Horse Crazy

Months ago, back in October, we promised our oldest daughter a horseback ride for her birthday. The girl is horse-crazy, like many girls at the age of 9; having been that way myself, I fully understand her need/desire to ride horses. So thanks to my kind older brother and his wife, we were able to make her dream come true.
I headed out last Thursday morning with the 4 kids packed in the pickup, up the freeway to Seattle area. As we approached a different big city, my kids oohed and aahed over "all the BIG buildings!" and "Look at all those bridges! There must be a gazillion bridges here!" They were quite impressed with the city sights. We don't get out much I guess. I did good just to make sure I stayed in the correct lane to get where I needed to go.
We got to ride the horses that evening after supper. Not only ride them, but the kids learned all about brushing and preparing the horse, and then afterward, brushing it down, and cleaning the hooves. Big smiles the whole time! I could only watch from afar, as my heart was breaking.... 7 months pregnancy doesn't allow for riding; but that also means, I didn't have to do the brushing nor cleaning up either.
They got to go again the next day too - this time with reins, and briefly without a lead line. What big grins they had on!!