The Great and the Small

I'm not sure how to begin this post, so I will start by categorizing recent events in 2 ways: the "Awkward" and the "Awesome"'s of the recents.  :)

Over the past month or so:

AWESOME:

*Having your cousins over...my 6 year old cousin loves the horses and always remembers his cool cowboy boots when he comes to visit.  Consequently, I give in to his cuteness and lead our old Tennesse Walker, Midnight, around with my cousin sitting triumphantly on his back.  He has become quite good at riding, and has picked it up very easily.  He know knows how to halt and turn all by himself.  We have not gotten into gaiting yet, but we will sometime soon, I'm sure :)  Sometimes leading a horse around for a while is exhausting (I walk beside him), but it is well worth it to see the genuine love of horses in my little cousin.  In fact, he loves them so much that he looks forward to the barn chores!  He even offers to help me clean out the stalls and proudly pushes the manure wheelbarrow all by himself.  So, all in all, I love it when my cousins come over for a visit.

*Going to Michigan for the first time ever.  My family and I stayed for 1 week at a tiny little lodge on the beach.  Unlike some of the other plots of beech that other lodges had down the road, our lodge had a large sandy area of beach and really clear water.  We just hung out most of the time, but we did take a day trip to Makinac (pronounced 'makinAW') Island.  We hopped on a ferry and took our bikes with us.  Since their are hardly any traffic rules on the Island (no cars are allowed on the Island), everything was buzzing with activity while we biked on the roads.  We passed countless horse-draw carriages.  The Island proudly hosts the Grand Hotel which, as its name states, is truly grand.  So grand, in fact, that you are required to pay a $10 fine to walk on its street.  No, I'm not teasing.  

Our beach

The very Grand Hotel...

...and their dress requirements 

*Jumping my horse at the county Fair this year. We cleared a 2' 6" course quite well and had a great time doing it!  I competed in dressage, too, which is a challenging thing for Hope and I to do well in since we primarily jump together.  But we got a first place trophy!  I was happily surprised; there were about 10+ other dressage riders competing.  (sorry, no pictures)

AWKWARD:

*When kayaking on Lake Michigan near your lodge's beach you almost tip over.  Flipping is fine in of itself, but when people are watching you (yes, those people would be strangers) and you are in about 5 inches of water, it is quite an embarrassing adventure.  I had gotten out of the kayak to walk it out of the rocks.  That went fine until I tried to get into it again...that is when I teetered dangerously on the edge of flipping onto rocks.  Of course, this takes time to tell, but really it happened in about 2 seconds.  Tottering on the edge, saving myself with, well, one finger.  Yes, OUCH.

*Sweating.  I sweated A LOT at Fair this year (the heat index was about 105 F because of humidity).  As I was sitting on Hope while waiting for my next jumping class, my brother says, "Oh look!  You have a sweat mustache!"  Great, just what I wanted, a sweat mustache.  With the adrenaline rush of jumping a course in front of a judge and wearing breeches, tall boots, show shirt, jacket, and a non-breathable show helmet, you can imagine how hot I got...and how much I sweated.  Yuck.  

On the drive home we stopped at Sleeping Bear Dunes.  This is my brother jumping a dune :)

                                          

Home to my horses

  

 Home, sweet home