Hey! I just got back from vacation! I had a lot of fun, and I hope everyone was alright while I was gone.
We did all sorts of stuff, like (haunted) boat tours, mini golf, paintball shooting, shopping, duck rides, horse riding, interactive adventures, swimming, and more. Most of you don't care, but I feel like talking about it :P I got three souvenirs - a cool sword and dragon shield key chain for my younger brother, a Swiss Army Knife for my older brother, and a Naruto necklace for myself (as well as some cups/water bottles for the family and pictures/books offered at the various attractions we visited). It was refreshing to come back to my loving, excited pets. Even though my older brother didn't take care of the house like he was supposed to, I feel so much more comfortable at home. Not to mention the fact that I'll get to sleep with my puppy-dog again and actually get a good night's sleep :)
The best and worst part in my opinion was the horse riding. I love horses, and I love to ride (even if I'm not very good at it). I got to feed treats to quite a few horses. My family and I went on a trail ride as well, and I got to ride a black male named Shadow. The bad, however, was how untrained my horse was. I was the first customer that Shadow had taken on the trail ride, and he didn't really seem to like me.
Now, I'm not going to name the company, but they didn't train their horses very well. For example, even though the horses knew the trail and what was expected of them, many of them constantly wanted to stop and eat the leaves by the trail. Shadow was not very responsive, and I spent a lot of my time trying to control him rather than enjoying the scenery. More than a few times, I had to nudge the horse to not slow down and stop. We walked the entire time because my mom and brother, who had never ridden before, were scared to trot. I don't really want to complain though, because I still really enjoyed it. In fact, I probably wouldn't have written in as much detail as I am if something hadn't happened about halfway through our one hour trail ride.
You see, I may not be the best rider and I do accept some responsibly for being pretty incompetent (with only a few lessons and having reached a gallop only once). My incompetence was part of the reason that disagreeable Shadow got annoyed/agitated and jerked forward when I nudged him to go faster. Shadow lurched off the trail and into the trees. For once, he continued forward and I'm sure you can imagine what happened next. I couldn't see or react fast enough to dodge, lead Shadow out of the bushes, or stop; and I ended up running into a tree. Yeah, I know, ouch - I was there :P
Fortunately, I avoided serious damage. When my leg scraped against the rough tree bark, I jerked my leg backward and out of the stirrup to press closer to Shadow's side. I succeeded in barely dodging the brute of the potential impact and getting back to trail, but I didn't escape unharmed. Tree branches cut into the skin of the left side of my face, neck, and the arm I used to try to protect my head from too many cuts. Mostly small cuts, but still enough to hurt. My worst injuries happened on my left leg, the one that hit the tree. I ended up with angry, red marks criss-crossing the front of my lower leg at an angle. And now that a little bit of time had passed, the large black and blue bruise is clearly visible.
Honestly, I was pretty lucky. Even though I think most the cuts I received are infected, they are small and don't really bother me regularly unless I strain my arm or run into things (like I tend to do). I didn't injure my knee, which means movement isn't too painful since I can bend it. It stills hurts of course, and I am trying to keep my leg at a constant angle (not bent). I guess you don't realize how much you use your calf muscles until they hurt. And of course, my thighs and butt are slightly sore from riding because of my tenseness (It's hard to relax when you have to ride/control and unfamiliar horse, especially after you've already hurt yourself and can't tell how bad it is except for the pain).
Goodness, I've been complaining for a while! Anyway, the part that most of my readers will care about is this: I should have some time to write in the next few days, especially after this weekend when we have an open house I have to help clean for and during the time that work is being done on the house (new granite counter tops) because there shouldn't be any house showings then. I'm just going to conveniently ignore my AP English summer homework or the fact that I've been avoiding some of my MC kinda-friends (10 year olds that I was friendly/polite to once, who now think that we're BFF's >.< ) as well as my irl friends (who I don't want to bother because a majority of them actually have lives unlike me).
Anyway, I think I'm going to end it here :) Good night to everyone in my time zone, good morning to anyone reading this in the morning, and good day to every one.
Love you all <3 I appreciate all the support.
