Baby See, Baby Do!

Once upon a time, there was a little girl.



This little girl SOMEHOW found Mommy's waterproof mascara and decided it would be fun to paint herself the way Mommy always does.



What're you lookin' at? Hey - it took me twenty minutes and 10 cottonballs of makeup remover to get me looking this good!

The End. :-)

The Long Wait

Mommy said Daddy was supposed to meet us here...but I don't see him.




I think she is pulling my leg. I've been waiting for over five minutes and haven't seen a soul!



I-yi-yi...



Will he EVER come??



What! He's here you say? Hurry up Daddy...Mommy needs to go to the store for some Windex!



Daddy!!



I knew you would come!

Futbol @ North Park

Yesterday, Grace and I went up to North Park to watch the guys playing soccer/futbol. What began as a very hot, muggy afternoon turned into a nice evening as the sun started going down. I took this video with my new Sony Hx1 and I can tell you that while the pictures aren't much to speak of, I'm happy with the HD video quality.

My husband is one of the players in this video, as are his two brothers, brother-in-law and at least one cousin. (There aren't many Ecuadorians in Burlington, so they are a tight-knit group). You can hear Grace cheering them on - I can almost guarantee you that she will be out there with on the field as soon as she is old enough to keep up. :)

P.S. I forgot to make the wind filter before I left the house, so pardon the noise. :(

Little Jane Wayne

Yesterday, my sister took my little girl for a ride on her horse, Patriot.



They made several big loops around the ring. Grace sat straight and tall. Patriot is somewhere around 15.2 hands but she didn't seem at all afraid. (For you non-horsey people, one hand is 4 inches :-)



Grace is doing her best impression of John Wayne in these images.



She held the reins too :-)



Grace is ready to gallop off into the sunset, to locate the Ponderosa and those Cartwright boys.

She gets that from me, I'm afraid. ;-)

My girl's daddy

My little girl is growing up so fast.



Grace and her daddy have a really close relationship. Everyday when he comes home from work, she screams "Dada!" and races to meet him.



I was surprised to find that although David is mostly Ecuadorian-Indian, he also has some pure Spanish blood in his lineage so that might be part of the reason Grace is so light skinned.



At the end of everyday when Grace has worn herself out, her daddy is the one who tucks her into bed.



Did I mention I'm very lucky to have a guy like Grace's daddy?

Because I am.

Better Days

I plugged in my old hard drive today and accidentally stumbled across a video I never knew I had.

Back then, I only had a 3 megapixel vivitar p&s, but I used it to death. That camera got banged up and beaten down and it still took everything in stride and lasted a good three or four years before it finally gave up the ghost.

The video clips were silent, of course, but it was almost better that way. The sorrel pony in the video is Lady. She was my childhood pony, who came into my life one Christmas when I was approximately 5 years old. She was old when we got her, nonetheless I was devastated when she passed away about three years ago. Maggy, my German Shepherd dog you can see loping ahead of us on the trail, is also recently deceased.

You may remember Cima, the mare I am riding in the video as the sweet and gentle horse who gave my daughter one of her first horseback rides in a recent post. She is about 35 years of age now...I cannot imagine how it will be when she is gone as well.

(music credit): www.jimmyg.us

Those were better days. Back then, my only responsibility was completing schoolwork and chores before my sister and I would take off with the horses and spend our afternoons riding the trails behind the house. We would goof off - tell stories and play games. I was more at home on horseback than I was in my own bed.

I really miss those days.

Grace's First Ride

Onward soldiers!

On Tuesday, my husband and I took Grace to my parents' farm for her first "official" horseback riding lesson. I cannot remember the first time I rode a horse, and so I have no fear of the large animals and it comes as naturally to me as breathing. If Grace chooses to pursue horseback riding, I would like her to have the same opportunities that I did.


Grace has great balance and really enjoyed herself! She screamed when we told her it was time to finish the ride.



Afterward, David shows Grace how to groom the horse.

Grace was more than happy to try it out for herself.


Afterwards, Cima (the mare on the right) and Patriot said hello. Cima is partially blind in her left eye after poking it on a tree branch in the pasture twenty years ago.

By the way, Cima (short for "Rose of Cimarron") is a former BLM Spanish Mustang, whom my mom adopted in Wyoming over 25 years ago. She is really a bay but is so old now her entire coat is sprinkled with gray.


Cima and Siwan also said hi. Siwan is so sweet and has a very similar temperament to Cima's.

I cannot believe how gray Cima has gotten. This photo was taken of me with Cima by my friend, Michelle, last year and you can see the difference.


This is Patriot, my sister's loveable boy.


Cymry's telling me here how she did during the USPC Championships. Sounds like they did pretty well!

While Cymry and I were talking, Grace was doing this... :)

While we were there, Dad and the boys drove up.

Wait - what is that in the front seat?


I love Zorro's face here...he seems absolutely puzzled! (Zorro is the German Shepherd, by the way....he's rarely seen without a ball in his mouth).


This is actually a buck Matthew shot last fall! They had just picked it up from the taxidermist.

Not only does Matthew have this beautiful head to mount now, but he supplied the family with a freezer full of venison for the year.



I told them this photo looked like they were at an Alaskan hunting lodge. They said, "I wish!"

My youngest brother, Ian, shows off a couple of skeletons he found in the woods a few days ago.

I took this just because I liked it. This is Lily (left), my sister's dog and Ian's pup, Jack. They are both purebred Jack Russell Terriers.