I didn't have the most horsey week because I actually got out of town for a few days to go to a wedding in DC. It was my cousin from my mom's side of the family. I haven't seen that part of the family in many years, so it was great to catch up with everyone! And it was lovely to meet his bride and her family too.
It rained most of the day Saturday, but fortuntaely, it stopped in time for the ceremony!
They had a cocktail at dinner called Big Cedar Lake, which turns out is a lake near where the bride grew up. However, the lake across the street from me is also called Cedar Lake, so I felt the need to indulge. It was delicious. But not as delicious as the espresso martinis they served during the dancing portion of the wedding.... (It was extra fun to not have to drive this weekend!)
I got to wear this pretty dress. I'm not sure I'll have anywhere to wear it again, but I hope I find an occasion!
We did some sightseeing on Friday after we arrived. We did all the outside things we wanted to cover since we knew Saturday would be washout.
The Cherry Blossoms were peaking while we were there, which is great luck because it's a little early for them.
The Lincoln Memorial is one of my favorite monuments. I'm just really impressed by that statue. I haven't seen it in person since I was a tiny kid.
Saturday we planned to see as many museums as we could. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned rain, everyone else had the same plan. We wound up just going to the archives and then calling it so we could be well rested, dry, and happy for the wedding later.
We saw the original Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and many fun exhibits. Now that cell phones take photos without a flash, photography is encouraged which so nice!
Obviously I found some horses at the museum.
Sunday we went to brunch and then rode the train home. It was a really fun weekend. Nice to get away, and other than while we were out in line getting rained on, my nieces were pretty well behaved with minimal whining this trip. Definitely a win! They're really growing up.
I did get to ride the horses through Thursday though! Everyone had a good week. Al and Shiny were able to have their Thursday lessons which was nice. Al was a little bit of a turd, but didn't do anything that bad really. He just had zero focus. Winter is hard for him, but so is this time of year when nothing is ever the same. One day the end doors are open, the next they're closed. Then it's cold again. Then it's warm. Sometimes both in the same day. He just likes consistency. His ideal day is 78 degrees, overcast, with no wind. I think it will be awhile before we see any of those days. But don't tell him. He needs to have hope! Ha!
My horses just had time off while I was away. Not ideal probably for Eros since we're trying to leg him up back to work. But there's no barn manager here in the winter, no one to do training rides some days, and we're not allowed to have our friends ride our horses. (Don't ask. Frustrates the poo out of me.) So I concluded they were better off having time off than getting the wrong rides. Al did one day in the rig and had a couple of free lunges. That one doesn't need to do nothing for days on end. But Eros and Shiny just enjoyed some vacation days. I figured for Eros I'd just add on a few days of two minute trot bursts (up to six minutes!) for a few extra days, and then we'll move up to our six minute no stopping week. I'm going away again for a full week in April, so we're going to be stopping and starting again anyway. I'm not in a hurry to push him along, so we'll probably just hang out at six minutes for awhile due to that impending interruption.
That about catches you all up! Al and Shiny have lessons tomorrow, so that should be fun! How are you all doing? Getting lots of rain? Seems like that's all it does here lately. Gotta love Spring!
