Anyone else want a hug?

Hannah was in a lovey mood yesterday and everyone, including Tipping got hugs and kisses.....


In other news....I've acquired a rather tall thoroughbred gelding. I purchased him last saturday and resold him to a friend.....but he's staying here for a few weeks for some TLC. Poor guy was not getting any feed and with his size he needed it badly. So far he's been nothing short of mannerly and sweet. His racing name is "Classic Fun" but we have yet to think of a suitable barn name. Hopefully I can fatten him up a bit and send him on his way to his new home in GA.

Catching up

A lot has been going on here. We've been so busy that by the time I plan on updating I decide to take that nap with Hannah instead. Haha! Anyway, she's sleeping now so I thought I'd do a little catching up. We've had several races up at Presque Isle recently. One thing or another has gone wrong and we've had some pretty dismal attempts up there. Had a third here at MNR the other night with Activator. The winner won by 15 or so and no one was going to catch him. This week we have Juju and Speedy running up at PI. I have some video of me working Speedy up our hill but have not figured out the software for the new camera enough to convert the files to mpegs. Once I get it all figured out I'll share it though!
Saturday is a BIG day. First one of my good friends is getting married. Leann was one of my bridesmaids and I can't wait to see her on her big day. Second it is West Virginia Derby Day and of course....we are entering a horse for a 125k stake race that day. Kentucky Derby winner "Mine That Bird" is running on the WV Derby and arrived down at Mountaineer a few nights ago. He's been all the buzz around the track. The horse we are running is John's Burger. Hopefully he'll get a piece of the winnings. That sure would be nice!
My In-laws have been traveling back and forth up to PI along with hubby taking horses back and forth for races and workouts. It's been a bit hectic around here.
Hannah is doing great. She loves her trips to the barn twice a day and definitely keeps me on my toes.
Jade has finally been let off her leash for some test runs back and forth to the barn. Other than being distracted by birds or bugs she's been listening really well (hear me knocking on wood).
Let's see....oh I have a new project horse! I bought him and resold him in the same day. His name is "Classic Fun" and we are having a hard time figuring out a clever barn name for him. He's 4 years old and nearly 17.1 hands tall. He's a skinny bag of bones right now so he's going to stay here on the farm for 2-3 weeks to get fattened up before making the trip down to GA to his new home. I'm really smitten with him. He's ten miles tall but very gentle and sweet. Poor guy, I feel so sorry for him.
I guess that's it really. I'm still trying to get Sealy back in shape and trying to sell her...Tipping jumped her first jumps today and did really well. I'm really excited about her.
Anyway, enjoy the gorgeous weather while it lasts!

Tipping

I didn't get a chance to update on Tipping before leaving on vacation. She's doing really well so far. Gaining weight finally and working softly under saddle. I'm hoping to take her to a local hunter show on August 15th and then a Hunter Pace at the same farm on the 30th. Then an unrated dressage show in early september. Crossing my fingers she is sane and quiet off the farm. So far she's been pleasant and smart to ride so we'll see how well she progresses.

Vacation

I guess I should catch up and share how our vacation went. I've been so busy here since we got home that by evening I don't feel like typing much of anything.
Lou, Hannah and I left on the 10th and headed to Mom's house. We met up with my brother and his family as well and headed out for the beach saturday afternoon. Lou and I ended up in the ghetto of Richmond somehow and made the 3 hour trip into 4 and a half. Mathews, VA is small but very nice.



We were in a house right in our own private area of beach along the bay. Lou and Paul did a lot of fishing together while the kids played in the sand making castles and forts.



Hannah seemed to really enjoy the beach and loved floating on the ripples of tiny waves that came in. Mom and I had a nice time in town on sunday morning. We took Hannah and went shopping and had a really, really good lunch. Then it was off to find where we could buy a bushel of blue crabs. The guys set crab pots out in the water and did catch a few but I think they were mostly females. So the next day Mom and I went and got the crabs and we all feisted for several days. YUUUUMMMMMMM. I've been waiting to chow down on those suckers for several years now.
One of the nights we had a fun game of pictionary and the girls won. Monday night Paul hooked a rather large "fish" as we had thought until closer observations showed it was a stingray! The guys got a real kick out of that catch and even the neighbors came down to check it out.



It was a good time! One tuesday Paul and his family went to Colonial Williamsburg while, Mom, Lou, Hannah and I went to a park in Gloucester and rented a John boat to go out on the lake. Hannah got really upset because she wanted to go IN the water....not ON the water.



Tuesday night we headed back to Mom's house for an overnight stay and back to Ohio wednesday morning.
I also got to visit with my friend Laura and her hubby while we were in Mathews. They came out to the house and stayed for dinner. It has been about 4 years since I've seen her so it was nice to catch up.



