We celebrated birthday’s last weekend! My baby, baby, baby girl is now 9 years old! And my last baby turned 5 years old! Exciting…but also how did this happen! October looks so much older in the last year.
To celebrate we went horseback riding, had cake and opened presents.
Happy Birthday my wonderful, sweet children!
October got the experience of horseback riding for Christmas. And last weekend we went.
Last October when we went, Jeff & October did the trail ride while I walked a horse around in a circle for an hour with Lavender & Scarlett taking turns. I was nervous just walking next to the horse.
This time, I went for the trail ride with October. I was pretty nervous but the idea of walking in a circle with a horse for an hour seemed the less “fun” alternative.
I know I’ve ridden a horse since I fell off my best friend’s horse when I was a teenager. But honestly, the only part I can remember is being afraid and having no fun.
And when I could barely lift my leg into the stirrup and hoist myself up, I was more than a little concerned.
Jeff admitted laughing at me from the sidelines.
But, I had fun. It was a little unnerving when they horse would start to go fast.
In fact, I relaxed enough to even take some pictures and a selfie!
It was unnerving when I was separated from October in the pack. So I would slow my horse down and she would catch up. I’d anxiously ask how she was doing. To which she would reply, she was GREAT! She would then proceed to give me advice on how to handle the horse.
And that she LOVED it when the horse went fast for her!
Scarlett & Lavender got to ride a pony this time around. Unfortunately, there was a large tour group there that didn’t share so well so they only got a few rides on the pony before they felt sorry for it and decided to stop riding.
We will be celebrating October & Lavender’s birthday with a return trip!
Family Horseback Riding
My family and I went horseback riding. We walked to the ranch because we did not have a car but it was not far. Because we do not speak Spanish my mom was unsure if we were signed up. Luckily we were signed up.
I rode with my dad. My horse was small and white. My dad’s horse was bigger than mine and brown. The saddle was different because there was no horn which was strange. At the beginning my horse ran the opposite direction it was a little scary. The instructor ran very fast to stop my horse. We rode around a big loop it stunk a little. We went up a big hill. It looked very beautiful.
When we got back from the loop I waved to my sisters and mother. At the end I told my mom and dad that I thought it would always be a dream to ride a horse without someone holding the reins and walking the horse. I was happy.
The end
We did a lot this weekend. I tried my hand at attending tennis lessons — in Spanish. It was a lot of fun! I enjoyed being active and out. Jeff signed me up through the instructor who also works at Jeff’s school; and somehow managed to let him know I needed a racket and was told I pay $10 euro per lesson. About half way through, as I fumbled along trying to understand the drill one of the other three women says to me “You have to switch sides.” In perfect English. I was so happy to find that someone spoke English and hopeful maybe I’ll find some folks to practice my Spanish with – over wine of course.
We took the girls Horseback riding. I booked the rides online but it was completely unclear when we should show up. I sent an email, in English, and never heard back so we headed out on Saturday hopeful it would work out. After several attempts to convey that we hoped Jeff & October could go on a trail ride while the other two just rode around the property the owner/receptionist got us speaking to her English speaking son and we were all set. I am not a horse person. I had no intention of riding. I certainly had no intention of leading a horse around in a circle for an hour while I gave Scarlett & Lavender turns on the horse. But that is what I did in the blazing hot sun in my sandals. Lavender had a blast. Scarlett wanted to go on a trail ride like her sister. October & Jeff headed off with little instruction for a trail ride. They had just left the property when I saw October on her horse with her horse walking her back to the stables with the trail guide running down the road behind her. I was concerned. And I later learned so was Jeff. But the guide got them all straightened out and off they went. October had a great time! She kept exclaiming how she never thought she’d ever ride a horse without someone holding it! We’ll be returning, well at least Jeff & October will be returning for trail rides later in the year (Scarlett & Lavender are too little) as it was really reasonably priced at 15 euros per horse.
We also went to Madrid. To which I brought my nice DSLR camera only to realize once I arrived that I failed to put the photo card back into the camera. Argh! I did have my phone and Jeff his so I’ll get those pictures up in another blog.
You can’t see it but she also has her cowboy boots on.
October is on the white horse. This is as they are first leaving the stables.
Here’s October and her horse as her horse starts turning around to go back to the stables.
October returning with a big grin and a thumbs up!
More pictures can be found at our online family photo album . I was getting some unwanted spam and since I upload all of our family pictures here, it is password protected. If you don’t know the password, email me 🙂
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