Labor Day weekend

I guess summer is officially over with, now that Labor Day is behind us. The Pauley family had a great weekend. The four of us snuck out of town for a few days at the Medicine Bow Lodge. I can't say enough about the ranch. The food was terrific, the cabins were cozy, the scenery was gorgeous, the staff was very nice and no one seemed to mind all of the toddler shrieking, and the horses were lovely. It was really nice to get out of town for a few days. I wish we could have stayed longer. I have about a billion photos to share, so grab a cup of coffee and hunker down.

We arrived on Saturday morning just a few minutes before lunch. After unpacking and checking out the place, we sat down for a great homemade lunch. Some of us really enjoyed it. After lunch and before nap, we played out in the park area. Seriously, will someone give that girl a haircut already?!! That night we had another good meal, watched a little bit of football on the big screen in the lodge and played foosball. I kicked Glenn's butt but he did beat me at pool. The next morning we enjoyed a great breakfast and planned our day. Pancakes!
Overalls! Glenn and I got to take a short horseback ride in the morning and in the afternoon, it was the kid's turn. Here we have Fireman Cowboy Will and his slightly less enthusiastic sister. Will loved riding the horse. The wrangler led him around a few times by himself and he was over the moon. He talked to the horse and sang and basically acted like he was born up there. Reina was definitely skeptical. She loved looking at the horses from the security of mom or dad's arms, but being up there on the saddle was well, not her idea of fun. I would have like to have known the choice words that were running through her head at this point. After a few minutes of sharing the saddle with brother, she relaxed a little bit and ever-so-slightly smiled. That afternoon, the whole gang hiked a short distance to a beaver pond and fished for a while. Will was very helpful - he even carried his own fishing pole. Reina helped point out the fish. On our last morning, Glenn and I snuck away for a long trail ride. We had a great time, saw some trees starting to turn and even heard a couple of elk bugling. I didn't pay close attention to the forecast and we woke up to Fall weather on Monday morning, hence the bundled-up appearance. It was cold! You would think that I had just moved to Wyoming or something. I should know better.

So while there are no pictures of all of the other weekend events (Reina's tantrum over napping on Saturday, Will's tantrum over napping on Saturday and wearing jeans on Sunday "those are baby pants!", Will's tantrum over not being allowed to eat dinner while lying on the floor of the dining room, Glenn's tantrum when... oh wait, Glenn didn't have any tantrums, my allergy attacks because of all of the nature, that point one night when both kids woke up screaming because they realized they weren't in their own beds at home, etc. etc. etc.) our Labor Day weekend was the perfect end to the summer. We hope you had a good one, too.