This week is Cattle Call Rodeo week in our small town. Every day, all week long, our town hosts fun, family friendly events aimed at pleasing any and all rodeo fans. Today was the mini-rodeo. The mini-rodeo is just what it sounds like. It is a miniature version of the "big" rodeo, meant for pre-schoolers and other school-age children. The mini-rodeo is shorter, sillier, and is full of kids doing fun events, sort of gymkhana style events. This event hosts some serious stuff too. The barrel racing is no joke!
Now my kids love the mini-rodeo even more than the big, full sized rodeo that's coming up this weekend. Last year was their first mini-rodeo experience, and ever since then, we were sold! This year, my big sis taped off a group of front row seats for us, so that when we arrived, we had a great view of the action. We saw kids dressed up as clowns, tons of gorgeous cowgirls with sparkling belts and big smiles. We saw the American flag flying and five year olds gently guiding their trusty horses around barrels. We saw young cowboys fall down and get right back up. We saw it all, and it was great! Yee-Haw!
What follows are a handful of my most favorite pictures from our day at the Cattle Call Mini-Rodeo.
Cubby and J.D. walk excitedly into the grandstands.
Meeting the cowgirls was such a thrill for the little ones! I love that they ride their horses right up to the bars so the kids can give a good luck pet to the shiny horses.
Cubby was probably my most excited child. She's the one who's been begging for a horse now for a the past year. She reminds me a whole lot of me at that age!! Luckily, my mom and dad bought me a perfect Shetland Pony at her age. A pony just might be in her future...
Emma loved watching the show, and she decided that she now might want to be a cowgirl too. I think the shining, sparkling cowgirl queen blouses may have a little bit to do with this change of heart.
Gigi wasn't scared of the giant animals at all! She's such a brave little girl!
This guy gave us an awesome show atop his full-proof gray dappled horse.
The girls got quite a kick out of it!
Here's a picture of my gorgeous, and always chic niece, Ellie!
We sat with Emma and Cubby's homeschool group. And here are a couple of their buddies from class. Gotta love all those jeans and cowgirl hats!
Then the flags came out, and the national anthem was sung by an incredibly gifted high schooler. I looked down at my kiddos to see....
...J.D. with his hat held in his hands during the national anthem! He's watched his daddy enough times to know what to do during our nation's song. Way to go, buddy!
We had to leave a bit earlier, since the little ones got rambunctious and hungry about halfway through the show. We stopped on the way out for a classic Cattle Call photo op.
Yep, it doesn't get much better than this in our small town, folks!!
I even had my photo snapped!
The grandmas came along for good measure, and assistance! The kiddos were only too happy to pose beautifully with the grandmas, every child was beaming from ear to ear.
Then it was time for lunch, so we headed out. The kids, who we thought were ravenous, ate quickly, then headed outside to.....
...climb a tree and look really cute doing it!
Sweet J.D. is a natural treeclimber.
But nobody climbed higher than little Cubby. That girl is so much like me it's not even funny. She loved being high up in the branches, probably dreaming about the day when she too can ride around the arena on her soft pony.
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