Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Hot Air Balloon Flyover

The last two evenings, we have had the most perfect fall weather.  In the fall here, we tend to see a lot of hot air balloons.  Lately, the wind has been blowing just right to make them fly right over our house.  They are low enough for us to hear the roar of the burner.

All the kids were outside when we spotted the first one.  They didn't want to come in for dinner so Jim and I sat down to eat in peace.  The next thing we know, the neighbor is knocking on our door and said she saw all the kids running down the street to see if it was landing on the pipeline (it didn't).  So we all hauled it outside and stood around long enough to see a second balloon fly over.  And, Evie decided she had to chase this on on foot.  That little pink shirt running down the street is Evie.

Annalise was afraid that Evie was going to go on a ride on the balloon.  Fortunately, it landed pretty far away from our neighborhood so we don't have to worry about her flying off to Oz.  The second balloon landed close also.  This is Annalise and the balloon as it descends.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Girl Scout horseback riding.


 We had a super fun weekend at the Taller house.  Two soccer games, two parties (one with swimming!) and the Girl Scouts went horseback riding.  The two family members who didn't qualify for Girl Scouts went on a date to the candy store.  Guess what color of candy Annalise had....


Out at the State Park, the girls had a long wait.  But when it was our turn, we learned about horse safety and grooming on this kind horse named Turtle.
The members of our group listened closely to all instruction.

They curried the horse to remove the dusty and dirt from his hair.

 And they brushed his tail.  He was a great horse.  We were probably the 5th group who groomed him that day.  Very patient with the girls. 


Then we saddled up for our ride!  Evie was excited to be riding a horse named Dan. 


And we are off!  Our trail ride was about 30 minutes long.  The color in the woods was beautiful.  We went up and down lots of hills and even crossed a stream twice.  The horses knew exactly what to do and all we had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride.   We are not cowboys though, because we all had aches and pains when we got off.