Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and Horsecrazy and I had planned a wonderful little trail ride together to celebrate. Desperate Hubby had agreed to watch Batman while we girls went out for a few hours.
I made us all a filling breakfast of Eggs Benedict with a side of fried potatoes and onions, which actually turned out pretty well, although Batman pronounced it “gross” and had a frozen waffle instead.
After breakfast I tried to take a little nap. It was Mother’s Day after all, and I was tired from getting up in the wee hours to write a Mother’s Day post for my blog. I settled peacefully back into bed at around 10:30, and relaxed for 4.3 minutes until Batman slammed the bedroom door open and clamored into bed with me.
I tried to act like I was asleep, but soon I could feel my little four year old slowly crawl across the covers until he was laying right on top of me. I was trying not to laugh, and I succeeded until I felt the soft breath of his breakfast waffle exhaling onto my face from a distance of about a quarter inch away. I opened my eyes and he was staring intently at me from point blank range. “What are you doing, Momma?!”
I could see that my ‘nap’ was over. “Just getting up buddy.” I yawned.
“Where are you going?” Batman demanded. I told him that sissie and I were going for a ride, and he started to cry. “Don’t leave me with Daddy! It’s boring. All he does is lay in his chair and watch TV!” He did have a point there. DH really wasn’t in a position to be left responsible for entertaining a four year old at this early point in his rehab. I saw visions of my afternoon spent horseback fading.
Suddenly inspiration struck. “Do you want to go with us and ride Reno, Buddy?” “Yes! Yes! Yes!” he shrieked. He jumped off of the bed and ran to tell his sister the good news.
I wasn’t sure if this was the best idea I’d ever had. Batman has shown little interest in riding thus far in life, and when he has gotten on a horse he hasn’t lasted longer than about five or ten minutes. I was happy he wanted to try, though, and I felt better about spending Mother’s Day with both kids rather than just one. I decided to go to Eagle Island since it was close and accessible and flat. Most importantly, we would only be about half an hour away from the car even at the farthest point along the trail.
Desperate Hubby sighed with happiness when I told him I was taking both kids. He settled a little deeper into the recliner and wished me good luck.
When we arrived at the parking lot I was happy to see we were the only riders there. Our horses are calm and well-trained, but I had my hands full with the kids and maniac dog as it was. I didn’t need any further distractions.
Horsecrazy immediately set about telling Batman how to groom his pony. She was actually kind of bossy about it.
I have no idea where she gets that.
It didn’t take too long to get all saddled up and ready to go. I planned to lead Reno behind me, and of course Horsecrazy could manage herself and Grumpy just fine.
We started out with a short jaunt down the north side of the river trail. Batman was really having fun. The river was extremely high and fast, and had flooded the trail a little several places. Batman’s favorite part was walking through the water.
After we reached the end of that trail we turned around and walked back toward the south side of the island. We were about 45 minutes into our ride by the time we passed back by the parking lot and I figured Batman would be done by then.
I was wrong. He wanted to keep going. I was elated.
I took this picture as we headed down the trail. I would like to say that I was being creative and artsy by taking this picture in this format, but actually a button had accidentally gotten changed on my camera when I took it out of the case. It turned out pretty good anyway.
We rode to the Warden’s House so that Zach could see it. I posed them for a picture together. It was really sunny, and I hadn’t noticed the camera setting yet.
By that time Batman was ready to head back to the car, so we were finished. He had ridden for almost an hour and a half when it was all said and done. I was so proud of him.
Horsecrazy continued her horse lessons with directions on unsaddling the pony.
Winston the Maniac Hunting Dog Puppy ran around joyfully, checking out the marshy area around the parking lot that was flooded from the high river. He was having a wonderful time.
The kids were both hot, so after the pony was unsaddled they wandered off to find some shade. While I was busy unsaddling the big horses they decided to follow Winston’s lead. Literally.
I turned around and there they were.
It was kind of funny, but they were both wearing leather cowboy boots that weren’t really designed for water wear. I tried to get them to come out of the reedy pool. They just laughed and ran further.
I cajoled. I threatened. They just splashed and splashed and pushed each other down in the shallow pond. Finally, I did what any reasonable mother would do under the circumstances.
I told them there were snakes in the water.
I’m not sure if they believed me or not, but they did come out. I’m don’t know who was wetter, them or that damn dog.
It didn’t really matter. They all had to ride inside the car.
The kids’ boots were full of water. They dumped them out, then walked across the gravel in their socks, leaving wet footprints all the way to the car.
I strapped them into their booster seats, their wet clothes immediately soaking everything they touched and their sandy little feet leaving smears and footprints on the vinyl seat backs in front of them.
All the way home I had to answer questions about snakes. I don’t really know anything about snakes. But I made stuff up.
It was the best Mother’s Day ever.
Chronicles of a Desperate Horsewife 