March=Rodeo time in Houston

The Rodeo comes to Houston every March and with it, lots of fun!  We have gone every year since moving down here and this year I managed to make it there 3 times.  Jeff and I went opening weekend to the BBQ Cookoff contest.  It was awesome, but probably not the most family friendly part of the rodeo.  There are about 300 venders who come out and compete.  Not really sure how it all works, but Jeff got VIP tickets to one of the venders and we enjoyed some awesome food.  Then we spent some time walking around and even took a ferris wheel ride together.  No pictures, but it was a fun date night. 

Then later, once the rodeo kicked off, I headed down again with the kids during the day.  We went on a value day and I got a free ticket from Harrison's preschool so we tagged along with them and had a good time.  Carnival rides are cheaper too, so Harrison got to ride a few.  Poor kids was just an inch short to ride some of the bigger rides, but maybe next year. 

Then the kids got put to work for a day at the farm.  It is a really fun set up and the kids get a treat at the end for doing their work.

Then Harrison and one of his good friends Sam got to participate in a tractor pull race.  It was free and I was so excited he could do it and then as I watched what he had to do, I got worried.  It would be hard and for the first time, I was afraid I had set him up for failure.  I had no idea how he would do and I was so nervous waiting for him to compete. 
Well, I should have known he would do great!  He had to pull this tractor and trailer thing 20 ft.  The first time, he did awesome and then they started adding weight to each pull.  He didn't make it past 15 ft. with the added 50 lbs. but he did awesome.

 And he and Sam both got ribbons.

 Then we headed inside to the animal center.  We watched baby chicks hatch, baby rabbits, cows, pigs, chickens, bees and other animals.

 Then we headed to the petting zoo.  Always Harrison's favorite...Raegan tolerates it!  But this time was pretty funny...Harrison went in ahead of me while I got Raegan out of her stroller.  Then I walk in and see a crying Harrison.  What happened?  Well, if you notice the picture, ribbon is missing and the culprit is in the background.  This deer saw Harrison walk in and snatched it right off him.  Ate it without even giving him a chance.  The kid was devestated.  After promising we would go back and get him another ribbon (thank goodness they let me get another ribbon!), Harrison stayed away from the deer, who tried eating my shirt and my camera bag and Raegan's shoes.  We did have a fun time in the petting zoo.

 After several hours, Raegan was done and we were all pretty tired.

 Harrison found a race car...like anyone is surprised.  It looks just like Francesco according to the Cars expert.

 We headed home with smiles on our face...well maybe not Raegan who wanted to go home hours before that picture!

 Then 2 days later, I headed to the Rodeo again for the actual rodeo and concert with some girlfriends.  We saw Bruno Mars.  Not my first choice (George Strait came this year!) but he put on a good show and it was fun!

Here's to another fun trip (or trips) next year!