Rodeo

During Jaden and Cody's spring break, Jason took a day off work so that our family could attend the Houston Rodeo.

The most exciting part about our rodeo visit this year was that Jaden and Cody were just old enough to participate in mutton bustin'! This activity is a bizarre Texas tradition in which 5- or 6-year-old children ride on the back of a sheep as the animal runs out into an arena. The kids have to hang on as tightly as they can for as long as they can-- a version of bull riding for the littlest cowboys. :)

Cody and Jaden were thrilled to see two of their little buddies from school, Jack and Joshua, in line for the mutton bustin' rides at the same time we were!

  

Each of the riders received special vests and safety helmets for his/her ride.

As the boys awaited their turn, it sure looks like they were starting to have second thoughts about their ride...

Both boys stuck with it, though, and had a great ride! Cody went first and made it about halfway into the arena.

Hooray for our little mutton bustin' champ!

Right from the start of Jaden's ride, he slowly began to slide down the side of the sheep. There isn't much to hang on to!

These next two pictures make me smile. Somehow Jaden just barely hung on much longer than we thought and made it as far as Cody did. What a ride!

Here is a video of  both boys' rides. What a fun memory!

While her big brothers were riding, Adley was happily entertained in the stands. This girl loves her Papa! :)

At the very end of the show, all of the riders paraded out onto the arena. They proudly accepted the audience's boisterous applause with eager waves.

They received high fives from some rodeo clowns and a few REAL cowboys.

The kids were all given large blue participant ribbons for their successful rides. Hooray, we were so proud of our little cowboys!

After our time at mutton bustin' we enjoyed watching and participating in other rodeo grounds activities, including

...pig races,

...egg hatching,

...a petting zoo,

...planting sunflower seeds,

...and collecting animal "trading cards" in the Ag-venture building.

One of the last things we did was to visit the Fun on the Farm event, where our boys got to act like real farmers-- planting pretend crops, driving a tractor,

milking a cow,

and pumping well water.

The boys' favorite part of this event was getting to play in the extra-large boxes of corn at the end.

Before we left the rodeo, our whole family enjoyed some tasty ice cream cones.

Perhaps in one of the next few years, we'll attend the actual evening rodeo show and concert. For now, though, getting just a taste of the rodeo through the grounds activities was perfect for our family. We had a great day!