Rodeo 2015

I had all sorts of grand plans to post like 3 or 4 times this week.  But in reality, I slept in and hung out with my kids.  We baked. We played scrabble.  Kate did lots of crafts.  Harry fished. We cleaned out closets and drawers.  Kate and Harry outgrew all of their spring and summer clothes from last year. They both had big growth spurts!  I shopped online to replace the clothes they outgrew!  We went to the beach, the rodeo and the movies.  It was a very good Spring Break.

Let's start with the Rodeo.  We live approximately 2 miles from where the Houston Rodeo and Livestock show takes place. Most nights (depending on the humidity) we can hear the concerts.  That said, Dave and I are not native Texans and the rodeo is more of something to check off on our "to-do" list each year than something we look forward to.  We are not big country music fans and we don't like the crowds.  But our kids LOVE the rodeo. So, every year we take them and I do enjoy seeing their happiness. As young kids, they like the carnival rides, the food and the livestock stuff.  As teens, it is place to hang out with friends on the weekend in March.

Kate's romper (that she lives in).  Notice how Harry is almost as tall as Dave now?!

After two weeks of rainy weather, we finally had a sunny day in Houston.  Typically, we do not go to the rodeo carnival on a Saturday because of the crowds but for some reason we threw caution to the wind and went.

The first thing we always do is get in line for the pony rides.  The line is usually long and it moves slower than the other rides.  We were not sure Kate would still want to ride the ponies because most of the kids in line are much younger but she wanted to ride.  I have a feeling this might be the last year:(

This is what I got after the first photo.  The hand action was accompanied by "Mama!"

Yup, she is growing up.

And just for nostaglia sake, let's look at her first time on the ponies.
This was in 2009! She was 2 and 1/2 and I think she had mono but we did not know it yet.

Next it was onto a few rides....












Kate loves this flying ride.

Next we went on the sky ride.  In all of our years here, we had never done this before.

Kate loved it.  My palms sweated the whole time and my heart raced.  Let's just say Dave and Harry were not fans either.  Apparently, heights make most of our family a bit jittery.  Dave did make me laugh the whole way across though.  Kate and Harry rode behind us.

Another family favorite is the bumper cars.  The was the first year that Kate was tall enough to drive the big ones on her own.  She struggled though....

Harry jumped in and immediately started cruising around.  But poor Kate just went around and around in circles at the far end of the lot for what seemed like eternity. We could not tell her what to do from where we were allowed to stand. We tried not to laugh but it was kind of funny.  She just could not figure out how to drive.

Harry decided to go back where she was and bump her a few times (you can see them in the far back below) ...







And then Kate started to get the hang of it and she got in on the action.....







This is the look I get from Harry when I try to take his photo.  He's 14 y'all.

And while food is usually one of the best parts of the rodeo, it was not this year.  I am eating 100% gluten free right now and there were not really options for me there.  Plus, it was so incredibly crowded that you could barely get in line.  The kids ate a little.  Kate really wanted the fried ice cream that she had last year.  She talked about it for weeks.  But the line was at least 60 people deep and they fry each thing to order. It would have easily taken over an hour.  So she happily settled for regular ice cream.  She is really amenable like that.  

We were glad to check the rodeo off our Spring break to do list so early in the week but I doubt we will ever go again on a sunny Saturday.  It was crazy.  As the day went on you could barely walk from one place to the next because of the crowds.  As always though, I loved watching my kiddos laugh and have fun.

Will was not at the rodeo with us because he was on a mission trip.  He spent his Spring Break serving the poor in south Texas in a town just on the border of Mexico.  He helped build a house for a family there that lost their house in a tornado. He really enjoyed working on the house and helping people who needed help.  He slept on the floor of a local church and never once complained.  He even told me that he'd like to go back and do it again next year.  I am so proud of him and his servant's heart.  Will has always been such a great volunteer.

I also want to share some great news about HARRY!  He applied to two private high schools here for next year and he was accepted to both!  He also received a significant academic scholarship to one of them for scoring so high on the high school placement test. Now he has a tough decision to make.

I know I don't write about or share as many photos of the boys because they are teens and I try to respect their privacy but I am so proud of Harry.  He is a great student and he works hard. I cannot believe he will be in high school next year.  Will is going to be a senior and Harry will be a freshmen!  I have had three kids at three different schools for three years now.  The logistics of that has added a certain degree of chaos to our lives for sure. It would be so nice to be down to two schools for a change;)

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!