First Day Fun

In my last post, I promised Part II of the pictures.  So, that's what you'll see today but they are actually from Day One of the visit.  Jen and family--minus college student Abby--arrived in Houston late Monday night.  Between their late arrival and an ominous weather forecast for Tuesday, we stayed close to home for most of the day, catching up, playing games and petting Chaucer (we had custody of our old pal this week :)

At about 3 PM, we piled in the car and went to Cavender's, a "cowboy" store.  You'll see pictures of the fun things we played with and tried on.  After that, we drove to the farm for Grace's horseback riding lesson.  I arranged things with Kim ahead of time so that Maggie, Jeffrey, Stephen and Madeleine could ride but she ended up including Mia, Sophie and Ella as well.  Many of the kids learned enough in their brief lesson to walk or trot the horse around the ring without the lead.  It was very impressive.  We got quite a few comments on what naturals the kids were.  And Sophie and Ella got comments for cuteness.  No surprise there.  We came home to a made-ahead-of-time lasagna ( as most of you know, guests at Casa Doyle must eat lasagna at least once :)  

Chris finished out the day by beating the teens at at least one round of Just Dance.  I posted pics of that yesterday.  The song was Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go".  He'll be milking that one for awhile.

Cavenders or cowboy heaven:

Howdy Ya'll

Cowgirl Cutie
As I've said before, if there's one thing students of The Doyle All Girls Academy know how to do well, it's pose for the camera.

Meanwhile, Ella and Jeffrey were busy rounding up the ponies

Perfect-for-Ella boots

Maybe Santa will load them on his sleigh :)

Grace chose this ensemble

Pretty please....Santa baby (except I'm still not sure I believe...)

Sophie and the boys--a refrain for the week as they vied for first place in her affections

Jeffrey was the winner...apparently because he had the better ipod.  We're seriously worried.

Perfect picture except no Abby

I may photoshop her in....sitting on the cactus :)

On the Farm:

Grace catches up with her friend Nelson

Stephen and his biggest fan

Jeffrey got the first lesson

Grace trots and posts solo--no lead

trés proud of herself

graceful dismount

Maggie's turn

Stephen learns about proper posture

Madeleine on Jack

Look at Mia--first lesson and quite the pro

No shoes--typical Mophus

Baby on horseback

There she goes!

Losing her helmet but still holding on

Back at Home:

Someone tried Jeffrey's hat on Chaucer

Even compliant Chaucer has his limits though.

Coming up:  Even more Henkels!

Best wishes for the post-holiday return to reality y'all!