Sister staycation

Summer time is sister time and with both of us working for school districts it's the perfect scenario to get together. 

With her living in California it makes for great vacation for me with the pool and surrounding beaches, but this year she came to my house. 

I don't have a pool, or beaches for that matter and was feeling the pressure of coming up with activities for us. My sister is the mover and shaker and always has a plan. I'm more of a winger with plenty of spontaneity. I'll go along with anything as long as I don't have to be the activity chairman. 

Don't get me wrong, she's happy just being together but I still wanted to have some sort of plan.

Since my sister and I grew up with horses and spent our childhood riding together, I thought the first thing on the agenda would be to take her riding.

My sister with her horse 

Me on my little welsh

She was a tiny bit concerned about her sensitive back and not wanting to tweak it, I had her ride my Tennessee Walker who has a smooth gait.

 I rode my husbands horse who likes to take the lead and set the pace. 

We went on a nice 8 mile test ride which ended up successful. 

My sister was back in the saddle and feeling good, with the exception of her thigh muscles the following day, they were feeling the effect of a first ride out.

 The nostalgia of riding a horse again along with the feelings and memories of our childhood embracing her, all she wanted to do was ride every day.

Sweet for me, I can take her riding anywhere although I did have a few things up my sleeve, one of which was to attend a community play featuring the Little Mermaid and her sea friends.

So later that night after our ride we went under the sea and enjoyed an enchanted play.

The next day however, we were back at the farm and ready for another go around. This time we rode 6 hours and covered 20 miles. Starting with a climb to the top of a ridge then riding it all the way across and back down again.

 Giving the horses a break, on our fourth day together I took her to a cute little German town in Leavenworth. More on that later, its a post all on it's own.

We continued riding the rest of the week - one of which we trailered the horses to the mountains and rode on beautiful scenic trails.

As luck would have it, we happened upon some other riders who obliged us and took our picture.

After a week at my house, we headed to Whidbey Island where we gathered with our parents and siblings for a weekend family reunion.