A Mental Health Day and More

A few blogs back I mentioned that I had "one of those days", when everything seemed to be off, and hard to deal with. I know we all have those days (or at least I comfort myself with that idea, so I'm not alone!) but what I haven't gotten to mention is the Mental Health Day I was able to have courtesy of Holley. Thank goodness she's here because all I had to do was call her up and she told me to come over.

I knew that it was the right idea as soon as I got to the bottom of my hill because this is what I saw:

These two were taking a stroll beside the road. It was a great sign that things were looking up. So here is what we did, nothing too fancy, just something different that got me out of the doldrums.

These birds were at the bird feeder at Holley's house. They are Yellow Goldfinches, which are the state bird of Washington. Notice how I got this one as it took off in flight?

While I was snapping pictures of birds, the kids were playing on the jungle gym. The boys loved swinging,while Ayden loved the slide. She can do this all by herself and prefers to do it that way.

It was such a beautiful day outside and Holley mentioned that the kids should ride C.C., the pony Holley has for Grant. It was perfect, the kids were excited and I love getting a chance for them to interact with animals. This is C.C. getting ready.

The kids helped groom her,

and yes, even Ayden got in on the act. Notice how she is keeping an eye on C.C.? She did a great job, though, and I'm glad that she is getting used to the horses because she loves them.

Here are the boys, getting last minute instruction from Miss Holley. Notice how intent they all are? Holley keeps these kids in line!!

Here's Grant on his ride:Ayden walking on the paths around Holley's property

Here's Tate on his ride. In this he just did a great job of telling C.C. to 'whoa'.

Here are Holley's other horses. They kept an eye on us and wondered why they weren't having any fun.Look at Grant trotting around! He does a great job.

Of course Ayden got a turn! She felt better with her big brother behind her. They look so cute!

After Ayden was done riding she liked to follow their cat, Soot, around the yard.

Thankfully Soot is such a good kitty, and she loves the kids.

So, thanks Holley, for my mental health day. I'm sane again. Well, as sane as I'll ever be.

This last weekend was Grant's third birthday and it turned out to be a beautiful day and a great party. Holley and I spent all Friday afternoon working on the cake for his party. (If you'd like to see pictures of this fabulous cake, and I do mean fabulous, and find out what we did at the party, take a look at Holley's blog, under my friend's blogs) We spent most of Saturday running errands and doing last minute things for his party (sans kids, which makes an ordinary shopping excursion extraordinary). Then Sunday was Grant's birthday party. A wonderful ending to a great weekend.

Coming up: Five Mile Lake Triathlon for Holley and I. We're going to do great and look fabulous too, right Holley???