A long ride

After the nth consecutive good (or at least, fair) weathered weekend, Kecil developed an itch to go for a horse ride. To be fair, I think it's over a year since her last ride, so it was a bit hard to say no, especially since she did show us her cute face, impeccable manner and persistence to achiver this objective. Which was how Mama and Kecil ended up for a horsey date last weekend, leaving the Puny one and Daddy at home.

We went to our usual stable nearby, but we found out that they were having a 'do' at the stables.

It was picture taking day! So all the horses and all the King's men ahem ... Stable hands were out in force on the training field.

They posed for a while, then went on to show off a (simple) quadrille, which was basically some riding in formation. It was definitely something new.

We waited for them because they assured us that it wouldn't take too long (it didn't) and it was something new for both of us to watch. It was fun.

It didn't take long for the quadrille to be done. Kecil had some practice using Mama's Big camera while we waited for our horses to be ready.

Then they told us that the horses were ready. So off we went.

By the way, Kecil rode the horse all by herself. She's one experienced rider, no fear at all! This was not her first time riding solo, after all.

You see? As for this Mama... let's just say that there was that initial unbalanced sensation. But such minor detail shall not stop Mama from taking pictures. After all, the spurs were there for the rider to steady themselves, and as for the camera, we did not get a Tough camera for nothing, yes?

We took the usual route ...

... past the stables and under these familiar trees ...

... above the road (that was new! We took the road before instead of going on a small path above it!) and into the woods...

... straight to the waterfall where we found an imp perched on the large rock. Ha! Would it be that there was our pic together there, unfortunately it seemed that the guide found the Big camera too heavy for the result was marred by a serious case of camera shake. Sigh.....

Thankfully, our other guide did not suffer from the same problem, and there was the pic of Mama and Kecil on our horses with one of the guides from the stables. And, of course, there was always Mama's selfies. Hohoho....

A last story for this episode, this stable dog was following us from the moment we left the stables, all the way to the waterfall and back. We were SO impressed by his (her?) level of energy, especially because he was somewhat lame. See that left foreleg? He did not use it at all throughout the trip. He was seriously walking on three legs, bounding cheerfully through the track with nary a sign of fatigue! I was just rolling my eyes when I thought of the Dog at home. Huh. Perhaps our Dog IS overweight, indeed. Hmmmppphhhtttt!

Anyway, it was a good, fun ride. We took the road back to the stables, just as we did so many years back on our very first ride here. Kecil was bursting with pride at her own achievement, riding the whole hour on her own horse (even with the guide). Perhaps we should come back again some time. Well, you'll never know.

How was your last adventure? Re-visited any old adventures lately?

More kite on Sunday

You think half an hour on the beach was enough for two little girls and their rainbow kite? I guess not. But it was high noon, and we were starting to feel hungry, so we went of in search for food before continuing with the kite somewhere closer home.

We had lunch at the mall, and since we had to wait for the food, the girls ran off to play again, supervised by Daddy.

Panda rides! Kecil even got dragoned bullied a chance to pose with her sister. Ahem.

When we got back home, the kite flying continued, this time with bikes!

Now since we there was only ONE kite, there was the usual scuttle over who should fly the kite first. Somehow, Jessica got the first chance, leaving a grumpy Kecil...

Thankfully, Daddy managed to sort things out while Mama got the other two 'offspring' ready to join the fun.

And soon, both girls were taking turn nicely with the kite while the rest of us watched from the sidelines.

T'was a good day, especially since the two girls continued playing even after we packed up the kite (therefore leaving Mama & Daddy to have a relatively quiet rest inside with the Puny and the Four Legged ones). As I was telling Kecil, she's one lucky girl indeed to have a friend of her age right in the neighbourhood. It was almost as good as having a sister, fighting and all, ha!

Well girls, here's to more adventures in the future. Stay close, and stay happy. Cheers!

