Yee-Ha Yippie-Yy-Yo

This weekend was the Kiawanis Club's annual Clarksville rodeo. We missed it last year, so we decided to take the kids this year. Anne, Jason and Joey were in town, so they came with us. The gates opened at 6 p.m., but the rodeo didn't start until 8 p.m. Way past my kids' bedtimes, but what the heck.

Truthfully, the kids were great and had a blast. They even understood when the horse won and when the cowboy won during the bronc riding. There was a scary moment when a horse flipped onto a cowboy and we said a quick prayer. (I think Luke may be a priest one day -- if he can learn to stop beating people up and pulling his sister's hair. Oh, and the ear-piercing scream thing... that would never work up there on the altar.) Lots of drama, but the cowboy was okay and walked out of the arena.

Anne and Joey, Sam, Luke and I made it until around 9:15 before we made our exit. Jack and Maria stayed behind with Dan and Jason, who apparently entered them into the find-your-shoes-in-a-pile contest and a chase-the-chicken contest. Darn the luck, they didn't win either one. (I would have killed Dan, had one of those kids brought a chicken home!)

Hard core rodeoers that they are, Jack, Maria, Dan and Jason all waltzed in around 11:15 p.m. Jack and Maria were covered in dust, hay, stray chicken feathers and who-knows-what. Quick showers, jammies and to bed and all was well.

Cowboy Luke (that's what we have to call him now) was ready to go back to the rodeo on Saturday, but we decided one night was enough this time.