Horse Fun on the Farm

Just Diane and I walked this morning. Ruth and mom are still at Eastern Camp and Joan and Heather were up late visiting with their company from Haiti.  Joan has an overflow of company so Diane offered her basement.  Karin arranged to take everyone riding that wanted to ride starting this morning before the real heat of the day.  She sent Faith out as the leader for the first group riding Tori.

 Ellie brought up the rear on Hadassah.

 We followed with a group on the golf cart. Below are the riders of the golf cart checking out the first creek crossing.

 All the mares did well with the crossing.

When they cross the creek and head up the hill we have to turn back as the golf cart doesn't cross water very well. We drove to where they come out of the woods. Below the golf cart group is watching for the horses.

 Karin has safe places the horses are allowed to canter which is always a thrill for riders.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures of the trail rides click HERE. Our next move was to take the golf cart to where the foals are and introduce each one to the guests.

Each of the horses used for the trails was hosed down well and then fly sprayed. Below is Magda taking care of Hadassah.

 By the time everything was finished Joan had lunch prepared for everyone. I left for Diane's office to balance the dreaded horsemeister check book. Of course I made mistakes but they were all good mistakes. At the end Diane said we were 6 cents off and she didn't quit until she found the 6 cents. She lent me her car for the next job on my list which was to go to Sam's Club for groceries. Diane and Mike are serving lunch in Peoria on Sunday and I was able to pick up some of what she is serving.  You ALL may want to show up in Peoria Sunday. She has some special treats. When I got home the grand children were all playing nicely with the toys Diane found at garage sales.

Unfortunately some of these toys are a bit noisy as Taunya found out.

When Anna brought her girls over they all went to the lake for the rest of the afternoon for swimming. It was 95 degrees out by that time and if one wasn't in the water they had better be in the shade or inside in the airconditioning.

 After swimming they all ended up here for supper but after supper went back to the lake for more swimming. I went out to work again at 8:00 pm as it was starting to cool down by then. Dakota was teased and today she said no. Her owner was called and they will pick her up tomorrow.  Mark worked extra long today and is already in bed. Tomorrow we are having a work day here to finish the dinosaur paddock. When I was showing the grand kids the paddock and telling them about it one of them asked, "grandma, where are you getting the dna?"  What smart kids!
Ruth sent the picture below of Mom with her brother our uncle John, Aunt MaryLou, uncle John's wife and her sister our Aunt Jinny.  There is one more sibling Aunt Sandra but she couldn't come to Eastern Camp.

Aunt Jinny is the oldest at 90 years old, mom comes next at 87 years old and I don't know how old Uncle Johnny is but he probably is in the low 80s.  They are all enjoying Eastern Camp and we are thrilled mom got to go this year.  

Another 5 star review came in from our guests from Germany. Anna writes:  “Besser kann es nicht sein. Wunderbar gastfreundlich, toll für Kinder und alles sehr, sehr herzlich. Super sauber, perfekt ausgestattet und toll gelegen. Wir konnten gar nicht glauben, was uns dort alles tolles erwartete. Pferde, Hunde, ein wunderschöner See (sind sogar Kanu gefahren), Natur pur und viel Ruhe. Wir würden jederzeit wieder kommen und können wirklich nur alles sehr empfehlen.”  “Vielen Dank für die wunderschönen Tage und den gemeinsamen Ausflug zur Giant Goose Ranch! Schöne Grüße an die gesamte Familie. Christin, David, Anna und Alex

"It could not be better. Wonderfully hospitable, great for children and everything was very, very warm. Super clean, perfectly equipped and great location. We could not believe what was waiting for us there. Horses, dogs, a beautiful lake (even canoeing), pure nature and peace. We would always come back and really can highly recommend everything. " Thank you for the wonderful days and trip to the Giant Goose Ranch!  Best regards from our entire family Christin, David, Anna and Alex