Dudes! We went to a Dude Ranch! Rocking Horse Ranch to be exact.

A couple months ago I was chatting on Facebook with my friend Laurie from Adopting Special Needs and she mentioned they were going to spend a couple days at Rocking Horse Ranch in Highland, NY. 

I said that sounded like fun and that I was sure they would have a great time. Well, she said we will, and it would be even better if you came too. I was all, "oh yeah, but we can't afford a trip right now, and I hate traveling with the boys, and Noah would miss school, and oh, I don't know. What if Noah rages and I lose my sanity completely."

Well, Laurie gave me a cyber shake and said something along the line of "yeah, and? You won't be alone, I'll be here."

So I talked to Rich and he thought it sounded like a great idea. RHR runs a half-price special the week before Christmas, so it was somewhat affordable. So Rich booked the room and I pretended we weren't really going.

But then something changed (I need to update you on that soon) and I was feeling better, and it started to sound doable.

And we did!

The week before Christmas we spent two nights/three days with Laurie and her family at RHR. The kids had a ball!

Laurie's daughter GB is the same age as Noah and has very similar challenges. Kiel is two years younger than Hope, Laurie's youngest.

There wasn't any natural snow yet, unfortunately, but the snow maker was blowing away and pumping it out, so there was more than enough for us to go tubing. No skiing unfortunately.

 

All the kids loved it! 

Noah and GB shared a few rides in the double tube.

  

 While Rich and Kiel went together.

I was taking the pictures here, but took plenty of rides myself, with Kiel and alone. 

So much fun!

I don't think any of the kids stopped smiling the entire time they were on the slope.

I love this picture of Hope; she looks so happy with that smile.

Here Noah and Kiel are kicking back tee pee style.

The second favorite place was the pool with its indoor water slide.

They spent hours in the pool.

So did Daddy!

Noah's third favorite part was the bungee jumping, where he could bounce and flip as much as he wanted. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that. :( 

RHR is a dude ranch, so of course there was horse back riding.

Rich and Noah went on a trail ride. Rich had the "crazy" horse. Unfortunately, no one told him until after the ride was over.  Kiel wasn't old enough so I stayed back with him

so he could do this!

Of course since it was a Dude Ranch, dudes, the boys had to have cowboy hats!

Kiel didn't want to take his off.

Not for the pool.

Not for bed. And yes, apparently cowboys do wear their boots to bed.

Nope, he wasn't taking it off for anything.

Kiel on THE Rocking Horse of Rocking Horse Ranch.

We had a great time. I'm very glad we did it. It was wonderful being with Laurie and her family, although we never did seem to have enough time to talk together. Guess we'll make up for it in Orlando in March.

We loved it so much that both families booked for the week before Christmas 2012!