Halloween Party
It wasn’t planned. Not really.
8 had been promising his good friend a sleepover once his new cabin was finished. So of course we had to have the friends sister over too for 8’s sister. Then a friend texted about doing horse stuff together. Why not do it all at once and make a party of it!
The friend brought along her daughter and the daughters horse. All three girls took off riding. Me and the mom took her big beautiful new horse into the corrals and played.
When the girls got back my son, whose horse had been commandeered by a girl, rejoined them and both of my children managed to get stung by wasps. How in the world they managed that within and hour of each other when they’ve gotten this far in life without ever being stung I don’t know.
We carved pumpkins then roasted marshmallows and even a couple hot dogs for supper over a fire.
The kids didn’t play outside, in the dark, on the hay bales. It was too cold. The wimps.
This morning the boys went off to help dump the load of corn on the semi, help get semis up and running. They helped move them to the places the semis needed to be to dump cor in them. Then they jumped in the combine for a ride. I haven’t had any updates since then, but I’m betting they are spending some time playing in the corn in the grain trailers. Always a great time.
The friends horses both went home with the mom yesterday. So the friend who rode out with her own horse yesterday didn’t have one to ride. Pulling up my big girl pants and trying to be brave I put my daughter on my horse, Rusty. She used to ride him all the time, just never usually off a lead. She’s been riding Jerry lately and her confidence has been growing by leaps and bounds. Having friends there to watch also serves to make you brave, or at least to act that way. They rode around the yard for awhile first to make sure everyone was comfortable. The friend who has her own horse rode Jerry. The friend who comes to ride our horses regularly rode her preferred mount, my son’s horse, Lady.
Then they all headed out.
Rusty is a very good boy, but can be energetic. Lady is wonderful, but was extra zippy on their ride yesterday. Jerry can get really zippy too occasionally but her rider runs barrels and knows how to ride. Surely they’ll be fine. I waited, watching the horizon nervously for awhile. Looking for a horse to come running back without a rider. There was nothing. I finished my outdoor chores and texted my daughter before heading in. They were at the far corner of the property and still heading. I asked her to keep me updated with some idea of where they were please.
Next time I heard from her they were at the other far corner of the property and thinking about going farther. Or coming back. Who knows. Teenagers don’t exactly text clearly. But they made it that far on a cool windy morning. Hopefully the horses will be tired enough to walk home again. Walk being the important part of that. If they were going to act up, hopefully they already would have. I am loving this. We need to have friends over to ride way more often!
