Hi Everyone!
It’s funny how horses wind their way into every part of our lives. I was on vacation this past week in Chicago with my family and certainly figured horses wouldn’t be a part of the plan, since we were staying in a hotel in the city, but I was wrong.
The first thing we did was take my daughter to the American Girl Tea. For anyone who isn’t around young girls, this is the current ‘in’ doll to have. They have a store complete with an array of dolls, outfits, a beauty salon (for the doll’s to have their hair done – no, really), a theatre (to attend with your doll), and a café serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a full Afternoon Tea, complete with finger sandwiches and pink lemonade and, of course, a place setting for your doll.
Our first purchase, after sampling the tea, was a doll. When my daughter had a choice of dozens of outfits, she immediately honed in on the Equestrian Outfit. Yup, she’s my daughter alright. So now that our American Girl doll was suitable outfitted in red riding jacket, white britches, long boots and hunt cap, we moved on to enjoy Chicago. We exited the American Girl store and directly across the street were an array of horse drawn carriages for rent.
Radar on target, my daughter was jumping up and down for joy, all else forgotten but the four legged friends she just had to meet. Now, a former trainer of mine said that some of the horses used for these carriage services did not receive good treatment, so I had some mixed feelings, but the horse my daughter was zeroed in on seemed happy and in good condition, so off we went on a ride. Yup, a vacation including horses. We were in heaven.
Since my daughter had recently seen Princess Diaries Two, which included a scene with the princess waving from a horse drawn carriage, she knew just what to do. As we rode she waved consistently for nearly half an hour, smiling at passersby, and Chicago really welcomed her. We had countless people waving back, grinning at her, and we even had a group of people stand up at the plate glass window of a restaurant to wave and cheer. They must have thought there was a parade they hadn’t heard about.
Our newly purchased doll sure knew what kind of family she’d joined. Within the first hour she had a Master of the Hunt outfit and a carriage ride through the city. Hope she enjoys being part of a horse crazed family!
Cheers,
Mary
www.marypaine.com
mary@marypaine.com
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