Home Sweet Home

It's safe to say I've been relaxing while I've been home. Dan and I have been filling our time with eating good food, relaxing out by the pond in the backyard and hanging with the dogs. This weekend we visited a few houses on the Parade of Homes, a collection of local new residences that showcase different builders/designers/etc. I think they should make a Parade of Homes: Equine Edition and just include all kinds of houses with barns and equine complexes. That would be a lot of fun :) On the way we got some of the best soft pretzels in the world, Dutch Country Soft Pretzels. Although nothing is better than hot and fresh out of the oven, they now will ship pretzels anywhere in the country; if you want to try some authentic PA Dutch soft pretzels I encourage you to try some or buy one of their mixes. Easy, fun and delicious....you won't be disappointed!

Bailey, one of my parents' Goldens and our #1 snuggle buddy for the week

Sunday I went to my guilty pleasure consignment store, Equine Exchange. Although we spent an hour in their browsing, I was a very good girl and only bought some bell boots for Charlie. Then we went to see "This is The End" which was insane and completely well worth it!

That night Dan and I went to our friends' weekly Campfire cookout. We haven't been able to go in a very long time so seeing everyone and catching up was awesome. Plus there was some really good food and drinks. Looking forward to doing that again next weekend before we head back.

Hanging out at Campfire

Today was a mini golfing day at one of my favorite places, Schell's, which has 27 holes instead of the usual 18 and only costs $6/person which makes it even more amazing.

Yay! Mini golf!

Pretty evenly matched

We also visited the grand opening of September Farm, our favorite local cheese shop, who recently expanded from their small, on-the-farm store to a huge new building right on the main street. We got all kinds of samples of different cheeses, dips and spreads and took home quite a bit of goodies ourselves (including some fresh cheese curds which, if you've never had them, are delicious!). We ended up going back for some homemade ice cream for dinner with some of my neighbors and then took sandwiches home for dessert. Best way to eat if you ask me!

Believe it or not I've only ridden once since we've been here. It's been really hot and honestly I've enjoyed relaxing in the backyard with some snacks and a cool drink, but when I did go out yesterday I had a lot of fun. One of my neighbors has an adorable Icelandic pony, Gi, who is so cute and sooo different to ride from Charlie (no neck, smart pony brain, and at least 3 hands shorter than Charlie).

Gi

As an Icelandic he is gaited so we got in some nice tolting (kind of a four beat trot that is very smooth and quick)....a totally different feel from anything I'm used to but cool and different. The 17-year-old has some moves!

I also rode my other friend's Oldenburg (?), Emmett, who came from the same barn as Charlie. He's been having a lot of dental issues and problems keeping weight on recently but he's on the upswing and despite all that he was very willing to go out alone with me (this is the first time I've ever ridden him) and eager to please. He has such a long neck, though, even longer than Charlie. I actually swapped out his normal reins (which barely reached his shoulder) for some tied off draw reins because they were so short!

Emmett getting ready for a bath

We stopped off for a quick spray-down at my house. He really liked drinking from the hose:

I'm very excited to take Buffy, their TB/draft cross, for a spin (hopefully tomorrow). She's one of my favorite horses and will pretty much do anything. She was very offended, in fact, that I didn't take her yesterday but I knew it was too hot to do much and so I promised her we'd have our own fun "date" very soon.

Buffy looking quite peeved

Buffy: "I can't even look at you right now".... Emmett: "That was fun!"