When I woke up I said, "Rodeo Day!  Right, Mimz?"  I was ready to hurry the day along.  I got dressed and eat a good breakfast to "get my energy " and we were off to school. Mimz picked him up at 12:30 so we could get me dressed in my cowboy clothes.  My parents both took half a day off work so they could go to the rodeo.  We all drove to Uncle Scott's office to get a special parking pass that allowed us to park very close to Reliant Stadium and all the Rodeo action.

                                                          Houston Rodeo 2013

We went straight to the carnival area.

I rode on my first roller coaster with Mommy. I loved it!  There was a special section just for kids rides and I wanted to ride them all. so we spend the rest of our carnival time there. 

I rode several rides by myself because I was tall enough:  cars, trucks, tractors...

 motorcycles, and the train.

             Vidoe of Mommy and me on a ride.
Some rides that went up off the ground required an adult to ride with me so everyone took turns riding with me.

I rode a flying bumble bee, dune buggies, dragons, and just about anything I could get on.

It is hard to see me, but I am sitting in this big race car.

I wanted to go down this very big slide so Mimz went with me the first time. I had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the top then Mimz sat down on a burlap sack and they put me between her legs. It looked pretty scary looking down but Mimz finally pushed off and it was a great ride over three or four big bumps.  I  loved it and was really to go again as soon as we came to a stop.  Daddy went with me the second time.

It took some convincing to move away from the rides but they finally got me to sit down to  watch the exhibitions.  It started with the Mutton Busting competition. Boys and girls, 5 & 6 years old, tried their best to ride sheep. They all wore protective gear and a helmet. Some of the kids fell off right away but some were able to hang on longer and they won a prize too. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to try to ride the sheep.  Mimz told me I was not old enough yet.

 I ate some tamales, a turkey leg, and a corn dog before having my picture taken while riding a real Longhorn Bull. We all headed to the stadium for the Rodeo after walking around some of the exhibits. Thank goodness we had the umbrella stroller for me because it was a lot of walking.   I enjoyed riding up the escalator. We found our seats and I watched every event and wanted to go down on the big dirt floor so I could ride a bull, wrestle a steer, or rope a calf.  Mimz made the mistake of tell me that only real cowboys could go down there.  I quickly reminded her that I was a real cowboy!!   So she told me I had to be a little bit older.  I was interested in everything.  

I got a little restless so Mimz  took me to potty and to get some nachos with cheese dip for a snack. After eating and watching the rest of the rodeo, I fell asleep while they were preparing the stage for the concert.   It started with a big fireworks display which I slept through.  We decided to leave before the end of the concert to avoid the traffic.  I woke up long enough to ride the escalator down and after a short stroller ride we we back in the car and headed home. I didn't wake up when Daddy put me in bed.

Uncle Scott and Aunt Jill are Rodeo Volunteers and go to the rodeo almost every night. Aunt Jill gave me my first pair of boots at Thanksgiving 2011.  They were a pair Morgan had outgrown and they were too big for me, but I loved them.  I prefer wearing cowboy boots to any other kind of footwear.

The closing on the sell of my GG parents home was today at 10am.  By 10:20am they and Barbara were stuffed into the car on the road headed to Tomball.  Their trip was long but uneventful and they arrived here at 8pm.  Their were going to make it a two day trip but the movers wanted to deliver their belongings on Wednesday morning at 9am so the plan changed to make the entire 600 mile drive in one day.  Grandma Bates said, "Don't wait until you are in your 80's to make a big move like this!"