Brayden’s first vacation adventure was last October when we went to Colorado for 10 days. This time, my parents asked if him and I wanted to tag along back to my hometown in Western Nebraska for a couple of days to see some family. I couldn’t say no! My aunts, uncles, and friends haven’t gotten to meet Brayden, so it was definitely worth the trip. As most of you know, my dad is a pilot, so Brayden had his first plane ride with Grandpa this week.

As part of our trip, Brandon, myself, and my sister went horseback riding with the other family that is here with us. Their little girls (10,8, and 6) couldn’t wait! Brandon has never ridden before, and it has been 10+ years since I was on a horse.

I wasn’t nervous at ALL. These horses are trained, their trainers are very thorough, and they have been doing the rides for many, many years.

All of that went away when I got on my horse, and she didn’t want to follow the trainer over to start forming our line for our ride. She kept backing up and pretty soon, her front legs went up, I kind of freaked, and ended up falling onto a metal railing. The trainers caught me before I did any awesome gymnast moves over that bar, thankfully. My hip is still pretty sore, but I didn’t think anything of it. Until I looked over, and Lexi, the youngest girl with us, had big crocodile tears in her eyes. She saw the whole thing and was completely freaked. Honestly, I didn’t want to get back on the horse, but I had to for her. And I really wasn’t hurt. (It was the second day that felt the worst!)

The trainer said she honestly had no idea what happened, because the reigns were loose and the only time they got tight on the horse was when I was falling. Those things happen, and I had to get back up on the horse (pun intended) so that Lexi would go and have fun.

It was worth it. The view was incredible! I decided not to take my camera for fear that the noise would spook the horses, but trust me, it was amazing. I was so glad I went, but also very glad to get off of that horse! I am still sore!

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In other news, Brandon and I will definitely be getting Parents of the Year awards. If you have any to give out, e-mail me, and I will give you my address. Seriously, I am still humiliated.

The last two nights of our trip, we stayed in a hotel. My parents gave us their suite so that there was more room for Brayden to run around in, and they didn’t need all of that extra space! So, it’s 2 rooms, one is a living room, one is a bedroom, adjoining door, etc. Brayden slept great the first night, and the next morning we were just hanging out in the bedroom part of our suite. Brayden was in the other part where I could see him, playing with his trucks on the chair.

Then, he shut the adjoining door. And Brandon and I were on the side where there no door knob on the adjoining door.

Oh, and as a bonus? The actual room door was still dead bolted and chained from the night before.

Cue the award ceremony for Parents of the Year.

Brayden isn’t tall enough to open the door from his side, and it’s an actual round knob, not like the longer pulls we have at our house. Brandon talked to him through the door while I called the front desk. They sent the creepiest person up EVER. Scruffy voice, scary guy. He ended up having to break the lock on the big door to get to Brayden, and when Brayden saw the guy, he lost it.

Cue the acceptance speeches.

He was only in there for about 5-10 minutes alone, and he was right next to the door the entire time. There wasn’t anything he could really hurt or get into so that was good. But seriously, I felt like an idiot. I was sitting right there, not 3 feet from him, and he is SO fast.

Between horseback riding and Brayden’s I’m-locking-myself-out-of-your-sight incident, my nerves are shot. Pray for me as we fly home today.