July 4- Rodeo

Today was all about rodeo day. I got the kids dressed in their red, white & blue outfits & we headed out the door around 9:30am. The parade was at 10am so we got there in time to see it. Annika noticed all the kids around her had bags & buckets & she said “I think they’re going to throw candy, look at all the kids with bags”. I told her to use her red cowgirl hat & she sure did. Both kids went running for candy every chance they got & sometimes they got some & sometimes they didn’t. As soon as Dalton got his he wanted to eat it, but I told him only a couple. Annika was saving hers. Next thing I see is Dalton with probably 5 empty wrappers. Great now for the sugar high. The parade was cute & your typical small town stuff with the mayor, the town band, barber shop quartet, lots of horses & several ponies, old cars, fire department, & other stuff. They had people doing water gun & balloon fights along the way so the parade people were soaked as well as parts of the crowd. When we saw those “floats” coming by we stepped waaay back. At one point a clown was walking thru the crowd & saw Annika. She was talking to her & playing with Annika’s red cowgirl hat. You could see how my baby girl was not happy with this clown & was looking kind of scared. Her eyes got a little watery & she was rubbing them then looking past the clown at me saying “mama, mommy” in a soft voice. The clown then took her colorful duster & was pretending to dust Annika. Poor thing was not digging it. Finally the clown put Annika’s hat back on her head & then my baby girl came walking quickly over to me & put her face in my stomach. Dumb clown. Wasn’t it obvious that she wasn’t into you? Anyway the weather was pretty overcast & was calling for showers so it started with a sprinkle then it came down a little harder, but not too bad. I saw a couple big bolts of lightning & the thunder was rolling. It made me think about all the rain we’ve had on our trip. Every camp ground we have had rain except for a couple of them recently here in South Dakota. Guess we can mark this one as a rain camp as well. Annika still wanted to stand out there & collect her candy. Motivation, but I wanted to stand under the big tree & stay dry. Dalton was over there with hubby & Emry eating more candy. Ugh! Once the rain started coming in harder we decided it was time to leave. We waited under the tree until the rain to let up a bit. He kept checking his phone & looking at the weather radar (I joke with him often & call him the weatherman). We got a break in the rain & hauled booty to the suv. The parade was almost over so I didn’t feel too bad….until I heard all the loud sirens from the fire trucks. Man they were blaring their horns & going all out. Oh well we were warm & dry in our suv.

We all had the munchies & cruised thru town (once the traffic started moving) looking for a place. I kept seeing signs in the last couple towns for a place called Taco Johns. I was curious so we checked it out. Man it was good & WAAAYYYY better then nasty old Taco Bell. This was REAL meat & it had some spicy kick to it. Annika of course would not eat her chicken nuggest because they were “yucky”. She must be psychic because she didn’t even try them. Oi that girl. Dalton ate his lunch so he got to have yummy dessert & it was good.

It was still fairly early so we went to find the rodeo fair grounds. We found what we thought was a good parking spot & backed in, but once we got out…..holy caca. Literally. It stuck so bad from horse & cow crap that Dalton was gagging. I took him out of his car seat so he could walk around & as soon as I put him down I said “if you’re going to barf do it here &  not in your car seat”. I didn’t think he’d actually barf, but he did…right on my thigh. Thankfully it was just spit & not full on puke, but still gross. We did laugh about it though & made another memory.

Annika has been on the hunt for a lasso the last several days & just happened to see one there at the rodeo. She wanted one so bad, but we told her after it was over so we didn’t have to carry it around. I also told her it would depend on her attitude & she agreed. I’ve never been to a rodeo before & wasn’t sure which were the good seats, but we sat above the area where the bull is released & the cowboys on their horses go after them. They turned out to be good seats, however the people behind us made them not so good seats. We will just say they were weird & leave it at that. When this girl was singing the national anthem she was doing really well, but I couldn’t concentrate on her singing because the weird dude behind me insisted on singing & not so good I might add. Grrr…It took forever to start, but we did get there kinda early so that’s partially our fault, but the whole opening ceremony with the Jr & Miss Rodeo I could have done without. Save that for the end. The first thing up was the mutton busting, which turned out to be small kids on sheep. It was so cute. They had to hold on as long as they could then get their score. A little girl won it. She did way better then all the boys. You go girl! After more break time they finally started with the bucking horses. The guys have to stay on for 8 seconds & most of them were disqualified even after staying on. Different rules, but it was neat to watch. After that was the guy who had to chase the bull then wrestle him off his feet. These big burly guys couldn’t turn the darn thing over & had a heck of a time. I think only 2 did it within 8-12 seconds. Guess it’s harder than it looks. After that was the team of guys on horses that chase the bull after it’s released then one ropes the neck & the other ropes the feet then they stretch him. Again only 2 groups were able to pull it off. I was getting kind of disappointed since I wanted to get our money’s worth. Oh yeah about that. They were advertising a military tribute & it was Independence day, but they had absolutely NO discount for active duty military. I was shocked & very disappointed in them. If I were them I would have been embarrassed. They even asked all the military (active & retired) to stand. What the heck? Weirdos. Anyway the kids had ants in their pants the whole time & were up then down then up then down. They were by the fence then on the bleachers back & forth. It was getting annoying & we had to keep telling Dalton not to climb the fence or not to step on the bleacher part where he could fall. It’s like talking to dirt or as our parents would say, it’s like talking to a brick wall. We couldn’t fully enjoy the show & at intermission we left. I really wanted to see the women’s barrel racing & hubby wanted to see the bucking bulls, but that had to be later so we missed it. Bummer. But he did give in & got Annika her lasso. He told her very sternly that the first time he sees that lasso around Dalton or Emry’s neck then he’s cutting into little pieces & throwing it away. I know him, he’ll do it for sure. I told her she could lasso chairs, our feet or around our stomach, but never around necks. She said ok & was so excited. I love seeing that look on her face. She just lights up beautifully. Now she says she needs cowgirl boots to be a cowgirl. Hers got packed, but I do believe they might be getting too small anyway. She makes a cute cowgirl.

