Giddy Up

Is this post necessary?  Oh yes!!  Charlotte's first time horseback riding happened this morning.  It was too big of an event to combine it with the rest of our travels, so here are the deets.   Josh and I are on our way to Illinois (Nauvoo and Chicago) for a Whitmore family reunion; but our first stop was going to Kentucky to drop Charlotte off.  Yes, I know it's a family reunion, but the thought of dragging her in the heat and humidity of the Midwest, in and out of little pioneer homes, did not sound like a vacation to me.  With that said, Rachel (Josh's older sister) and Eve (my MIL) agreed to watch Charlotte.  She is going to have so much MORE fun hanging out with her cousins and playing for a week straight.  I can't wait to hear about her little vacay :)    This morning, before taking off, Kevin's mother (Rachel's MIL) set up a fun little private field trip (basically) for the little kids to meet some horses and actually ride them!  Soon as I heard of this, I knew Charlotte would love it.  

We crossed the bridge from Louisville into Indiana and found ourselves out in the country.

Can you tell I was a little skeptical about being that close to a horse?

  First up was Bennett.  The oldest.  The example.  And the most brave.  

The girls watching Bennett

Tess...the proud sister

Then Liam.

Then Charlotte and Bennett.  Thanks Bennett for holding on to Charlotte.  

I tried to zoom in on this picture so you can see the smile on her face.

She was having a ball.  I could hear her talking while riding around.  She was in heaven.  The other horse, not be ridden, started freaking out a bit.  I thought, oh great, while my child is out there something is going to happen.  Nothing happened!  At one point, the saddle started slipping.  Bennett had a good hold on to Charlotte and the guy who owned the horses acted so quickly! 
 I am so glad Charlotte enjoyed her first time on a horse.  Who knows, maybe we have a future jockey on our hands!     All the kiddos enjoyed watching the horses, a tour of the barn and horse trailer, and playing around.  Thank you Terri for setting all this up.  It was a fun morning!