I needed a vacation to recover from my vacation by the time we got home. I'm sure my brother and his family are far more tired though after traveling to and from Colorado.
It was nice to have the whole family together. This was the first time Hannah had met her Cousins, Aunt and Uncle.
Thanks again to Mom for making this visit possible. We had a great time!

Holiday weekend busy-ness

Lou's brother caome to visit for the holiday. Along with his wife, step son and daughter. We had not seen them since out honeymoon a few years back. It was their first time meeting Hannah as well. SHe was, as expected quite shy at first but did finally warm up to them. She softened to her cousin Peyton first. A young girl is much less threatening than he adult relatives I guess.

They seemed to have a good time and it was nice to see Hannah make friends instead of attaching herself to my leg.

Friday night we all packed up and went across the street to the Hoppel's Rodeo. Hannah didn't have much of a nap that day and was a bit out of sorts with all the people and commotion. I didn't think she was THAT bad but Lou begs to differ on that. Maybe I'm more immune to any small tantrums but her little ones don't really bother me.
Saturday evening we went to a cookout hosted by our friends Sean and Angie. Lots of kids Hannah's age and lots of food. She really seemed to enjoy the fireworks and REALLY liked the sparklers.

Monday evening we had a cookout at the in-law's house. Everyone was there and it was a really nice time. We took a few rides on the four wheeler and had some smores later in the evening, caught lightening bugs (Hannah squished a few) and played with the dogs. Everyone got baby kisses and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

I've been riding with Courtney nearly everyday. Tipping is learning how to ride the trails and go in the river. So far so good. Counrtney is also getting more confident on Peppy and has done a bit of cantering when he's not being too lazy. Payton got to ride a bit as well. She took some lessons on Peppy and also cooled him out after Courtney's rides. I think she enjoyed that.

Friday morning we leave for vacation. Yeehaw! I'm so ready to stick my (freshly painted) toes in the sand and chow down on blue crab! I hope Hannah enjoys the beach as well. She'll be meeting her Uncle Paul, Aunt Adriana and cousins Dodge and Marina for the first time too. Gramma Rose will be there too and we know how excited she is to have all her babies in one house at the same time! Haha!
See y'all soon!

Playdate!

Hannah's little friend Kendall came over today for some playtime. We've been talking about getting together for a while now and for one reason or another it just hasn't worked out. Kendal is two months older than Hannah to the date. At first they were both quiet and shy. Not that they haven't seen each other before....but they both clinged for a little bit. So we decided to put them in their strollers and walk over to the barn to visit the horses. Both girls had a good time. Then we headed up to Gammy's house for some more playtime and a visit. They seemed to start enjoying each others' company at this point. Then back to the house to play some more. Kendall gave Hannah some hugs before they left and Hannah didn't know what to think of that!



Aside from the cooler weather (no play time in the pool as planned) I think both girls had a good time. Neither got a nap today. Hannah went to bed tonight at 7pm....two hours earlier than usual. She barely made it through her dinner.

Melissa comes to pick up Lego tomorrow morning. I'm crossing my fingers for a nice day so we can take a little ride first. It will definitely be a bitter sweet day.
Here is a shot form yesterday's ride. I'm on Lego with Tipping coming along beside me. Courtney is on Peppy. Courtney is Lou's cousin who is staying here for 6 weeks. We've been riding nearly everyday. It's been a good time.

The joys of motherhood

I actually had a pretty nice day yestreday. Barn work was fairly easy...nothing to gallop....went on a nice trail ride before the rain.....had a haircut at the spa.....picked up dinner at Boston Market and an iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts....headed home and then out for night chores a little later. Hannah was being silly with Jade....then bedtime for baby.
THEN it became joyous....(uh huh....right).
About 10 minutes after Hannah went down she started wailing. I waited a few minutes but it only got worse. Walked into her room and the stench was enough to gag a magot!
She's thrown up everywhere. EWWWWWWW. Had to change her clothes and wash it out of her hair and off her arms and hands. Lou came in to help but didn't last long in there so it was all up to Mommy to clean up the mess. Great. TMI? After cleaning everything up I had to peel the sheets and mattress pad off the bed (crib sheets are so much fun!) and run them to the washer. After cleaning up and putting on new sheets it took over and hour of rocking in the glider before she was ready to go back to sleep. Poor baby!
Her great aunt sits for her in the mornings while I'm in the barn and went a little crazy with the blueberries. She lets Hannah have as many as she wants even when I tell her not to. SO guess what was the only thing NOT digested after nine hours of eating them? Yuck. I guess I need to insist even more than she only gets a few and not half the carton. That wasn't fun.....at ALL.