Someone Wants to See a Horse

Bama is a girl on a mission. A couple of weekends ago (because we are so very far behind on blog updates), I took her up to Central Park for a girls' morning with horses. She wanted to see horseys. We'd seen a couple of the NYC police on horseback roaming MacDougal on Friday morning, and it was all she talked about that night and all day Saturday. So, with Mister in Arizona (without a coat!), we bundled up and headed to the land of horses in the city: Central Park.

We walked through Columbus Circle and the surprisingly cool Holiday Market (I expected lots of I Heart NY shirts but there were some really nice, interesting wares) stopping for a pretzel that was, literally, as big as her head. she ate one corner of it and refused to share. Some kid, eh. Then we wandered past Heckscher Playground, surprisingly filled with families out to enjoy the sun despite the low-20s and wind chill. (Wind chill. Californians do not understand this concept.)

We stopped by the carousel (the oldest in the country) which had the requisite horses (click that link, the horses are spectacular), but once inside, Bama freaked out. Inconsolable, she declared she did not want to ride on those horseys so I gave our tickets to some very nice girls who looked like they came in from Illinois. 

She was happy enough to go through the tunnel, hooting. 

Everyone came with us — Big Baby and Comet (seen in stroller). Notice, pink cheeks, whipped raw by wind, mittens, and down coat (reversible, so great).

 

And then … horseys! Horseys! Horseys! The top of this loop from 6th Avenue over to 5th Avenue is perfect for watching the carriages come through the park. We talked about colors, which horses had decorations, and she asked about the shoes they were wearing. How did she figure out the shoes? She may have been asking about the hooves, but we talked about hooves and shoes.

 

In the midst of the carriage excitement, I got her to sit on a bench and have some candied almonds. I ate her hot dog. It took a crow-bar to get her out of there, but I did. We took a cab home and slept for hours.