As we walked back to our suv the stench was back, but his time all the horses were there so the kids watched them for a bit. I was ready to get outta there & when I put Emry in her car seat I pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in my right shoulder. It hurt & I couldn’t really lift my shoulder. It hurt the rest of the day & night. Trying to take care of kids with a sore arm is hard. I figured the hot tub would be good for it so hubby made cheddar brats & I made macaroni & cheese before we headed to the pool. I went to start laundry & Annika came to help me (Dalton was napping). As we walked out there is this red metal fence around the playground & there’s a small cut out where the kids can walk under, kinda like a door. She walked right into the top rail & bonked her head. I could hear it. She didn’t cry, but she was close. In her defense there was a towel on the bar & it hung down just enough to cover that bar that she couldn’t see to duck underneath. Poor thing, but I did kinda laugh. Couldn’t help it. It reminded me of my little sister running into a wire fence a loooong time ago when we were on vacation. We were at the Petrified Forest & she took off running & the wire fence was barely visible & she ran into it & she flung backward. The wire came right to the bridge of her nose. It happened so fast, but man I laughed & to this day I can still see it happening. I think I was 10 or 11 years old. Anyway when Annika bonked her head like that & her head kinda jerked backward it was like seeing my little sister all over again. LOL.

By the time we got to the pool Dalton had woken up & hubby had brought him out to swim. Annika wasn’t happy about it, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. We soaked in the hot tub since the pool was too cold & the sun was going down. As we sat there the sunset was beautiful & the sky had pink, purple & orange hues. It reminded me of rainbow sherbet ice cream. Yumm. I pretended to be a horse as they sat on my back & I was bucking them off into the water. Good times. We went to put the clothes in the dryer & the kids helped. It’s funny how they get all excited about putting quarters into the machine. Hey whatever gets them excited about helping is all fine with me. Afterward we went back to swimming for a bit. I promised them several pieces of the Dibbs ice cream after their shower so we hurried inside. Annika went first & was quick. Dalton did not want to get in & had the breaks on his feet so I grabbed him & closed the door behind me all the while he’s screaming bloody murder. I told him we’ll be fast then you can eat your ice cream, but it was then that I noticed his little finger was stuck in the door. Oh geez! I quickly opened the door & check it out. It was ok, but he was crying so hard & I felt horrible. No mother of the year award for me. I kissed his finger to make it better, but after one kiss he didn’t want me near it. He was already screaming so I put him in the tub & showered him as fast as I could. My poor baby he was tired & hurt. I gave him a couple bites of the ice cream then sent him to bed. Every once in a while he would cry out. I still feel so bad.

I was still in my bathing suit, but had to go get the dried laundry. As I was leaving this girl asked me where I got my laundry bag & we got to talking. Her mom was there too (we were inside a community center like room) & they were so nice & the dad was retired air force as well. The whole time we were talking I was thinking about the kids probably still crying & screaming & my laundry was getting all wrinkled being in the bag. That’s ok because it was a nice little social time for me. Since all the kids were sleeping I decided to use the camp showers so I could take a long hot shower. They were pretty nice, but my water was hot for literally 3 seconds then it stayed a cool warm temp. It was all the way on hot & I moved the lever around a bit, but it never got hotter. Ugh I was so bummed out. So I showered quickly & went back to the trailer all cold & grumpy. I asked hubby about his shower & he said his was hot the day before. He then went to shower & I snuggled in bed next to Emry. He came back & said he had plenty of hot water. Grrrr….go figure. That’s it I’ll just stick to the showers in our trailer.