Hee-haw! Ride em cowgirl!

We had one more little adventure last week as part of our quest to find free things we can do for fun with Sammy. Our "situation" has really forced us to become creative as to the various things we can do as a family. I'll have to say, we have come up with some pretty fun things! Maybe one day I will compile some sort of list of free family fun activities. This last time we went to see horses! My friend Kim has always been obessed with horses and finally got her wish.... she is now the proud owner (kind of) of Mae, a very old and pregnant horse! We decided to drive out and watch one of her riding sessions, it was a lot of fun. Sammy loved it, he still has no fear around animals. He said "neigh" a few times and he fell in love with the baby and wanted to go in the stable and see it several times. He even talked in soft high pitch voice to it and kissed the gate 8 times!

Kim was so great! She rode like a pro and even did some jumps! She is supposed to have a show at somepoint and I can't wait to see her, so cool to watch your friends live out their dreams. I actually learned a lot in our short visit. There were some really beautiful horses there, I mean just gorgeous. Some spunky, some boring, each with their own personality. In a way they seem to me like giant dogs but maybe much more smarter. Anyway, I uploaded some video of her riding below and here are few pics~ Giddyup!

Sammy & Cody!

Living here in Gville has been great for so many reasons but it has been SO hard to be separated from our friends and fam in Jax. We try hard to stay in touch with everyone through the weeks but scattered visits here and there and emails/phone calls can't replace the day to day little things we used to do together. I miss calling up my friends there and just meeting up for lunch or coffee and talking, or if I needed something from store meeting to shop together. Its always those little moments when completely hillarious things happen and memories are made. I want so much for my friends up there to know Sammy and for him to be close to them, esepecially to their kids (Marc, Caitlin, & Peirce!) but it is hard when he only sees them every 5 or 6 months or so. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before we can be back there but for now we are doing our best to keep in touch from afar.

My dear friend Cody is one example, we used to see each other EVERY single day since we took classes together at UNF and were PsiChi officers by day and went to Bible study together at night. She would hang at our condo between class since she lived so far from UNF, it was just great. Our lives changed so dramtically~ we graduated and I started grad school here and she started law school at Fl Coastal. You can see how difficult that made it for us to be in touch. It is hard enough when one is that busy but to have both of us just trying to survive and make it through, very hard to find time to keep up with the day to day. Thankfully we have remained close and can always pick right back up where we left off. She is now..drum roll plrease..... Cody Lauren Westmoreland, attorney at law! I could not be more proud of her and am just so happy to see her new life. She has an amazing job and is doing wonderfully, of course. It is so nice to get a glimpse into her life when we can get together and hear all about what she is doing. I miss her family so much too, yes even Nikos her brother who calls me Chin-lo just to irritate me (I don't care to explain why). Sam and I were amazed by all the things going on and she laughed at us and said "I know you only live in Ganiesville but it is like you are from a different culture", too funny, but it really was true! Sam and I can't keep up with all the hip technology and all the I phone buisness. Maybe one day.

We had a chance to spend some time with her while we were up for our family pics and it was just so great. Thanks for taking a short break from your busy schedule Cody, we had a blast and love you and miss you terribly. Sammy just simply adored her. He pulled up a chair to sit by her and he started calling her CoCo, just too cute. He had very important things to tell her, of course. Hopefully it won't be so long before we can see each other again. I included a little video of him saying her name, very sweet!