Monday, November 6th, 2006. What better way to spend a nice crisp Fall afternoon than horseback riding through the woods. On Sunday we visited my sister Deana and brother-in-law Martin, who were nice enough to saddle two of their horses, Spirit and Freckles, for Amy and Jackson to ride down to the creek in the valley below their house. I was very pleased with how well both Amy and Jackson did. It was Amy's first time on a horse, ever, so I'm sure she was a little nervous, but I couldn't tell it if she was. And I really expected Jackson to get scared, but he didn't at all. It's been a long time since he's been on a horse. Ben on the other hand wanted to stay very far away from all the horses. Martin's horse Ruby didn't like being left behind and made several dashes across the pasture. While pausing to watch her sprint back and forth, I told Ben that I like horses that run. He said "I don't like any kind of horse!" He later added "I want a baby horse, one this high (holds hand about a foot off the ground), that walks reeeeeeaaaaaaalllly slow." I was also impressed with Deana. She switched places with Amy for the ride back, but took off in such a fast trot with Spirit that I didn't have time to take a photo of them. I had to hike straight up the hill hoping to cut the corner and catch them before they got back to the house. By the time I made it to the top, I was too winded to hold the camera steady, so I still didn't get a good photo. You can read Deana's post about the day here.
We also visited my grandmother and had a wonderful lunch of salmon cakes, mashed potatoes, green beans, fried apples, homemade biscuits, corn bread, turnips, sawmill gravy and pound cake for dessert. Once we got home, I snuck off for a little late evening kayaking as the sun went down. Later, I fell asleep with the kids, leaving Amy the only one up to watch Desperate Housewives.