Sunday Kite

In preparation of Upik's arrival last year, Mama and (mostly, ahem) Daddy had gone into a frenzy of cleaning. Call it the nesting instinct in full throttle, if you will, but we did uncover this kite from the depth of stuff filling up the laundry room. Combined with all the good, sunny (but not too hot!) weather we have around here during this time of the year, Kecil goaded, and begged, and stamped her foot until she got us on the beach on Sunday, complete with the kite, Upik and also her best friend, Jessica.

We slathered the girls with sunblock, and the 2 big ones promptly ran away to fly the kite with Daddy. Mama and Upik? Well... flying kite might be fun and the weather beautiful, at the same time, it was practically mid-day when we got to the beach, so Mama and Upik went a bit to the side where there was some shade and simply sat to watch the rest.

It was Upik's first time on the beach. I think she was quite intrigued by all the sight. Can't quite blame her, it was a beautiful day.

I'd say the girls had quite some fun at the beach that day. Thank you, Daddy for bringing us all here!

As for Upik? Well, dear child, the adventure had just started. Here's for more adventures in the future.

Endnote: It was really good to know that despite weeks of not touching the big camera, Mama can still operate the huge monster with relative ease. Why, the selfies were even taken using the DSLR! It did take some effort due to the design (right hand hold), but as usual, you just need to think out of the box. Guess how the last selfie was taken?

Hold the DSLR up side down!

Hohoho... Cheers! (hint, to find out the answer, simply highlight the blank space above)

Walkies version 3.0

Well... so much about getting back on the saddle. I suppose Christmas holidays are simply not quite the season to get back into the saddle of any kind. What with all the prep work, holiday for the helper, festivities (even limited as it was), shopping amidst the deluge of visitor in our usually pretty quiet backwater..... all that on top of the regular daily tasks of keeping the house and taking care of everyone? Ha! And so there went our Christmas and New Year greetings. Ah well...

But again, things are looking up. Why, the other day Mama even took some pictures using the big camera on WALKIES! And so... while the baby is on break from her vocal experimentations (and boy, she's loud!), how about I share some of those pics?

So... with the addition of two extra feet to the walkies routine, we had to tweak our routine a bit. During the holidays, when Daddy took sometime off from work, we managed a few morning walkies with the WHOLE family. Huhuy! That was fun.

It was early in the morning, and the sun was not very strong yet. Around this time over here, it can get pretty cold, so Mama brought No. 2 using the sling in the hope that she would stay warm. Problem was, she kept growing. So, as she got heavier, it was time to use the stroller.

Upik seemed quite happy to be going for walkies. I am pretty sure it took some adjusting, specially because the ride is quite bumpy thanks to our less-than-smooth roads around the house. The main road is great, but in order to get to the main road, she has to spend at least 10 minutes on gravelly roads.
As for Kecil? Kecil seemed pretty stoked about her big-sister-responsibility. Still, being a kiddo still, she usually gave back the stroller to Mama once the road got harder (steep slope, uneven road and all that).

All these while, needless to say the Dog would be along, waiting with varying amount of exasperation for her 'siblings'.

During the past few days, the weather had been divine, with golden sunshine during late afternoons while the breeze blew. Kecil had been spending her holidays cycling around in her old bike, and so here was the circus that went for walkies the other day. Hey hey! Wait for me!!!!

Upik seemed quite content (I might say even intrigued) to watch the skies and the moving tree branches. We went to the usual playground where Upik watched her big sis on the monkey bar. This Mama do look forward to helping Upik learn the same trick next time. We didn't stay too long in the playground, though, because a certain miss got cranky when we stayed stationary for too long. Haha!

All in all, it was good to be back to familiar routine, and doubly good to be back using the big camera. This Mama shall then leave you with a greeting from the not so Tiny one. Cheers!

(Mama put on the scarf on the stroller because sometimes the sun would get in Upik's eye, even with the roof on. She was sooo fascinated with the scarf!)