A Midsummer's Night

Ava got it into her head that she wanted to sleep out in the barn by Tinkerbell, her horse.  I was a little skeptical and really not that enthused about it.  I mean there are spiders and snakes and dirt and all kinds of things that come out at night up there!  But, she caught me in the right mood and as soon as the word "ok" was out of my mouth, she was setting up her tent on top of a few stall mats in the main aisleway.

There are three little faces peeking out of that tent but only two had permission to stay up in the barn.  The third one was not happy about missing out on the fun with her sisters and may or may not have been bribed with an iPad to play with in bed that night...

I have to hand it to them...they picked a great night (low was 62 - in August people....I tell ya, we've had an awesome summer) but they stayed up there ALL.  NIGHT.  I thought they'd be back in the house with the first howl from a coyote in the pasture.

But they stuck it out.  This is what they looked like around midnight:

I must apologize for the grainy pictures.  I only took my iphone because like I said, I didn't expect them to stay up there - I thought it would be a short evening!  But they were playing away on their Nintendo games.  Jason said he went up there one time and heard Ava telling "scary" stories to Amelia.  They had their dream lights and flashlights and felt perfectly safe and were having a grand ol' time.  Ava was happy to report she checked on the horses at different times and caught various ones laying down to rest.  

And of course, our faithful family dog, Rosie, was nearby.  She spent most of the night laying down outside the barn, scanning the property for any intruder or predator that might approach the barn.  Ava said at one point a coyote started howling fairly close by and Rosie took off running and barking towards it.   It soon was quiet again ;-)  Good GIRL!!!

Around 8 am they came straggling back into the house.  They finally went to bed around 1:30 AM, according to Ava, and spent the rest of the day laying around the house, trying to recuperate from their late night. 

Now THAT'S what good summer memories are made of...

Until next time...