The Houston Rodeo

If you live in the Houston area, you can't miss the Rodeo. Andy and I have gone before, years ago before kids... I think he may have gotten the tickets through work. Anyhow, the first Saturday of March Andy didn't have to work. Yay! So, we decided to try and make the most out of a cloudy, windy day. The girls took early naps and then we headed to the Rodeo. Although, we didn't go to the actual show. We decided to wait until the girls are a bit older. There's always next year... But we did enjoy the Livestock Show and Kids Country. It was a fun afternoon/evening for us all. Luckily the sun did make it's way out.

We first checked on the animals inside. Not sure why we did this first, but we did. The girls enjoyed seeing the animals - mamas, babies, and even a few long horns.

And here's classic Audrey... No fear when it comes to worms. Would her sister do this? No! :)

Outside they had a pretend course for children to go through called "Fun on the Farm". The girls had fun feeding chickens, collecting eggs, planting seeds, watering, harvesting, milking a cow, shearing a sheep, and selling their products. With their hard-earned cash they get to buy a treat on their way out (and the treat was real). It was a neat way to teach children exactly how it all works. The girls enjoyed themselves.

Audrey happy to pose and Rachel busy driving - one of the many tractors the girls climbed in and enjoyed...

The girls also enjoyed a petting zoo outside. And after petting some animals they were ready to be cheesy:

Rachel let the butterfly give her a big hug and Audrey wouldn't go near it:

We then watched some kids participate in Mutton Bustin'. Rachel was quite disappointed that she wasn't old enough. But really, I don't think she'd like falling off and possibly getting stepped on by a sheep. We'll keep you posted on next year's adventures, because she'll be legal next year... We missed the pig races. We didn't realize they stopped early evening. So, we grabbed some dinner. Word to the wise - you need cash when you go to the Rodeo. We paid to get some cash. We missed Europe and how you can get cash out of any ATM without any charge. Come on U.S.... :)

After dinner we were going to splurge and go on a Ferris wheel ride. Mind you, these things aren't cheap. After walking around and seeing the price of the carnival rides, Disney World looks like quite a bargain. Rachel had seen a Curious George episode on PBS one day and has been talking about going on a Ferris wheel ride ever since. Unfortunately it got really windy and we were afraid that we would spend $32 and freeze. So, we opted out and bought Rachel some cotton candy instead. A win-win situation for everybody! And Rachel worked on that bag of cotton candy for a week before I threw it away....

We definitely enjoyed our Rodeo experience this year. Rachel is still quite obsessed with rodeo things. She has decided that she wants to be a cowgirl dentist. She figures she can wear cowgirl shoes and fill cavities at the same time. :) It was so nice to spend a Saturday together as a family. I've been missing our Saturday outings... They don't seem to happen often enough, so we make the most of them when the do happen.