Showtime 2013

Yesterday was Showtime, a special presentation where the barn gets all the riders together to show what they have learned in the past year.  It was very cloudy and windy with off and on drizzle, but they were able to pull it off.  To Rachel is is an extra day of getting to ride Pepper.

 

Here is Rachel giving Mrs. Pam a high five and getting ready to go into the arena.  

 

 

This is Rachel with her volunteer, Mrs. Trudy.  She is such a sweet lady.  She and her husband are snowbirds, and she made her husband wait until the riding season was over before she left to go home for the summer.  I hope she will be back with us in the fall.

 

Rachel shows off her ribbon and trophy.  She got the trophy because this was her fifth year riding.  I cannot believe she has been riding so long!

 

Here is a picture from when Rachel first started riding.  Look how little she was!  Her helmet was bigger than she was!  LOL

Hillsborough River State Park, March 2013

This past March, we went to Hillsborough River State Park for a few days of camping over spring break.  It was a bit chilly, with nighttime temps in the upper 30s and daytime highs in the 50s, but the weather was beautiful, and we have a heater in the camper, so all was good.  The puppies went with us and seemed to enjoy the trip too. 

 

Cookie enjoys the weather.  The park was a little tight and the camp sites were all on top of one another, but we got lucky and got a pretty good spot that was next to the woods.  That is the bath house in the background.  It is always good to be near the bath house!  :-) 

 

The campsite.
 

The cool weather made for great hiking along the Hillsborough River.  The water was so clear you could see the bottom. 

The girls always love to "climb" the trees. 

There was a suspension bridge over the river.  It was such a pretty place!

This is a view from the bridge.

The cypress trees in the park were HUGE!  Some of the cypress kness are almost as tall as me!

Who knew you could find a river in Florida with "rapids"!  Class 2 rapids at that.  We had to laugh when we got up there to see them.  The entire rapids are captured in this photo.  LOL