Lady at Goodwill Check-out: “Are they all yours?”
Me: “Yup!”
Lady at Goodwill Check-out: “You must be ready for school to start again.”
Me: “No, I actually really enjoy summer.”
I do. Days of nothing on the agenda besides water slides and diving boards. 6 different flavors of ice cream in my freezer. A collection of crocs and flip flops in a pile in my kitchen. Staying up late and sleeping in in the morning. Not having central air can be dreadful. I am so not a heat person. But, having all of my brood at home with very little planned, I’m that kind of person.
Today, we decided spur of the moment to go see some aged equines. Yup, we did. There is a farm for aged equines (aka, a nursing home for old horses) not far from our house. So, we packed some lunches, went to the store to buy some carrots for the aged equines, and went on out there.
Fully expecting Lydia to need to be held the entire time and giving me her “scared… big… horsie… scared… big… horsie” type of thing, I didn’t even bother to get my camera out (at first). But, oddly enough, the girl is scared of toy poodles but was pretty darn comfortable around these big old beasts.
Mind you, I was not. So, I had to keep grabbing her in case their old blind eyes thought this little pipsqueak was an extra large carrot. Apparently, most of them are missing a good number of teeth since they are so old, so maybe a nibble wouldn’t be so bad. Drew seemed to disagree (note the blur on his feet in the next picture as Mindy the pony moved a little too close for comfort).
But, regardless of missing teeth, I saw some icky drool coming from those gnarly mouths. Ick. I’m so not a farm girl apparently either.
I love the lazy days of summer, too, and I love horses. One of my older brothers would walk under horses and cows but was terrified of chickens, so her poodle fear doesn’t surprise me. You can see the big things coming at you!
Enjoy your six flavors of ice cream, crocs, etc.
Ruby
I’ve never understood why people think that summer vacation (or really long periods of time spent with your kids) is so bad. I wanted the kids or I wouldn’t have them, right? Especially if you went through the trouble of adopting a child, obviously you really wanted that child…and wouldn’t you want to spend as much fun time with them? Of course there are always days…
and my two girls were terrified of all dogs…but horses? they love them.
How great is that? You go mama! I’m not sure when children became viewed as a burden instead of a blessing, so sad. Love your perspective!
I totally love summer too!!! I love the sticky popsicles wrappers left on the floor of the garage attracting ants! I love the shoes left outside for three days because you just don’t NEED to wear them :) I love powdered doughnuts for breakfast (a lot!) because there’s no need for the “square” meal to prepare them for learning all day! Yep, we love summer too!!
And what a fun little day trip to see the horses!! i think my kids would have loved that!
Totally am with you on enjoying the kids home ALL day during the summer (of course there are moments otherwise)–but I get that comment too so often from folks wishing their kids away. So sad for them.
And the horses … how cool! Your little one must sense their gentle natured and older spirit … vrs the hyper poodle spirit and leans more toward the mellow animals. Don’t blame her a bit–even if they are giant! Too funny. What a great day for your fam.
These days I feel like an aged equine. Just wanted to say it myself!
love you so much dear friend! thanks for all your sweet comments this week! you are such an encouragement!!
where is this horsefarm?so fun! well, not the sticky drool :(
Oh, those horses! My daughter would have been in heaven…she is convinced we need one, which won’t work very well with our house in a subdivision!
Catching up on blog reading. What a neat place to visit. And Ashlyn seems so flexible and outgoing! Cool kiddo!