Better than I expected

Some years ago my dear husband C39 and I ran across "The Land of Little Horses" in Gettysburg, PA. I can't say that I was entirely interested in going. In fact, I was probably not interested at all. By C39 was VERY interested. But he couldn't bring himself to go until we had one or two children to look respectable and not so pervy-like.

Although I personally never had the overwhelming urge to go, the idea did grow on me over the years. So, five years and two children later we loaded up the car and headed to The Land of Little Horses.

After getting through the gift shop chock-a-block with all types of horses to cuddle and bring home, we made it out to the paddock.

We'd bought feed, which was great fun ... horses, llamas, sheep, goats ... they all like this stuff.


Cats, however, do not. Q2 tried to feed a barn cat the feed and got two scratches and a story to tell the next 20 people she saw.

Two favorite things for the girls to do 1) ride the bouncy horses on the playground



and 2) Ride the tire swing fashioned like a horse. Pure joy.



Riding a statue horse wasn't too bad, either.



The highlight of the day was supposed to be the "show" ... but that was a dud. Too much talking, too little action. 40 minutes of dull. Except for the dog races, which I found extremely amusing for the 30 seconds they were on stage. So we cut out early, causing both girls to cry hysterically at the fact that we were leaving. I guess it was just perfect for small children even though C39 & I were in agony watching a horse trying to subtract 4 from 6 and telling us over and over again that the answer was 3.

Visions of the Land of Little Horses

Almost four years ago C43 and I took the girls to The Land of Little Horses, in Gettysburg, PA. Since Q6 has been horse crazy I suggested she take a friend there as a birthday celebration. Yes, a birthday celebration. Since it didn't open until June, this was the first available weekend day that we could do it.

Q6 decided to invite H6, which we duly did. Then Saturday afternoon C7 said she didn't want to go. I called her bluff and told Q6 she could invite another friend and C7 could do the grocery shopping with C43.  So Q6 invited P6 and she also accepted. Sunday morning the girls were itching to go and off we went.

Here is the view from the front seat:

One hour and 38 minutes we arrived, and had our picnic, which involved pasta, watermelon, applesauce, and cupcakes.

Behind that watermelon smile is a Q6 who was feeling the effects of a triumvirate of girls. Big mistake on my part, because the other two girls were feeling especially close to each other, and while they didn't explicitly leave Q6 out of anything, I could see that they were not including her, and I was hoping she didn't notice.

But after lunch we went in, bought our horse food, and hit the horses. Of course, the first creature we saw was a donkey. But then we saw the horses!

We went around and fed all the horses, although the girls were a little nervous because the signs all said to be cautious about nipping stallions.

This horse, however, was just wandering around. The girls loved it.

And there was one full-sized horse. She and her colt were in the stall and LOVED the horse food.

We decided to hit the 1:00 show, which the girls all loved. So much so that we also went to the 4:00 show. I liked it as much as I did last time. Amazingly, it was just as much talking as it was 4 years ago. The theme this year was "superheros" and all the animals had alteregos like superman, the teenaged mutant turtles, spiderman, and the power rangers. Even the llama and the counting horse.

The horse did MUCH better at his math problems this time! He got them all right. Or just about.

We headed down to the "valley" to take a wagon ride.  The wagon ride was hot and calming (read: dull) ...

... and after the ride we played there for a bit, until P6 fell and skinned both knees, but 2 band-aids made all better.  We then played and then we found the following, and took pictures in every one we subsequently came upon until my batteries pooped out.

 

  

A little random silly and serious:

 

And is this the same guy from our first visit?

(Q6 just now looked at the pictures over my shoulder and commented on how happy P & H are, and how her own smile was forced.)

When we arrived home I dropped H off, then I dropped Q off, then I dropped P off at the pool. When I got back home Q jumped in my lap and started crying and told me how unhappy she'd been the whole day because P6 and H6 hadn't played with her. While that isn't strictly true, she was the odd man out, and I know the day didn't go as she had imagined in her mind.  When you look at the photos you can see there isn't that pure joy that you want to see. But I hope the memories will gel as positive, even if she does have somewhat negative feelings about the whole day.

Oh, and C7? She said she regretted not going. 

Q6's birthday

Not only was April 15, 2012 Q6's 6th birthday, but it was also the day that the RMS Titanic sank.

I've been asking Q over the last few weeks what she wanted to do for her birthday, and although she first thought birthday party, she ended up deciding she wished to take a friend to the Land of Little Horses in Gettysburg, PA. Here's the real link. We haven't done this yet because it isn't open until May. So ... Land of Little Horses in the future!

Nevertheless, she still had a birthday at home to deal with. Q had cookies at school on Friday (really cute ones! I made big circles on lollipop sticks, frosted them white, and frosted each child's initial on them in the color of the table they were sitting at. They were cute), but she refused a cake on her actual birthday. No cake, no cupcakes, no cookies. Nothing. All she asked for was strawberry ice cream, so I didn't make anything.

On the way to Mt. Vernon with her sister and cousin on her birthday morning, however, she and C7 and K8 were discussing the RMS Titanic, and making an iceberg and a Titanic cake and smashing them into each other.

So ... while I wasn't up to making a Titanic cake at the last minute, we came up with a compromise ... ice cream iceberg and a Titanic cookie -- I had leftover dough from Friday's cookies, so it was easy!

So, we sang Happy Birthday and smashed an unsinkable ship into an iceberg. And then ate it.
















Tasty disaster.