Carriage Rides with Friends

Last night we met our friends Forrest and Marcie and her daughter Sophie at Hard 8 BBQ for dinner, which was delicious as usual! Sofia and Sophie haven't seen each other for a long time and were excited to see each other initially but then sort of didn't know what to say to each other after that. Sophie is learning German from a book for a trip she plans with her mom and Forrest this summer. So, during dinner she turned to her book, while I know Sofia wished she'd brought her own book. I told Sofia she should ask Sophie some questions like what her favorite subject in school is, what books she's reading (other than German), if she plays the piano or sports, etc. This started them off on a great conversation and they were talking away before long and then started playing charades. Meanwhile, Olivia really wanted to join in but it wasn't working, so I gave her my bag of horses and she played with them very happily. After their fun was exhausted, we decided to drive into the cute little downtown Coppell for coffee or ice cream. I haven't been over in that area in so long I had no idea how much it has changed! Wow! There's an entire little cute village main street with shops, restaurants, a play ground and adorable little houses. It was so cute and unexpected. We ended up arriving to find the coffee shop closed for the day, but horse-drawn carriage rides!

We were able to get right into the smaller of the two carriages that carried all 7 of us comfortably. Of course, the girls had to pet the horse, Pancho, first and they loved how he felt except for Olivia who didn't like how he smelled. It was such a warm night that Sofia wore just a long-sleeved shirt while Olivia had here jacket on and wanted her blanket from the car. It felt great to be out and was the perfect weather. We loaded up and headed out and our driver asked if any of the kids wanted to drive the carriage! Sofia went first and we couldn't believe that he really meant for her to drive! She had full control for about 15 minutes until Sophie took over! He even let Olivia drive the last 10 minutes! It was so great and the girls loved it and were pretty good at it as well. We walked through the square and looked at all the new shops and houses and then headed over to an older neighborhood where nearly every house was decorated. It was beautiful and we had the whole street to ourselves. The carriage ride lasted about 45 minutes and was so much fun. When our driver overheard us talking about going to the playground after the ride, he took us straight there and dropped us off. It was perfect! We went to the playground where the kids played together and had a ball while Forrest and CK talked and Marcie and I talked. After a while we said our goodbyes and headed home after a very fun night!!

Enjoying some serious BBQ at Hart 8

Petting Pancho, the horse

All set to go!!

Sofia is driving us!

The four of us

Olivia gets a turn driving the carriage

Decorations along the way

Forrest, Marcie and Sophie

The carriage

At the park