Vacation at the Ranch

We had a great week at Miracle Mountain Ranch visiting my sister and her family. There were summer camps going on, which meant that we didn't see too much of Roger, but it also meant that there were lots of fun things going on at the ranch. The above picture is my three kids with Cathy's girls in the top of the hay barn. I would guess that the hay barn is at least three stories high and the kids loved climbing all the way up the hay stacks. (You can sort of see the ground outside the door in the picture of me, and I was almost at the top, but not quite) Gabe begged several times a day to go to the hay barn.

Critter Corral (the small animal barn) was another favorite spot. Nicole spent most of her summer helping with chores in the Corral, and several days Jacob got up early and went with Nicole to do barn chores. On Friday, he even got to milk a goat! He was surprised that the milk isn't cold when it comes out... My favorite part of Critter Corral was when the goat headbutted the dog and sent it across the barn. (And no, it wasn't my dog...)

Becca and Nicole showed us a little bit of what they have learned on the vaulting barrels (they have done it on a real horse), and then the kids climbed up to give it a try. I'm pretty sure that Cadence was born to vault. She did her best to mimic some of the moves that the girls showed her, and then she started doing some freestyle.

With all of the fun "ranch" things to do, the kids still spent hours and hours playing "olden days" in Cathy's yard. It was great watching them all play so well together!

That is about half of our vacation, and it seems that this post is getting long...so stay tuned for part 2 of "Vacation at the Ranch" where I will discuss the significance of the swim cap.