Day 11

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Up early today for our trail ride. Everyone is tired with our TV hangovers, me included. We head inside for breakfast. After breakfast, the girls stay home with James while the rest of us go to the stables for our ride. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze and my ancient knees didn’t ache as much this year as they did last year which made it even better!

After the ride, I shower and spend some time uploading photos to Facebook and Smugmug. Double loading takes more time but again, I try to keep our fans happy.

Lunchtime.

After lunch, Betty Lou and I make the monkey bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. Then we all enjoy some quiet time, resting before the rodeo tonight. The kids probably would have enjoyed less quiet time but oh well. Too bad for them.

Finally, time to get ready for the rodeo. Long pants for the kids so they can enjoy the kids’ activities at the rodeo. Long pants for me so it’s fair – we’re all equally hot. We drove into Kerrville and had dinner at Culvers. Good food and even better frozen custard for dessert. Then on to Hunt where Crider’s Rodeo is.

At the rodeo, we signed the kids up for the kids’ participation events. Felisa was entered into Mutton Bustin’ and Ryan and Bella were in Calf Chasing. Then we spent some time looking at all the cows and bulls waiting in the pens.

The Mutton Bustin’ was pretty wild. Felisa ended up with what was probably the toughest sheep. As the gate opened, the sheep tripped and she started to fall off. Then the cowboys put her back on and the sheep took off. She fell fairly quickly. Her official time: 5.27 seconds. She was dusty and crying but eventually recovered. And now we can joke about whether or not she wants to ride another sheep!

The rodeo was an amateur rodeo. Which means that a lot of ropers missed the calf and none of the bull riders made it to 8 seconds. But it was a nice evening, a good atmosphere, and lots of fun. Any time I get to hang around horses and cowboys, I’m a happy girl!

Our favorite parts of the rodeo:
F – Not the sheep. Definitely not the sheep. No way. Not the sheep. NOT the sheep. (gee, do you think maybe she was still in shock when we did this poll?) Her favorite part – sitting on a horse.

B – making new friends

R – Finding a boot (during the calf chase, a kid lost his red boot. Ryan thought it looked like a money-winning ribbon so he picked it up)

S – cowboys and seeing the animals in the holding pen

On our drive home we saw a LIVE armadillo (well, actually, I was the only one who saw it, running into the brush on the side of the road), a raccoon, and back at the barn, a frog. I really enjoy being able to see so many animals all around out here.

And finally – bed. A late night. Tomorrow we have to get up early for more rock and fossil hunting.