Pony Rides

It seems like all my posts start with the phrase "last weekend". For some reason, I can't seem to get more caught up than that, but, anyway . . .

Last weekend we went to the pony rides at Griffith Park! I've known about this activity almost ever since we moved to L.A., but never felt that my kids would appreciate it enough to justify the trouble. So, the day finally arrived where we had nothing to do, and didn't have time for anything far away, so we went and checked out the ponies.

It was really strange. They wouldn't let the parents in where the ponies were at all. They just took all these little kids one by one, some as little as Elise, tied them each on a pony, then sent the pony away down a track by itself. (Although my pictures show a guy holding the ponies, most of the ride had no human chaperone.) Every minute or two, one of the teenage boys who staffed the place would chase after a group of ponies with a whip to get them to break into a trot. I think the kids enjoyed the trotting, but all you could see at that distance was a bunch of heads bouncing around. To be honest, the entire place reminded me of those scenes in Pinocchio with the little donkey slaves being sent off to the mines. Those little horses did not seem to enjoy their endless forced baby-packing.

Connor, of course, loved it. Despite my concerns over animal welfare, he thought those were the best three dollars we've ever spent. We did not let Elise try it. She can't handle that kind of separation at this point.

Sadly, being near her parents didn't help her later, when she face-planted off a bench in the park. Her face got scraped up, but it was pretty shallow, and healed a few days later. Here she is showing off the carnage:

That pretty much catches me up, picture-wise. This weekend Ryan went and played paintball with some people from work (I was invited, but it's not really my kind of thing). He didn't take any pictures, though. We also went to the Arcadia mall but, again, not really picture-worthy. Connor decided to put his shorts on his head and his shirt on his legs, and insisted I get the camera. Plus, Portia got stuck on the roof. I'll keep you all posted if any more fascinating things happen here.