Pony Rides and Auntie Cole

Last Thursday the girls and I went down to visit my sister.

She had called to say they had a lonely pony and no one to ride her (poor pony), so we felt obligated to put the poor pony out of her misery. Thursday morning I ran around the house packing everything I thought we might need for the car trip and our time there, got myself dressed, got Punkin' dressed, and then got Bunny dressed. In a mere 6 hours, we were ready to go. We had been planning to leave around 2:30 so that we could make it just after Auntie Cole's last lesson ended (at 4:30), so at 2:15 we loaded up the car and got in.

"Hmmmm...well, it was nice of Papa to leave his car for us, but i wish I had known there was no gas. Oh, well, we'll just stop by the gas station on our way out of town."

As I'm filling the tank, I notice that one of the tires looks a bit low so I walk around and check the pressure of the tires, then drive over to the air and fill 'em up!

"Ok, well, we'll be a little late. Its only 2:45 though, we shouldn't be too late."

My phone rings. Its N.

"You've been standing outside of your Dad's house for 3 hours waiting for a ride? Well, where are you going? Ok, well that's not far; we'll take you over there."

So we go and get her, and take her to a friends house. I thought it would only take 15 minutes or so, but it took nearly 45 and it was almost 3:30 by the time we hopped on the freeway. Then, the screaming started. Bunny WOULD NOT STOP. She cried nearly the whole way there. I pulled over 6 times to try and help her, got stuck in traffic in Stockton, and listened to an endless barrage of questions from Punkin'. By the time we made it to Livermore, I was absolutely certain I was certifiable, but we made it! It was nearly 6:30. My lovely, patient, sweet, kind, beautiful sister not only waited for us, but said it was "no problem" AND actually behaved as if it were. She's a saint, I swear.

We spent some time in the barn, feeding the pony and Punkin' rode a bit. It was dark and cold and there was a HUGE storm outside, so I was glad to be in the barn. She had a G-R-E-A-T time. And has asked to visit "Auntie Cole" every day since. In fact, her new favorite phrase is "I has to," so the requests go something like this...

"Mommy, wanna go ride horsey with Auntie Cole"

"No, baby, we can't go today. But, soon, I promise."

"But Mommy, I has to!"

So, apparently we "has to" get her some riding lessons; hopefully there's a family discount!