Sunday, October 9, 2011

don’t fence her in

Our sweet little Junie turned five on Friday. Wow, five. We celebrated in fine style. I think she’ll have fond memories of this birthday for a long time to come.

In the morning, Adrienne made pancakes before we drove to Nathrop, Colorado for a horseback riding adventure. Adrienne stayed at the stables with Jolee for pony riding and cat wrangling while I went with June on an hour-and-a-half trail ride. Adrienne and I speculated that June’s head might explode from the excitement. June loves horses, but she’s never been on one for more than a few minutes, and certainly not out on the trails. Near the end of our ride, our wrangler, Rick, said to June, “You’ve been smiling since you first laid eyes on Jazz (her horse) and you haven’t stopped smiling since.” It worked out better than we had even hoped. The weather was crisp and beautiful, and the birthday girl was in heaven.

After the ride, the girls chased the cats for awhile longer, we enjoyed a quick lunch in Buena Vista, and then we enjoyed the beautiful drive back to Breckenridge.

In the late afternoon, Mike, Jenny, Emmett, and Owen came over to continue the celebration. June, Emmett, and Jolee always get wound up together, so when you throw a birthday party into the mix, they spin like tops. I think June was utterly exhausted by night’s end. For dinner we enjoyed the cheeseburgers and corn-on-the-cob that June requested, and for dessert, Adrienne created an amazing “snail terrarium” (see the pictures below).

Junie and Rovers on birthday morning, trying to be patient for our trip…P1020858

Jolee taking it easy on the drive…P1020868

June and Jolee would likely have been satisfied just playing with the kittens at the stables…P1020872

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Jolee on her pony, Mighty Mouse…P1020876

not a bad view…P1020884

we are lucky, to be sure…P1020887

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the stream crossings were June’s favorite part of the ride…P1020896

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some deer along the way…P1020905

heading back to the stables…P1020907

back to the cat wrangling…P1020911

the snails…P1020921

genius. the terrarium scene was completely edible except for the glue attaching the eyes to the angel hair pasta…P1020923

Emmett, Owen, and Mike enjoying the festivities…P1020925

a fitting end to the day. Junie clearly satisfied to get the horse she drooled over in the toy store a few months ago…P1020955

Happy Birthday, Junie. We love you.

4 comments:

Molly said...

What a fabulous birthday!! Happy 5th Birthday Junie!!!

Katye said...

Oh what a fun birthday!! Love the pics, especially the ones with the Rovers. And nice job on the bday cake Adrienne. So so cute! Happy Birthday Junie!! Xoxo

Chrissy said...

Fantastic day for such a special girl. Did she even sleep after that day? Happy b-day June.

Brooke said...

awesome!! happy belated,june!