Our day with the horses

As the four of us were sitting yesterday morning eating breakfast, Eric asked what I wanted to do for the day. He'd suggested driving up to Columbus (no offense anyone in Columbus, but it wasn't what I had in mind), but I brought up the possibility of going to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington... the paper had an article about it last week, and I knew it would be something that Conner would enjoy. So we packed up and hit the road about 10 AM.

After a stop at a McDonald's close to Georgetown, KY, we made it to the park around 11:30. There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot (think Wally World and Chevy Chase), but we'd checked online before we left the house and were sure it was open. Sure enough, it was... but I guess spending the day at the Horse Park isn't everyone's plan on a pretty Saturday in early February. Sure, it was a bit chilly, but we bundled up and spent some time in the museum to warm up.

There are definite pros and cons for making a winter trip to a place like that.

The pros:

• definitely the crowd (or lack thereof)


• more individual attention from the staff


• don't have to wait for a seat on the wagon


• it's cheaper!

The cons:

• not nearly as much going on as on a summer day... no shows, fewer horses, etc.


• coat on, mittens on, mittens off, coat off . . .
  
  Looks like it's 4 to 2, but I still think we need to check it out on a warm summer day.
  
  

So, anyway, we did see a bunch of horses. Conner got to pet a few, rode on a mechanical horse, saw a horse getting a new shoe, watched a competiton where the riders were doing different sorts of relay races, and did lots of walking.

Needless to say, we had a couple of tired little puppies by the end of the day.

My favorite conversation:

Conner: "My feet hurt."

Me: "Why?"

Conner: "They don't have any energy!"

Audrey finally fell asleep and got a nice nap in the stroller, but Conner kept plugging along. We left around 4:00, stopped for gas, and he passed out in the car.

He ended up sleeping the whole way home, and was not a happy camper when we got home somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30 (Aud stayed awake the whole time!). We told him to go inside and either lay down on the couch or go up to bed. Conner laid down on the couch (crying), so Eric told him to go upstairs and go potty, then to go to bed. I went up and gave Audrey a bath, and by the time she was done, Conner was asleep in bed. He actually ended up sleeping until 5:45 this morning! We actually tried to wake him up a couple of times to come down and eat dinner (Eric even turned the light on in his room), but he was having nothing of it. Right now he's actually upstairs in his room, hopefully taking a nap. He definitely needed one on his way home from church.

Anyway, it was a fun winter day, just the four of us.

Just realized that I don't have many "horse" pictures, so here's a couple more:

And, because I can't resist, a cute one of Aud in her new tights after church today.