I'm not a fan of rodeos, but I have to admit we had a great day there on Saturday. For the last six years they have done a race on the first Saturday of the rodeo. Last year I ran the four miler and it was a lot of fun. This year I decided it would be fun if we did the walking portion (1.6 miles) as a family. I had to pay a $40 (total) entry fee for Richard and me, which got us entry into the "race", t-shirts and some samples in our goody bag. The race ended on the rodeo grounds so we also got free admission for the day. This was a fantastic deal, as I didn't even have to pay for any of the kids to participate in the race and they got in free to the grounds as well. We also received two complimentary grounds tickets in our packets and I now have eight total (I received six when I signed the kids up for the Simon Mall Kidgets Club). We will definitely be taking advantage of these passes again next weekend.
The morning started out bitterly cold. The temperature was in the 20s, but there was a nasty wind that dropped that down into the teens. I don't have mittens or gloves for anyone in the family!! We bundled everyone up in lots of layers and brought blankets for Serena and Jameson since they would be sitting in the stroller the whole time. Serena was a star: she sat in the stroller all comfy and cozy under her blanket and didn't make a peep the whole time. My other two were not as quiet! Jameson, being the little BOY he is, refused to keep his hands under the blanket and pretty much screamed the entire walk because they were cold. I did feel very bad...at first. After awhile it got on my nerves because if he just would have kept his hands in his blanket, he could have been fine.
So the walk was definitely not the highlight of the day, but having competed in last year's race I knew there was some great food and Starbucks waiting for us at the end!! We got some sausage breakfast tacos, biscuits and gravy and two cups of hot Starbucks coffee each. Jameson had finally calmed down, but it was still very cold and the grounds were barely alive yet. Most of the exhibits didn't open until 10am and it was only 9:30am. We were able to duck into a warm building where the history of the rodeo was displayed and we got to watch some of the rodeo competition from years past on a TV. Finally at 10am we went to get Calli her much anticipated hot chocolate and decided to go into the Coliseum where all the shopping was. We wandered around there for a bit and when we emerged the temperatures were finally heating up.
The kids got to ride ponies and had a blast. Jameson wasn't so sure at first, but by the end of the ride he was smiling away. Next we were flagged down by someone asking if we wanted the kids to join the Rodeo Kids Club and get a free shirt. The word "free" is music to my ears so how could we say no?! Next we noticed a line near some food and found out it was free samples. The samples were plentiful, starting with Sunny Delight and continuing with bags of chips, juices, bread with olive oil, popcorn, graham crackers with chocolate whipped cream, tortillas with peanut butter and jelly, fruit cups and other things I can't even remember. Basically we ate lunch from just the samples and I was overjoyed with the knowledge that we would not have to spend $50 on disgusting fair food for lunch!
Calli climbed the rock wall next and this is always a thrill for her. They have one at our YMCA and every time we go she insists on climbing. She has gotten really good and can outclimb kids and even adults (I am sure she could beat me!!). She got her harness on and just raced right up to the top. We could hear the comments from other parents and amazement that she could do it being just five-years-old.
HEB had a cute little event this year. In the past years they have had jumphouses for the kids to play in, but this year they had sort of an interactive farm. There was a little maze kids ran around and started out by planting a seed. Then they collected the fruit/veggies that they grew, milked a cow, collected some wool, fed the chickens and got eggs, and finally sold all they had gathered at the market. They got some real apple slices and celery at the end as well as a bag with a seed they could take home and grow.
We visited the Simon Mall Kidgets Club booth and the kids got free cowboy hats, kerchiefs and badges as well as some balloon animals. Then we saw Shamu (we had seen the Pillsbury Doughboy not long before too). We also visited the Army booth so Calli could compete in the push-up contest. I can't remember exactly how many she did, but I think it was around fifteen. The guy put her name up on the board, which was nice and she also got some goodies (a pencil, pen, pin, etc.).
Of course we had to go to the kids' most anticipated part of the rodeo: the carnival. This place is a huge gripe of mine because they just rip you off so much. Tickets were $1 each and each ride took 3-4 tickets. A wristband was $25, but we decided to skip it that day and do it the next time. Instead I got twenty tickets and luckily Jameson was sleeping during this part so the girls were able to use them all up and do three rides apiece. The first one was the Merry-Go-Round, which Serena had been looking forward to all day. Then the girls went through some short play gym, where they climbed up a rope ladder, crossed a bridge, went down a slide and then waded through the ball pit to the end. Finally they decided to go on a small roller coaster. Serena was actually able to ride with Calli and I didn't have to go on. The ride made four loops and for the first two Serena seemed to be enjoying herself, but we saw her face on the third loop and she had started to cry. I think she had fun, but started to get scared toward the end.
We saw a little puppet show, got free ice cream during the sample time and then Richard and I also sampled some wine. I got a sample of Pull-Ups at the Huggies booth (they also had a little changing tent where they provided free diapers and wipes to use, which was awesome!!) and some Kleenex samples and backpacks for the girls, none of which was in English. The last thing we did was go to the petting zoo, which was really fun but the kids were scared. Instead of all the animals being behind fences, it was a big open area for the animals to roam the people to walk around with them. The kids didn't like the animals just coming up to them like that, although Serena seemed to warm up a bit. She is my animal lover I think.
All in all, it was a great family day and we sure scored a lot of free samples and had a relatively inexpensive time. We can't wait to go again this weekend!
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