Field trip

On Friday, I dropped Liam off at school and then drove out to TJ Stables to meet the kids who were being bussed over. We spent a fun day doing all sorts of barn-y things. The first part of the day for our group consisted of pony rides - 4 for each kid. Lest you think I was just there for fun, I was actually put to work - they gave me Mickey on a lead and had me walk him around and around in circles, sidestepping poop piles, making sure that 18 kids each got 4 rides. There were other ponies too, of course, but I was lucky that on the very first go, Liam wound up on my pony and we got to do it together.

After the pony rides, there was the petting farm and tour of the stables and some relay races and a visit to the on-site teepee. We ate our packed lunches on the bleachers and then watched some stunt riding before heading home to pick up Mallory and set off on our next adventure - more to come.

(I sort of went back and forth over posting these pages, because I don't have model release forms from the other 17 kids in the class. Then I decided to go ahead and post them. My philosophy is basically that anyone who's out in the public domain is fair game. I hope that doesn't sound crass, but if you're out in public, then others are going to see you there, KWIM?)

(I also went back and forth on how to document this trip of Liam's. Should it be part of my family yearbook? Part of Liam's own scrapbook? In the end, I think I've decided to print the pages and put them in his school scrapbook. Who knew that the filing system involved in memory-keeping would need to get so complex??)

(OK, changed my mind. I blurred the kids' faces out. Better safe than sorry.)