2023-09-14 Oregon Trip to Visit Family and Friends

- September 27, 2023

Ryan and Amanda’s

Steps – 2,532

Addison and Josey

Today, the kids have guitar lessons in the morning. When they get home, we will visit the horses.

I did laundry, Barry paid bills, and we both caught up on email. We still have to keep up with home stuff when traveling.

The kids returned home, changed, and we walked to the horses. Their next-door neighbors, Chuck and Jan, are where the horses are kept. Chuck has a forty-year career with horses and rodeo. Chuck has taught Addison and Tucker how to ride and care for the horses. He loves the kids like grandkids. They are very lucky to have Chuck and Jan as neighbors.

When Chuck started working with Addison, she tried riding Chuck’s other horse, Pistol. He was his namesake. He bucked off Jan and took off bucking with Addy. She only had one foot in the stirrup and pushed and jumped off before he got very far. After this incident, Ryan and Amanda partnered with Chuck and Jan and traded Pistol for another horse. Her name is Josey.

Josey has been great with Addison, and they have bonded. Addison has worked with her, and you can tell. Amanda says Josey has gained more muscle since Addison is training with her. I don’t know much about horses, but Josey is pretty and muscular.

Addison ran her barrels a few times with Josey. It was fun to see her in person rather than via Zoom or videos.

Tucker is starting to ride now, and today he rode Red. Red was following directions, but he soon got tired and decided he wanted to stay in the shade. Tucker could not get him to move. Amanda had to get Red to move. He certainly has a mind of his own.

Tucker got on the back of Josey with Addison, and they walked around the ring to cool Josey down. He looked like he was having more fun than when he was on Red.

After horses, Tucker wanted to take his Uncle, walk the property, and show him a particular tree. It is Tucker’s climbing tree, and someone tried to build a tree house but failed. He took Uncle B around the property and showed him the property lines. They came back and seemed to have a great time.

Dinner tonight was “Smashed Elk Burgers.” The meat was from the elk Addison shot last month, her first elk. Ryan and Amanda showed Barry how to cook “smash burgers.” It was hysterical listening to all three of them trying to cook the burgers and telling each other what to do!

After dinner, we played Tucker’s favorite game, Clue. I cannot remember the last time I played Clue. Barry does not like to play games, but the whole family is playing, so he has no choice. The first thing was to tell us how to play. That was comical. Once we started playing, it was a challenge for him and me. In the end, Tucker won. But then, about one minute later, we find out that Tucker and Addison cheated. The two of them were sitting next to each other, and I was sitting next to Addison. I had no idea. Tucker could not keep it a secret and blurted out they were cheating. Addison was not happy he spilled the beans. We all laughed and said they were not allowed to sit next to each other when we play another game. I still can not believe none of us caught on.

Good Night, All.