weekend ranch hands

My cousin, Kristen, got married a few weekends ago, so we turned the trip into a mini-vacation. Instead of just staying in a hotel, my parents, my sister's family, and our family shared a three-bedroom house on a ranch. The house came complete with land, a pond, a barn-turned-gameroom, and horses. In the mornings, the kids got to help feed the horses and give them treats. There was even a white horse there who was temporarily renamed Sara. Not surprising. At the end of the trip, all of the kids even got to ride her. You can imagine that the girls were over the moon. They got to sit on a real-live Sara!! While we were there, the girls learned the fine art of pool, played a little shuffleboard, played a few games of ping-pong, and went fishing. It was the perfect place to stay for the weekend. They had lots of room to play instead of being locked into a tiny hotel room.


























As far as the wedding, things couldn't have been nicer! Everything was beautiful and elegant, but kid-friendly at the same time. There was a hayride at the rehearsal dinner, and pizza and cupcakes at the wedding. The wedding was outside in a gorgeous setting just a little before sunset. The reception was also outside with plenty of room for all of the kids to run around. There were even a few peacocks for the kids to chase! A little to my surprise, the girls did really well at both. I don't get to see my cousins very often, and it was so much fun to watch the girls interacting with them. My only regret is that we didn't take more pictures!