Rodeo 2009

February means rodeo season in Texas and this year we went to the San Antonio Rodeo, Houston Rodeo and the Bay City rodeo, man you'd think I was born in Texas instead of Missouri with all this Southern action! This was my second year to go to the Bay City Rodeo and let me just say...this is by FAR, THE BEST rodeo out there. First off, their arena only holds maybe a few thousand people and you are close enough to see all the action, which makes it more exciting! This year we sat right on the rail, close enough to have dirt fly in your beer, bull snot flung on you and close enough to catch a cowboy should he come flying over the rail, which happened several times!

I think little nephew Luke was in shock and awe at how cool it all was that he could hardly speak! I really do love the mutton bustin' event, where the little kids hold onto a sheep for dear life as it runs with them on it's back across the rodeo floor.

There's also a rare event they have which consists of a team of 3 men and I forget the name of it, but, the two biggest guys are responsible for holding down the steer (which has horns) then the last guy, usually really skinny, puts a rope around the cow and climbs on top of the cow and has to ride it to the end of the arena floor. It's really a funny event, but these guys have to be super careful and strong to be successful, which most aren't.

At the Houston Rodeo we mostly checked out the live stock show, the rodeo is nice, but you're so far away from the action since Reliant Stadium is so huge that it takes away from how cool Rodeo really is. Anyways, photos below and a cute one of my favorite animal, new born piglets from Houston.