Stow Aways: Boston Week 2

We started our second week in Boston with a group play-date on Saturday morning. We invited all of Grace's friends and Harriet's friend, Megan, to the new town park to play and then ordered pizza for lunch. It was a smash hit for those who were able to come, including Andrew, Corey, Dylan, Megan, and a couple of siblings. We were sad to miss the Connolly boys, Eamon and Joseph, as they were in Sweden. Grace has missed her Massachusetts friends so much since moving. But, she has faithfully kept in touch with those willing to reciprocate. As one dad put it, "there's no reason, in this century, that these kids can't stay friends for life." He's right. The internet makes the world a pretty small place, and I can totally see these kids getting together periodically for years to come, not to mention the online friendships they can keep. Grace already has "virtual playdates" with some of them. They talk for hours on the phone while playing interactive games on the computer. She also enjoys mailing little packages back and forth with others.

Harriet and Megan. When you are only 3 years old at the time your parents move you away, your social life is pretty limited. Megan was pretty much the only friend Harriet had to visit. But, they hit it off again, right away, and we spent a really awesome day with Megan's family. Her mom (Amy-Jo) and I were just beginning to hang out when we moved, and her sister is exactly Grace's age, so it is a great match. They invited us to come to the town beach after the park playdate, so we spent the afternoon sitting on the sand watching the kids jump into the lake.

I just think Harriet looks like she belongs in Maine all summer. How cute is this hat and swimsuit that we borrowed from Megan?!

Harriet had just mastered swimming with her face in the water before this trip and Amy-Jo was delighted when Hattie taught Megan to do it too. Megan had been refusing until she went swimming with us. Good peer pressure, I say.

I've got to stop here and mention the generosity of the Erickson family. We stayed with them for over a week, but somehow didn't manage to make it onto the camera. I guess I only pulled it out when we left the house and didn't think to take any pictures when we were actually staying with people. Jeannie and I used to love to go on little girls nights out together and were fast friends. She generously offered to have us stay with her "anytime we wanted to come back to visit" after we moved. And, it wasn't just an empty promise. We hosted a dinner group together and I got to visit with some more ladies from our old ward. Their whole family was so nice to us and made staying with them so easy. Thanks Ericksons!

David left us to go home on the 2nd Sunday, and then the girls and I plunged into a week at the barn. It was full horse immersion, especially when we moved into Rita's house towards the end of the week. We got to LIVE at the barn, literally! We could hear the horses whinnying at night through our open bedroom windows. One of my favorite memories, actually, is the from the last night we were there. One of the horses, Wesley, has severe pneumonia. He had to have a treatment at 11pm. Harriet was still awake, so she and I tip-toed behind Rita out to the barn in our jammies. As we were walking out, we caught a glimpse of a rare clear night sky, unblocked by trees in the clearing where the barn sits. Since there are very few lights in that neck of the woods, it was really dark. The big dipper was hanging in the sky so bright, it looked like it was going to scoop up the barn. Those are the little moments I enjoy the most. But, the rest is fun too! Here's our week at Hybid:

LONG awaited reunion with the sweetest pony on Earth, TINKERBELL!!!! I cried when I saw her.

Little Miss Muffet has grown out of her Tink-sized britches, and so did not get to ride her in daily lessons. However, she did find a new love, LittleMan, who is just her size, and also a very sweet boy.

Little Miss Little Britches, still has short enough legs to warrant a week with Tink. Boy is this a lucky girl, to have Tinkerbell next to her name on the riding schedule for the WHOLE week. I was really proud of Grace that she didn't get jealous of little sister, but looked forward to a private ride with Tink at the end of the week and was content to relish her week with LittleMan.

Grace, and Grace! Rita named a new pony Grace right after we left. I don't think she is exactly named after our Gracie, but more for the amazing Grace that saved her. Check out this video of this amazing horse on the Hybid Website

Peekaboo! Who is it? Silly Tink :)

And PEPPE! Or, as Hattie lovingly calls him (still, after he dumped her!) Peppe-toodles

More Tink Time

Funny Barn girls eating carrots. I had to take this picture to compare with one I took years ago, when Hattie was only 1 year old.

THEN:

NOW:

Riding bareback!

