. I found this little critter. I loved his color! I was very grateful I didn't wack him with the weedeater!

I weedeated until I broke it! By that time I had calmed down and it wasn't terribly late so I decided to try again to hook up the trailer. It took more than once but I finally got it done! I might add that I swallowed my pride and asked God to help me. I talked to Him about that while I was weedeating.

I am so glad I persevered and went to the park. It was a beautiful afternoon and the wildflowers made an already scenic ride more colorful!

See the red along the trail? These are Texas Plume. Very pretty.

Closer look.

There were so many varieties of wildflowers the park was like one big bouquet!

Remember if you click on the photo you can see it larger for viewing more detail.

Some Indian Blankets (red), Horsemint (purple) and others I can't remember what they are.

It makes for such a stark contrast!

Kaidence usually follows behind although at one point she somehow got in front. At first she kept looking back like she was afraid we were going to run over her but she soon regained her confidence and led the way.

I love this part of the trail. It follows alongside a dry creek bed. Very shaded and the trail is very sandy. Nice break from the sun!

We finally found a waterhole and we stop to let Kaidence get a drink and play a minute in the water. I was going to let Clyde drink but he seemed more interested in the tall grass!

last leg of the trail on the way back to the trailer.

All those black straps are from my camera bag and camera. Self portrait with some Texas Plume in the background.

These little beauties are in Clyde's pasture. Hoping to get it mowed soon. I like the flowers but there are lots of weeds too.

This little butterfly was very friendly. I managed to get this photo without a zoom lens!

The kids came over on Sunday. Vanessa dressed the girls in the dresses I bought them for Christmas. This will probably be the last time Remi will wear hers. Kennedy was giving me a hard time about taking a picture of them with their dresses. This is what she gave me first.

I started making faces and saying silly things and got them both giggling.....

with their eyes closed! I should have tried one more time but I didn't.

I got a big smile out of Kashton! He's 3 months!

Have a good one!

Happy Birthday ... to ME!

Things have been pretty full around here! I had a birthday a few days ago. Saturday (June 8th) to be exact. I actually slept in...for me. The first contact I had of the day was a text message from my daughter asking if I'd like to go to breakfast for my birthday. I said sure! It was going to be about an hour before they would go which was fine. I needed to shower and feed Clyde.

When I walked in they were waiting on me. Mom, Keannon, Vanessa, Kashton and 2 excited little girls! They had each bought me a balloon and card.

Kennedy picked this balloon for me.

Remi picked this balloon for me.

Here are my cards! Can you guess who gave me which? The horse is from Kennedy and the princesses from Remi! They didn't sing to me at the restaurant but later that evening when I kept them for a little while. They also had a big watermelon setting on the table! I'm sure we looked a sight. I don't know for the life of me why I didn't take a picture when I got there! Oh well, I did take one with the girls before we left!

My arms are almost not long enough to take a self portrait and hold two girls!

After breakfast I decide to spend the afternoon at the scrapbook store where I received birthday greetings from all who where there attending a class and got gifts from a couple of my scrapping buddies. I was surprised and thrilled! I can always count on them to give me something crafty! After the store closed Cathy asked if I'd like to eat dinner with her. Her hubby was at the races and mine was at work. I said sure! We rarely ever get to do something like that! We decided on Chili's. She snapped a picture as they brought out dessert and sang to me!

It was a pretty good day!

 

Later I had all three grandkids. It was a little bumpy in the beginning as Kashton was awake and wanted to be held while Remi and Kennedy wanted me to play with them! Kashton later ate and went to sleep freeing me to play with the girls!

I finally did get my watermelon! It was really good too!

Until next time....have a good one!

Ride'em Cowgirl!

The girls wanted to ride Clyde. I was more than willing to oblige! Vanessa had an appointment at 11am so she brought them by the office on her way.

Of course he was on the other side of the pasture. The weeds are knee to waist high and since the girls were wearing shorts I had them sit on the running board of the trailer to wait for me. As I got close to the gate the girls couldn't stand it any longer and came running to meet us. They wanted to "help" me lead Clyde so I let them. They were so excited!

I gave Remi some pointers on grooming before we saddle.

