Horseback Riding

My friend, Brian, invited the kids and I to go horseback riding today. A friend of Brian's parents owns horses and invited Brian to bring some friends out to ride his horses. I think I only did this once in Girl Scouts when I was little. It was really fun. The horses were located in Wentzville on the guy's friends' property. They had a beautiful 50-acre farm. Gorgeous.

This is Abby and Jake.

This is Brian leading Abby and Jake. Brian is also Abby's godfather.

Abby and Jake.

Abby and Kaylei on Jake.

Me and Adam on Jake. Adam really liked it. He didn't want to get off when it was over.

Abby and Cooper on Cherokee.

Brian on Cherokee.

It was a good time and really nice of the guy to take us. He said he really likes taking kids out on horses so I think he enjoyed it as much as we did.

*****

We got Adam's new bed this week. I'll post some pictures eventually. He really likes sleeping in a big boy bed. Last week, I found him in his room "reading" by himself. So cute.

Saturday, it was an unusual 78 degrees in St. Louis so we picked up some food (Subway for Seth and I, McDonald's for the kids) and went to Sports Park in O'Fallon and had a picnic. It was nice. The kids had a good time. Normally, I love McDonald's but I'm back on the diet/exercise train so it was a Subway Veggie Delite for me. It was good though. I did great running last week every day Monday through Friday with my neighbor, Joanne. It really helps knowing you have someone waiting for you and you have to get up in the morning. We've been meeting outside my house at 6 a.m. and running for 30 minutes. I hope I can keep it up.

*****

It was a sad weekend when we found on Saturday night that Seth's grandma (Great Grandma Arline to the kids) had passed away. Seth went to Providence this morning and I'm going to go up for the services later this week. I think the kids will stay here with my mom. It's very sad but she had a long, wonderful life and didn't suffer any so that is a comfort. Be glad for your loved ones, especially those of you who still have grandparents with us!

Home Run Derby

About 3:30 on Monday, I got offered one ticket to the Home Run Derby for the All-Star Game, which is in St. Louis this year. I was with work people who I don't really know really well, but it was still a fun experience to see what something like that is like. The Derby itself wasn't very good (not very many home runs hit compared to other years) but it was fun cheering for Albert Pujols. He didn't make it past the second round, though, and the Derby was eventually won by Prince Fielder, first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Ozzie Smith before the game. He was my favorite growing up.

American Idol David Cook performing before the game.

We were about 20 rows behind home plate and Joe Buck was about 10 rows in front of us.

Pujols being introduced prior to the game.

Pujols with the other All-Stars in the Derby.

Before the Derby.

This is Pujols being interviewed on ESPN by Steve Phillips (white hair right next to Pujols), Joe Morgan and Chris Berman.

The whole stadium on their feet waiting for Pujols' at-bat.

Pujols.

After the first round, Pujols sits with the other National League players and takes a rest.

Jack Clark (former Cardinals first baseman) being interviewed by Rick Horton, former Cardinals pitcher.
Eventual winner, Prince Fielder.

I grew up on baseball so this was pretty neat to attend.

What else is going on? Adam is nearly potty trained, which is pretty amazing. Thanks to my mom getting us started and his school keeping up with it, it only took about three weeks. He's not perfect with it, but accidents are VERY few and far between. Plus, he's staying dry at night and during naps, which is huge. I can't believe he got it so quickly. Abby was almost four and took forever to figure this out. It is so nice to think we very well may be done with diapers.

To celebrate Adam's big-boy status and because he had been begging us for a while, we got Adam a new bed over the weekend. Eventually, we plan to get him bunkbeds and a new bedroom set but we don't know what we want, so in the meantime we got two mattresses (bunk beds don't require box springs so we're going to stack the mattresses on top of each other temporarily) and a metal bed frame so that he can have a big boy bed. I got some new bedding from Target and some Cars sheets. He was pretty excited about that. I'll post some pictures once we get it all put together. The room is yellow right now, so I will probably paint it a light blue. Hopefully I can get that done in the next couple weeks. Progress at the Doria house!

Not too much else is going on. Abby had Girl Scouts tonight, which went well. Work has been manageable and not too crazy busy. Abby is going horse back riding on Sunday, which should be fun. Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy 4th of July

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Here are a few pics. Last Sunday night, I took Abby, my friend Abby, and her daughter, Kaylei, to see "Annie" at The Muny in Forest Park in St. Louis. I had gotten tickets from work that were really close. Abby had never seen a musical before and she was really into it. It was pretty good, too.

Abby and Kaylei outside The Muny.

Abby and Kaylei.

Abby, Kaylei, Abby and me.

Me and Abby.

Friday night, we took the kids to the O'Fallon Festival to see fireworks. This is Abby and Seth sitting in the back of the car. Dawn, Nathan and Graham went with us.

Abby riding the carousel. Hard to compare after Disney, but Abby didn't seem to mind.

Adam didn't get to ride anything. He fell asleep in the car on the way over and slept until the fireworks started.

Me and the kids waiting for fireworks.

Graham, Nathan and Dawn.

Abby waiting for fireworks.

Watching fireworks.

Fireworks.

On the 4th, we went to Lake St. Louis and spent the holiday with Kevin's parents and friends. I didn't take any pictures because it was rainy and ugly the entire day and I didn't want my camera to get wet. It was still nice seeing everyone though.

It was nice to have a three-day weekend so soon after our vacation. I guess the next holiday isn't until Labor Day, which seems far away. :( I'm going to see No Doubt on Wednesday with Becky T., Sydney and Johanna. That should be fun. I haven't seen them since 1995 when they first came out with "Just a Girl." Friday is Abby's last softball game. Should be a good week. Hope everyone has a great one!

New kids' pictures

My mom and I took the kids to get their pictures taken today and they turned out so good!