A Visit Home- Ponies, Parties & Pumpkins

Well it's been almost a week since we made it back from our trip to Louisiana and I am finally getting around to posting just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took. We had quite the adventures! Jeff took the week off to go hunting in Minnesota, so the girls and I packed up the car and spent a good ten days with my parents. 

We started the trip off with a visit to the "Double Rainbow Farm," where the girls met and fed pretty much every horse there. 

At the end of our time at the farm, we knew just one visit there wouldn't be enough and scheduled a real riding lesson for the girls the following weekend!

For people in and around my hometown, one fall event you wouldn't want to miss is Pumpkin Shine on Line. Hundreds, if not thousands, of decorated pumpkins line the walkways of our local park and ribbons are given out as awards for creativity. My school started this tradition around two decades ago and I was happy to see that the community still shows up to support it. 

(Noah's Ark with all the animals)

Yes, we were aiming for a shot of all four of us. Baby Girl wasn't interested, as usual.

I didn't get a lot of pictures of our trick-or-treating adventure, but they both wanted to be princesses. 

We also had a picnic in the park with Dovie. 

(She was growling at me, if you can't tell :)

And of course what else would you do with a random tree stump, but have a tree stump tea party??

I think my favorite thing about their tea parties was how "imperfect" I would have considered them. I'm always trying to have the right food, the perfect set-up and of course everyone needs to be dressed cute- it IS a tea party, right!? But dad would just take whatever he could find. Their tea pot was a measuring cup. Their tea was a carton of orange juice (he put the whole carton in the picnic basket), and their tablecloth was a red dish rag. And the girls couldn't have cared less, they loved every second. It was a good reminder to me, that plans don't always have to be perfect. They just have to happen.

D.C. would have to work all day most of the time we were there, so the girls would spend that time telling me about the tea parties they would have when he got home. I think they had at least three of them during our visit. 

After our first horse adventure, the girls counted down the days until they were going to actually get to ride them. We heard about this everyday until it was finally time. 

R was a little skittish at first, but once she got on that horse there was no turning back- she was hooked!

Occasionally, she would get off and we would give Baby Girl a chance, but after talking about it for a whole week, she wanted nothing to do with riding the horse. She would sit on it for a few seconds and then begin to cry. Ironically, she wasn't scared of the horse itself. She just didn't want to ride it. She would "trot" beside the horse as big sister would ride, sometimes getting too close even for mama's comfort.

Our new friend Mrs. Katie. She was very patient with the girls and they both loved her. Hopefully we can make it back to see her and the horses again on our next visit.

My parents and the girls kept us moving the entire trip. I made it back to Oklahoma and needed this whole week to recuperate; however, much of this week was packed with events too! The holiday season begins in only a couple of weeks and this baby will be here shortly after that, so I don't foresee things slowing down any time soon!