All ready to go with her Minnie Ears! Remi wanted to ride by herself before Kennedy rode with her.. I had to do some explaining to Kennedy. She was not happy at first but came around. While leading Remi around we found some pretty flowers.

We picked some for Remi too since she couldn't get down.

I planned far enough in advance to bring my tripod so I could get a picture with me in it!

I then took both girls on a little excursion.

We saw this huge mushroom. I don't think I've ever seen one this big!

It's looked light an enormous golf ball! I decided to pick it up so the girls could see it.

By now we were all getting hot, thirsty and our tummys were growling so we head back. Guess where we went to eat?

If you guessed McDonald's you are correct! Now I didn't let them have ice cream first! We had good food first then play time then dessert!

That's Kennedy's ice cream at the bottom of the photo.

Both girls trying to sit on my lap and Kennedy being the clown! I think the girls had a pretty good time! I know I did!

Until next time...have a good one!

Reunited and it Feels so Good!

Remi is here! Keannon got back with her late Saturday night. I didn't get to see her until Sunday morning when they came to church. I was so glad to see her! I was afraid she would be timid around us after not seeing us for 6 months but she never skipped a beat and fit right in like nothing had changed.

 After church we went to eat. This is a little child bench at the restaurant. We then went back to the kids house so we could have Christmas with Remi.

It's quite a haul!

We watched as she meticulously opens each gift!

Kennedy so wanted to help Remi open her gifts!

One of her favorite gifts

Some assembly required!

Dad was "trash control"

Grammer held Kashton (at least for a little one). She said he was sure wiggly! (and he is!)

Remi can't get enough of little brother!

She's getting practice for when her other little brother arrives the end of June and will live at her house.
Once the presents were open we load up to go see Granddad at the fire station.

He was pretty happy to see our girl too!

Of course the most fun part of going to the fire station is getting in the truck!

Could this be our next generation of firefighters?

or

paramedics?

Daddy and his girls!

Remi has on the gloves she got for Christmas. She likes them so much she wanted to wear them even though it's obviously "not" cold!

Remi definitely likes her bubba!

From the fire station we go to The Yogurt Store. It's a frozen yogurt shop.

After yogurt the kids and I parted ways. I went to an evening service at church while they went to the track to walk and let the kids ride bikes. Vanessa took the girls after that to a little carnival that is in town.

Tonight they came over. I just love the shirts that Vanessa had the girls in!

Kashton giving up a big smile!

Remi will be here for 3 weeks so you'll be seeing more from me if I can get time to blog about it!

Have a good one!

Time With Kennedy

We had the kids over for supper Sunday night. When they got ready to go home Kennedy didn't want to go and insists on staying the night with us. Of course Granddad and I say yes! Monday is the day my housekeeper comes.

My plan was to go feed Clyde then take Kennedy for breakfast at McDonald's. As we're feeding Clyde, Kennedy says "Can we ride Clyde?" Well of course we can!

Kennedy spraying detangler on Clyde's tail so she can comb it out.

She's doing a great job! (Although she got tired of doing it before she finished his tail!)

Her interest in riding is getting longer. I think she rode for about 30 or 40 minutes! She might have gone longer but she said "Savtah, my tummy is making noises". I laughed. I said "I'm sure it is. It's saying 'feed me'!"

We get Clyde untacked and put back in the pasture and head for McDonald's. Unfortunately when we get there they have quite serving breakfast.

She had chicken nuggets instead which is what she wanted in the first place!

 After eating I let her play. We had a good time! When we left Kennedy asked "Are we going to your house?" I said "No, I'm taking you to Mommy". She said "I want to go to your house." I held firm only because my dear friend's younger brother passed away the day before and I really needed to connect with her to let her know I cared and see if I could be of any help to her.

On the way to my friends I see these beautiful flowers and took a minute to enjoy their beauty.

Here's a close up.

My friend's brother died from a massive heart attack. He was only 54. He was a very prominent figure in the community. The whole family is reeling. His service was Wednesday morning. It was standing room only. I thought the service was very well done and a real tribute to his life.

On a happier note. I got to watch a beautiful sunset Tuesday night.

This picture just do it justice. The sky was full of color!

Have a good one!