Yesterday afternoon we set out on our yearly holiday journey to Fresno - one of our favorite traditions. Yes, really. We loaded into the truck at 11:00 a.m. for a two and a half hour trip. We were loaded with the usual bikes, dog crate, duffle bags, etc. But, this trip we had a small borrowed trailer in tow. We needed to bring it to " transport furniture back home." Little did RT know that that little trailer was actually carrying his new/used Christmas quad, against my protests... My husband very patiently explained to me that ponies are dangerous too, and we had already taken that plunge...
We arrived five hours later after first dropping Katy Kitty at the kennel, stopping by the grocery store, making an additional stop at the tack shop, then one last teensy stop at McDonald's. Oh, and an additional stop at the Costco in Fresno... not busy at all... hahaha.
Three dvds later we pulled up to the ranch and unfolded out of the truck., Violet the dog, was thrilled to be back in her home town. And, of course, the kids were even more thrilled as they view the ranch as their favorite place on earth. In fact, when they were quite a bit younger we actually left our first family trip to Disneyland a day early - at their request - to return to the ranch and stop over for our extra days... crazy children... i-yi-yi...
Christmas eve was spent eating mexican food with family, playing with dogs, wrapping presents, and enjoying ourselves. Christmas eve night was spent tossing, turning, fighting for covers, then fighting a dog and two children for room in the bed. Threatening Ri if he didn't settle down and quiet down. Then finally giving up as I was so disoriented from lack of sleep and the fact that my watch battery died, so all night long I thought is was 1:48 a.m. Weird.
Once everyone awoke this Christmas morning, we drank coffee while threatening RT to settle down and quiet down while we waited for the rest of the family to gather. No present shall be opened without all members in attendance... So, the wait from 6:15 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. lasted about 9 hours. But, soon enough, the kids received their Santa presents: 1. split-ear headstall and bareback pad and 2. a quad... And no, that doesn't seem a little unfair, as we reminded Iz about the pony waiting in her stall back home... oh, yeah...
We ate a delicious breakfast for lunch, then set out on our annual dog walk around the alfalfa fields. It was our worst showing to date with only 6 dogs and 5 humans. One year we had 23 dogs at Christmas with 16 dogs on the walk. That's a lot of dogs.
The rest of the day has been spent eating yule log, playing with toys, looking at cows, trying to tie a ribbon on the pot-bellied pig's tail - a dare by Cousin Amy, and watching movies. Oh, and of course, wrangling dogs, calling dogs, stopping dog fights, talking about dogs, picking up dog dirt, and photographing dogs. All in all, another excellent day!
As I I type I can hear talk of the next meal. I better get up and walk around. I have more eating to do...
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