Yesterday the kids and I headed out to the Austin Rodeo. We got there before any of the shows started so we headed over to Kid Town for pony rides and the petting zoo. Now taking a pony ride was something Lauren REALLY wanted to do. All morning she kept asking if there was going to be pony rides and how she wanted to ride one, so $6.00 later Lauren was on her pony, and was she excited. Then the pony started to walk, and Lauren became less enthusiastic, and with every step Lauren became more anxious until she was crying to get off. After drying her tears we then moved on to the petting zoo. Let me just state how much I hate these things! Smelly (probably bug infested), aggressive animals slobbering on you to get food is not my idea of a good time. But the kids always want to do this – in theory, but they always get in there with their food, and the animals come running, and my kids freak out, and I end up feeding the animals while being a human shield. This time was no exception, and since Lauren’s emotions were right on the surface after the pony ride she began to cry again and wanted to leave. It was turning out to be a great morning. But Mom rallied the troops and explained that “We are having fun and we are having it right now!” I gave out more hugs and Kleenex and we headed to our first show, the Chuck Wagon Show. The kids did not appreciate the history lesson, but did like the biscuits that were handed out at the end of the show. Then we bought some popcorn and chocolate milk and headed to Mom’s favorite part of the day – the Pig Races. This show is pretty self explanatory. Your section of seats is assigned a pig, and if that pig wins, the cheerleader (a kid picked out of the crowd) for your section wins a prize. Both Aidan and Lauren were picked to be cheerleaders, but neither one of their pigs one, but they had fun screaming for their pigs to win. Then it was onto a puppet show, and then on to the deathtraps that the kids call rides. We spent about two hours riding the kiddie rides, because I bought the kids these wristbands that let them ride as many times as they wanted. There were a couple of rides like the big slide and the fun houses that they just kept doing over and over again. Then we took a small break for lunch, and then it was Mommies turn to pick something. So we were off to see a Western Shoot Out and a Horse Show. Aidan ended up buying something at the rodeo with his own money. It was his name written in fancy letters – he put it on a Super Mario background which I hated, but since it wasn’t my money I didn’t have a say. It is proudly hanging in his room as I type this blog. It was then back to the rides. By now Mommy was getting tired, and seeing no end in sight to the numerous rides my children were willing to ride, and not wanting to hear any whining, I did what any desperate parent would do…I bribed them with ice cream. The conversation went something like this:
MOM: “You guys about ready to go?”
KIDS: “NO, NO, NOOOOO NOT YET!”
MOM: “If we leave right now we can get ice cream on the way out.”
KIDS: “OK, let’s go!”
So what started out a little rocky turned into a great day. You can check out of the pictures on Flickr.
On a side note, my good friend, Michelle, had her baby on Monday. A beautiful baby girl, Audrey Elaine. Aidan has already held her.
