October 20th was the Fall Festival at N’s school. I volunteered at the Kindergarten booth, and we spent about an hour or hour and a half playing games and socializing.

N insisted we get a pumpkin so we let him pick it (somewhat, it was slim pickins) and it took him forEVER and a day to pick one… He quickly discovered that picking up every one he thinks he might want was exhausting… Still, you think that stopped him? Of course not. He’s funny. I laugh when I look at this picture because I can hear all of the drama involved – the grunting and groaning – the face is just the icing on the cake.

When it was almost time to leave, N announced that there were horse & pony rides on the other side of the parking lot, and that he would ride the pony. I almost fell out – N, ride a pony? Is he really my child? Surely, he can’t be. Not if he’s volunteering to risk his life on horseback! I checked, double checked, and re-checked – was he serious? He WAS!! Well, I wasn’t going to miss this – it was the LAST thing I expected from him. So we go get in line, and he informs his father and I that he will ONLY ride the pony, and not the big brown horse. Okay, no problem… I was still in shock that he was even considering riding anything that had 4 legs…

So, he gets on the pony. He’s terrified – I could see it in his eyes, and honestly, it took everything I had not to bust out laughing (because he’s SO dramatic – wonder where he gets that from?). He got on the pony, and he was done. The lady asked him to let the pony take one step, so he did, then he was done… but the pony kept going, to my delight, and off he was with his dad by his side for a pony ride!

After following him around, snapping pictures like a madwoman, and telling him how proud I was of him – that he looked just like a cowboy, toward the end I say “You look just like a real cowboy, N!” He says, matter of factly, “I know. That’s cuz I BEEN doin’ dis.” Well, duh. How could I have not known he’s been riding ponies his whole life? Then he gets off the pony, and we’re walking to the truck and I tell him that was so exciting, and ask him if it was scary. Of course, he says it wasn’t.

Then I say “I can’t wait for you to tell Gran, she’s going to be SO shocked that you rode a horse!”

He replies “Yep, she sure is going to be electrocuted…”

— WHAT?? Took a minute for me to figure that one out