Living at the rodeo....

Since we missed going to the Four States Fair and Rodeo last week due to rain and doing other things instead, I promised the kids we would go to the Southwest Arkansas Region Livestock Show and Rodeo (and Fair).

The fair was great! Lots of rides for kids and for 'older' kids. Shan and Emily rode the carousel. Then, Tyler and Emily rode in the spinning strawberries (what us 'older' kids would call a modified version of tilt-a-whirl). Then, Tyler and I rode the Tornado. The Tornado is like the Octopus, if you remember that ride, but not quite the same... The biggest difference is that you can control the spinning... It is like the Octopus and Tilt-a-Whirl had a vomit-inducing child... :-) It was great! Though, I did find that I had to concentrate on watching Tyler if I was to keep from losing my head (or lunch perhaps!). We had a blast!

After that, we ate some fair food and walked around the fair checking out the exhibits until it was time to head to the rodeo...

The PRCA has an AWESOME Dodge Ram truck... (I'll post a picture later)

The kids had fun - Emily especially! Of course, being four, she had lots of questions, and her own interpretations of the answers....

Question: "Are the Texas ones the Tex-Bulls or Tex-Cowboys, or what?"
Answer: "These cowboys are from all over - Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas..."
Response: "Arkansas?? Hey! We live in Arkansas!"

Question: "Is he from Arkansas?" (Asked while pointing at one of the riders)
Answer: "Yes, he is! And, he is from Hope! We are *IN* Hope! He lives here!"
Response: Emily's eyes grow to the size of silver dollars and her mouth drops open. As she looks around, she asks, "He lives HERE?? In the RODEO!?!?!"

It took some explaining before she understood that the poor man did NOT live in the arena.... Of course, I'm not sure that she entirely convinced... :-)