A Day Out With the Kids and Some Strange....Strangers...

Bright and early this morning, we surprised the kids with a day out. 
The second we mentioned 'horses', the screaming commenced...on all counts.  Audrey started squealing and running about excitedly, then Casey followed suit; this scared Zachary, so he started screeching, and then Jordan started up just to make noise.  Yikes. 
Well, we finally got the crew rounded up and headed out for the day.  I had Pascal on my shoulder, Zach in one arm, and Casey in the other; Eugene had Audrey and Jordan.  Rather, we had them until they wanted down so they could run and play.  We let them get that all out of their system before allowing them to take turns riding the Appaloosa pony.  Eugene and I took turns leading them around and holding the two babies. 

Let me tell you, that was a really patient pony.  It let them ride...and ride...and ride...and ride.  We even held Jordan up in the saddle for a few minutes, and she of course loved it as well.  After they finished up riding, we let them run, play, and explore for the majority of the day.  They skipped their afternoon nap, which was not necessarily the best thing, buuut they enjoyed themselves anyway, and they were very, very tuckered out by the time we took them back to the table (:

On our walk, we came across someone....or TWO someones...that were, ah, interesting. 
A Barbie and her Prince Charming Barbie crossed paths with us.  Only...they acted all excited to see Jordan and Audrey, claiming that they used to be adoptive parents of them.  Audrey was simply ECSTATIC to see them, which confused me even more so.  Afterwards, she talked quite a bit about them, once they had left.  I'm personally a little - okay, a lot - apprehensive, but if she was happy to see them, I'm happy for her.  I just can't shake feeling that something's going to happen, though.  I'm not including any pictures of them because they don't know A) who I am; a blogger, and B) I don't want to post their picture everywhere because I don't know THEM!  And that's just a little creepy. 

But with that aside, I'm so happy we got to get the kids out and about today.  They really needed a day to play and tucker themselves out.  It's the best feeling in the world, watching them run and play and enjoy themselves!  I don't know what I'd do without any of them! 

Eugene--father's day

--Eugene
Today is apparently Father's Day, which you humans celebrate.  When I woke up this morning, Rapunzel was already up with the kids.  As soon as I came out from behind the cutout, Audrey and Casey came racing over, yelling "Happy father's day, happy father's day, daddy!!" and they both shoved to get closest to me.  I scooped one in each arm, confused, and kissed them each on their foreheads before looking up to see my girl watching me with a kind smile on her face.  She quickly averted her attention down to Jordan until I went over to her, both girls still in my arms.
"I told them it was father's day," she grinned.
"At the cost of sounding stupid, what is that?" I asked.
"The humans celebrate their daddies today!" Audrey explained, and Rapunzel laughed at her enthusiasm, nodding.
"Hmm...well, thank you, you cuties," I winked at them, and Casey giggled before Audrey asked to be left down.
Never stationary for long, the two oldest girls went tearing off, likely to reek havoc with Pascal.
I turned to Rapunzel and watched her put Jordan down to watch the other girls play, and when she straightened, I promptly pulled her into a hug.
"So...father's day, huh?" I asked, grinning as her eyes met mine.
"Yup! Thought we should celebrate it, since you're such a great daddy to the kiddos," she nodded a couple of times before glancing over her shoulder.  Noticing the girls were preoccupied, she slipped her thin arms around me and gave me that smile I loved so much.  "Soo...happy father's day."
I couldn't keep from kissing her, and when I did, red crept up along her neck to her cheeks.  Oh, was I glad to have her back...
"So, what do you want to do today, miss red-cheeks?" I chuckled quietly, and she rolled her eyes.
"Hmmh...you're terrible.  And what do you want to do?"
I had actually been thinking about taking the girls to finally let them ride a horse, which is what I had planned to do with them on Easter, and  when I suggested the idea to Rapunzel, she was quick to agree.

So, we gathered the girls up, made sure Pascal was with us, and headed to the floor.
The horses were still where I had found them, so Audrey and Casey were riding the small bay Appaloosa pony together within minutes.  I led the mare around, of course, but Rapunzel hopped aboard the gray mare, Missy, and rode around with Jordan alone.  Soon after she started riding, I found out that the Appy, Daisy, would follow the taller gray, so I left the girls go on their own and just watched the four of them.
The look on Casey and Audrey's faces was priceless...and they're giggling like crazy and having a good time--even Jordan seems to be enjoying it!  I'm also glad to see my wife focusing on something other than the Frozen bunch, and actually enjoying herself!

That, readers, is what I call a perfect day.  It's also a perfect distraction to Rapunzel.  She's been so upset over Anna, Hans, Kristoff, and Elsa being boxed up that she has been having a hard time sleeping, especially haunted by their faces.  It kills me that I can't help her.
Yesterday, Audrey asked if she and Anna were going to be friends again--since she had seen them talking at the  party after we had renewed our vows.  I was surprised that Rapunzel didn't cry, but she once again proved that she's stronger than us all by saying she hoped so and leaving it at that.  Of course, neither of the girls know what happened, and we plan to keep it that way as long as we can.

But for now, I guess I will just have to watch these girls have a fun day, hope Rapunzel tires herself out enough that she can sleep tonight, and think about how blessed we are--three kids and each other, despite our various accidents, and our friends.