Riding Lessons, Pasta, A Cowboy & World Cup FOOTBALL

The girls each had a riding lesson tonight & they did great.  They enjoyed it so much, we signed up for another round tomorrow.  The instructor, Julie, is originally from England but hasn't lived there for 30 years.  She has a fascinating life story.  She lived in the US for 20 years, working with Grand Prix horses and top riders from around the world.  She moved to Italy 5 years ago to simplify and says she will never move back to England.

                                                                             Avery

(Videographer)

Quinn

Reese

After the riding lessons, the girls got cleaned up and we hit the Pasta Party, which was another round of fun.   We went crazy for the "fagioli!" It was a stew with white beans, chunks of meat and tomato in a rich brown sauce - we all had several servings of that.  (I've received a request for more food pictures, so I will try to do that.  I always feel so goofy taking pictures of my food in public)

Table of appetizers

Western Horsemanship Show

Italian Cowboy

This guy is Julie's right hand man at the barn.  He wears traditional western gear- Levi's, chaps, cowboy hat & boots, in contrast to her very traditional English riding gear.  He put on a little Western horsemanship show after the Pasta Party & it was a riot!  He did all the trick riding and lots of rope tricks.  Reese, Avery & I were sitting way down the side of the arena and Quinn & Angelina were off who-knows-where.  All of a sudden, Julie trots Quinn & Angelina out into the middle of the arena and they participated in a roping trick, where he circled the rope around himself & them in a large loop.  It was too funny!  (I'm sure they were poking around in the barn and Julie snagged them from there as volunteers.)

World Cup FOOTBALL!

And if all this wasn't enough to pack into our day of, "taking it easy on the farm," they put up a big screen tv on the patio and about 50 men, women, children & babies watched Brazil v. Coatia in the World Cup until late in the night.  There were supporters of both teams here, so lots of cheering going on.