Grooming time.

Enjoying LittleMan:

Riding backwards:

Ok, midweek, we did take a break from riding and went to the girls' old Karate place to visit Master Doug. Grace got to go to class with Corey, so we clocked some more friend time too and went to dinner with his family afterwards. What a great night!

Extra riding classes on Thursday afternoon meant new ponies to try.
Gracie on Cody:

Hattie on Mac:

Games! The last day of camp is always games day. The kids spend the early morning getting the ponies all dressed up. Hattie tried to braid Rascal's mane:

LittleMan suffered a worse fate with a tutu on the neck and a balloon tied to his tail. I wondered what would happen when the balloon popped. The counselors assured me he would be ok. I was skeptical, but was more curious than anything. The instructors made them take it off in the end though (but not until after Grace rode him!)

Go Blue Team!

Harriet was disappointed that the red team wasn't as creative as the blue. She wished Tink had a tutu around her neck. I think Tink is glad to be a little more plain.

Go Red team!

Then we wrapped up camp with awards. Harriet got the "Terrific on Tink" award, and Grace got the "Happy in Half Seat Trot" award.

Did I mention I got to ride? Rita was extremely generous and told me to go ride while the girls were in lessons. I couldn't tear myself away from watching their lessons, but when they went on a trail ride with their classes, I took Tucker out for a great ride in the grass field. ALL by myself. It was HEAVEN. Then, it was kind of addicting, so I did it the next day during the second half of games. 2 rides 2 days in a row! Then, the real topper was our farewell family ride after camp ended. (that's 3 rides in 2 days for me?!) The three of us have never all been on a horse at the same time. I took Blue, Harriet took her beloved Peppe, and Grace finally reclaimed her forever best friend, Tink. Let's really not mention how long her legs are on Tink now. (no pictures of me, since I'm holding a horse and taking pictures at the same time, or riding and taking pics at the same time.)

We started out with a small ride in the ring and then followed some of the older girls out onto the trail. I was seriously proud of my girls that they have become good enough riders to go out on the trail on a horse by themselves. Look how dark it is in the woods though - this was like 2:00 in the afternoon!

After the trail ride, the girls wanted to ride just a little longer in the ring and practice their trotting. I thought Grace had advanced enough during the week that she might be able to trot a little cross-rail with Tink and try a little jump. Unforutnately, Tink went AROUND the fence, but little sister trotting behind on Peppe found herself JUMPING! Peppe jumped the 2 foot side of the cross rail - clean - with my little girl on top! She stayed on through the jump, but fell off at the landing - hard. Thank goodness for helmets and soft sand in the ring. She was so upset and so mad at him. She did not want to get back on. Not because she was scared, but because she was MAD. I finally got her back on, and then I couldn't get her off. We were in town for another day, but didn't have more time to ride. Plus the horses are supposed to rest on the weekend. Hattie begged me every single minute for the rest of the trip to PLEASE get back on Peppe to trot. She finally settled for sitting on him in the pasture for a minute.

Saying good-bye to Hybid Farm and the ponies there, was again, the hardest thing we had to do. After David found out how much the girls really loved their week, he offered to try to send them back every year for a week at horse camp. I think they are going to hold him to it! Better start saving our pennies if we're going to send the girls back East every summer. Sheesh. We're not the Kennedys, that's for sure.

A huge, ginormous, thanks to Rita for letting us pretty much do whatever we wanted all week, for giving in to our every request, and for letting us stay with her in her house. Also, many thanks to the great counselors and instructors who continue to teach my girls how to ride. And, of course, thanks to those darling sweet ponies who keep on trotting and being so darn cute!!

Last day in Boston - big checklist of all the things we needed to do:

*eat ice cream at Erikson's Dairy - check

*shop at The Paper Store - check

*buy a new Red Sox hat at the Maynard Outdoor Store - check

*visit our old neighbors, Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Roger - check (we really wanted to spend more time with them, but she was very ill and we could only squeeze a couple of sweet hours.)

*play with the marble run in Jeanne's attic - check

It was a little surreal to see our old neighborhood and our old house. Grace was extremely sad. I was glad that we didn't end up spending too much time there because it was really hard for her.