We headed up to the rodeo and livestock show on Saturday morning and had a fabulous time — and can I just say that if you’re not going to the rodeo itself (which we weren’t, since that part really doesn’t make sense for a 19 month old), first thing in the morning is the BEST time to go? We arrived around 9:30 and breezed right into a parking lot and onto a tram that took us over to one of the main gates. We were able to leisurely enjoy all the animals at the livestock show, visit the petting zoo, and generally wander around without fuss. No traffic. No huge crowds. It was awesome.
We checked out some of the steers first. One of them was gentle enough for Emma to pet, although she got a little nervous when the steer started sniffing her arm.
We tried to pose for a family picture with this dude — I think he’s supposed to be the rodeo mascot of an H with a cowboy hat — but Emma buried her head in my shoulder and started crying when we got too close.
We checked out the newly hatched chicks — the ones in these photos were only 1 day old! We also went into the petting zoo, which was even more zoo-like because of all the people running around. Emma touched everything that walked past, including this pig, several goats, a few lambs and a llama. Her favorite, though, was a duck that escaped her grasp.
We had bbq for lunch (of course) from one of the big tents, and bought a few fried Oreos from one of the carnival vendors. Say what you want about bizarre fried things — but they taste like soft creamy chocolate cookies wrapped in a doughnut, and they are delicious. I gave Emma a couple small bites, but as you can see from her expression above, she was unimpressed.
We walked through the carnival on our way towards the exit — I had wanted to take Emma on the ferris wheel or carousel, but by this point she was getting a little cranky and tired so we skipped it, and Emma crashed in the stroller moments after the photo above was taken anyway. There’s always next year! We left around 1:00 and the crowds were growing but by that time, we were going against the flow and had a similarly easy time getting out and on our way home. Perfect.
I’m already looking forward to next year!
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