Ro-dee-OH!

What trip to Texas would be complete without a visit to a cowboy's favorite sport? (Well maybe it isn't really a sport, but at least a hobby or pastime or something- right?)  In order to make this Texas experience complete we felt the need to visit the famous Fortworth Stockyards.  Of course it helps that it was Free Friday for children under 12.  I was a little leery of taking the kids to an event an hour away that didn't start until 8pm.  (That's about the time we are usually getting our kids to bed- on a good day :)  But it turned out to be a lot of fun.  Luckily it was pretty casual so the kids could wander from chair to chair and jump up and down the stairs without bothering anyone.  

My favorite part was when they let the kids all gather in the arena for a calf or sheep chase. Lauren was a good sport and went to join into the Calf Chase for the 8 and older kids without really knowing what she was in for.  Unfortunately she had on flip-flops and it wasn't so fun to chase a calf through a manure littered dirt floor.  I think she was just glad to come back and clean off her feet.  Ben watched Lauren's group and mourned that he wasn't 8, until they announced a sheep chase for the 7 and youngers.  He couldn't wait.  I don't think he understood the point of the game was to get the ribbon off the sheep, he was just happy to have free reign to run through the arena with an animal and a bunch of rowdy kids.  All that bull riding and calf roping got his adrenalin rushing.  It was so funny to watch Ben go at it.  Of course he was in his own world- throwing (what I hope was) dirt clots, talking to a few friends, random jumping jacks, whatever.  He was happy to report that he touched the sheep. Yeah Benny! Katie was sad I didn't let her join in the chase, she still tells me that she wants to chase the sheep when we go back.

The kids thought the bull riding was fun, but were a little concerned about the calf roping. Lauren and Dallin thought it was mean until I explained that it was a game for the calfs- kind of like when they wrestle with their dad.  To someone watching it may look mean, but it's all in fun. Well, I'm not sure if it's really that nice, but I didn't want any tears of sympathy shed for the calf amidst a crowd of "Good 'ole Boy" cowboys. Of course I didn't bother to explain to them why the bulls buck the cowboys- well at least not in detail :)

So in spite of the late night a good time was had by all!