Part 2 - Vacation 2009 - Day 2 at White Horse Ranch

On Saturday morning, one of the first things Fenn wanted to do was go outside and play with the dogs, Sarge and Deuce, and also to see the horses.  So after breakfast, that's exactly what we did.  First off, Fenn rode around on his daddy's shoulders.  I love the first photo even though it is a little out of focus.  Fenn has the cutest expression on his face. 

They walked over to the fence to see the horses for a while, and then it was time to get down and run around with the dogs. 

Deuce, the border collie, was especially interested in Fenn.  He kept herding him just like he would do with cattle.  It was lots of fun to watch as Fenn ran around, giggling the whole time.  And Deuce was really gentle with him.  Sometimes, it was even hard to tell who was herding who.... I think Fenn actually chased Deuce around a little. 

Afterwards, it was time for a little break from all the running around.  Fenn sat in a rocking chair on the porch of the horse barn.  I love the shot of Sarge with Fenn in the background.  Sarge, an Airedale Terrier, is about the funniest dog I've ever been around.  Just the expression on his face is hilarious!  If you're not paying attention, you'll suddenly feel something slip through your legs and when you look down, his funny face will be staring up at you.

Then the big event of the day finally arrived.  It was time for Fenn to saddle up and ride a horse for the very first time.  Yes, he rode a pony for a few minutes at school back in the summer.  But this time it's a real horse... much bigger than a pony. 

We put him up on Jake without any kind of protest whatsoever.  I swear, this child is completely fearless.  I hope he is always this way and willing to try everything (well, almost everything) at least once.  Jake is a very gentle horse, so we felt comfortable letting Fenn ride.  Plus, at all times Fenn had someone on each side of him, holding onto his leg or foot in case he started to fall.  I love this next photo because he looks like such a cowboy, out on the range watching his cattle.  {As usual, one of my favorites is one that is a little out of focus!} 

His Uncle Todd talked about how great he was doing and what a natural he was in the saddle.  Todd said he did a great job of just moving with the horse instead of tensing up like so many people do. 

He rode and he rode and he rode, smiling the whole time.  He really did love it.  He was even holding onto the reigns and clicking his heels into the horse trying to get him to go. 

After a while, he decided he wanted mommy to ride with him.  And then he wanted daddy to ride with him.  By this time, it was getting really close to his nap time and you could see how tired and sleepy he was.  But he still didn't want to get off.  He kept saying, "Again... again."  Look at how tired he looks in this photo. 

He ended up riding for about 30 minutes total.  We finally convinced him to get off and took him inside for lunch.  Then it was naptime.  And he crashed almost instantly.

While Fenn was napping, we all had lunch and got ready for the day.  We still had to get showers!  We had just thrown on some clothes and gone outside that morning to play.  And then Dan and I had to get ready for our overnight trip (by ourselves!) to Hilton Head Island.  Being the OCD person and control freak that I am, you know I had tons of instructions for Uncle T and Aunt A.  I needed to get all the boys' stuff organized so Angie could find things.  And I needed to show her how to mix Boone's bottles.  And Dan had to install the carseats in their car.  And then Dan had to give them a tutorial on putting the boys in their carseats.  {Their kids are 21 and 19, so it's been a while for them!}  And we had to show them how to fold up the Pack 'n Play and the travel infant bed.  Yes, it was a long list.  Fenn woke up from his very long nap.  Things were going well and we seemed to be right on track for getting away so we could get to Hilton Head in time to relax a little while before going out to dinner that night.  We were playing with Fenn in the family room when all of a sudden he proceeded to vomit all over their floor.  Thank goodness it wasn't on the rug, though!  Needless to say, that slowed down our progress and even briefly made us wonder if we should even go.  But after a while, we could tell that Fenn seemed perfectly fine.  It was just one of those things.  Maybe it was from all the excitement of the day.  Who knows?  He has only thrown up one other time.  That was during his 12-month photo session.  We decided to go ahead with our plans, knowing Fenn was in excellent hands and that we would see him mid-day the following day.  We were finally about to leave (of course later than we had hoped) and Fenn started fussing a little as we were telling him goodbye.  Todd quickly distracted him by taking him out to the garage to see the four-wheelers.  It worked and he barely even noticed us leaving.  After we left, Fenn rode a 4-wheeler for the very first time.  No photos, though.  Angie was holding Boone and not able to take any.  But he apparently loved it... once again.  We finally got to our condo at Hilton Head.  We freshened up and headed out to dinner.  We sat outside and there was a band playing some great music.  We had a great time, but you know we talked about and thought about the boys the whole time.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of the post about our vacation.  In the meantime, you can see many more photos from the weekend by looking over in the right-hand column of the blog under "More Photos of Fenn and Boone".  There's a link to our Summer 2009 vacation photos.