Snake River Stampede Rodeo 2011

So I'm a little behind.  At least I'm working on catching up!  Tonight I finished editing all of my personal July photos (other then Grace's 6 year photo session).  That was a bunch of photos to go through!  I thought I'd share some of my favorite rodeo photos from the Snake River Stampede rodeo this year.  If you know us then you know that this isn't my kids first rodeo.  In fact even the little guy has been to more rodeos then many adults I know.  This year the kids made it to the end of the rodeo almost every night which was a big change from past years.  I think the steady supply of sugar from Opa and Oma was a big motivating factor.  Having your Opa be in charge of concessions does come with some perks, one of which is sour cotton candy.  Haven't tried that particular variety?  Well let me just warn you to stay away from the sour watermelon (seriously, heed this warning!) but the sour grape wasn't too bad. 

I have many more photos to share from our Idaho trip this year but I'll save that for another post since this one will be long enough.  Here's my favorites, bearing in mind that I only took my camera to the rodeo once and that was only to take photos of us watching the rodeo and not the rodeo itself.  I realized years ago that attempting to photograph a rodeo with a child or two on your lap is just not a good idea so I've given up trying until my children are old enough to NOT jump up and down on me.

 First up is my little cowboy.  Why yes he is wearing the exact same outfit (hat was a little snug but we made do!) as last year.  It still fits and it's cute!  And since I'm not 100% sure I actually blogged last year's rodeo photos you all don't know the difference.

And here's the rodeo princess.  Doesn't she look so grown up?  I'm still in shock she agreed to smile for me without looking like a cheeseball.

And here we are increasing the difficulty level by attempting a photo of both children at once.  Score one for Mommy with eye contact from two hard to pin kiddos!

 

And here we have the classic Big Sister maneuver as she "helps" me get a photo of her brother.  So sweet.

 

Uncle Sam and his namesake.

 

Now I'm really getting crazy with the jellybeans.  A photo involving two small children, Sam Parry, and an excitable small dog.  Somebody make me some Sploosh.  

 Daddy hanging out with us for a little bit in the stands.

Grace practiced writing her numbers by writing the cowboy's scores on the daily each night.

 The kids' first drink in a bar courtesy of Uncle Sam.  For the record, it was a Shirley Temple and was in the Rodeo Club right above the arena. 

Little Cowboy and Cowgirl

Last weekend we enjoyed the Sisters Rodeo as we do every year on the second weekend in June.  This year I brought my camera along but only took a few photos of the kids playing around and didn't even bring it to the rodeo.  Through the years I've discovered that it's pretty much impossible to do much with a camera at a rodeo when you're a mother of two small children.  I have at least one child on my lap at all times, get to make 15 trips from the stands to the portapotties and/or to buy more bottled water or treats.  I figure I have plenty of years to photograph rodeos to my heart's content once my children can sit in a seat by themselves and don't require me to take them to the potty constantly.  Instead I snuggled with my kids and even got Ethan to nap right as the last few bullriders finished the rodeo for us.  So instead of fast paced exciting rodeo action I am sharing sweet photos of my kids in their cowboy hats.  Notice Grace's is purple and Ethan refused to wear his cowboy boots (he did consent to wear them to the rodeo though...)

Snake River Stampede 2009

The Snake River Stampede Rodeo is done for the year but not before we had a chance to join in the fun! We attended three evening performances in a row, no small feat with two small kids. Of course my mother in law, the kids, and myself only made it through saddle bronc each night before we headed home which is about halfway through the performance. Bareback and saddle bronc are my favorite events so I'm glad I get a chance to see them. We also got to see the steer wrestling and team roping in addition to the first round of chuck wagon racing. And of course we saw the Stampeders at the start of each performance, the highlight of Grace's evening. We miss tie down (my least favorite event), barrel racing, and the bulls. I like to watch the bulls but since very few cowboys seem to actually ride for all 8 seconds it's not worth keeping the kids up until past 11pm. Oh well.

I realized that the last time I saw a rodeo in it's entirety was June 2005, a month before I gave birth to Grace. Oh I've been to lots of rodeos and even stayed through their conclusion, but I always miss part of it by standing in line at the port o potties, walking behind the grand stands with a toddler who can't sit still one more minute, or nursing babies as discreetly as possible next to hot dog vendors stands. That's on top of the general fun of keeping children under the age of four entertained for three hours in the hot sun on metal bleachers/stadium seats that they don't weigh enough to keep down. I'm actually glad that my children have had a chance to enjoy rodeos from such a young age but I'm looking forward to the day that we can sit through an entire rodeo from start to finish without a meltdown or crisis of some sort. Of course that would mean my children are grown up and I'm not ready for that to happen yet. So maybe I don't mind missing out on an event or two or even the sticky cotton candy fingers. No, I don't think I mind it one bit.

Here's a picture of the Stampeders. They do their horse routine in the dark with Christmas lights to decorate the horses and riders. It never fails to impress, especially if you're Grace! She waves hello to them the whole time they perform.

Ethan sitting with Opa during a break in the action.

Grace managed to sneak a turn on Opa's lap too.

Totally scored a nice picture of David! Mostly because he was smiling at someone else and didn't notice the camera aimed in his direction. Otherwise he would have been cross-eyed.

Ethan watching the horses.

Sisters Rodeo 2009!

We had a great weekend in Sisters, OR with the highlight being the Sisters Rodeo on Saturday afternoon. David has been going to this rodeo ever since he was a kid and I've been going ever since the first year we were dating way back in 2000. I just realized that this was the 10th year I've been going! Yikes. If anyone reading this has ever brought small children to an outdoor rodeo then you're probably familiar with the challenges. If you haven't then you must be smarter then we are. Grace was soooooo exited to go to the rodeo this year and asked all week when we were going. When we finally got there and walked in to the stands she yelled Yee Ha! and bounced up and down. She walked around behind the stands with Grandma for a bit and got to meet a Rodeo Queen and get her autograph which she was pretty excited about. You just can't beat royalty when you're three. I was mostly worried about Ethan because the rodeo started at 1pm which is smack dab in the middle of nap time. He finally fell asleep about 2.5 hours into the rodeo when his Oma took him for a walk.


Tips for surviving a rodeo or other outdoor event on bleachers with small children:

• Pack a lot of snacks! Food, especially treats, will work wonders.
• Pack something special to drink. I brought Yoo Hoo chocolate milk which isn't something they usually find in my diaper bag and more exciting then a water bottle.
• Bring sunscreen even if the forecast calls for rain showers
• Bring the hugest bag you can find to hold the mountain of snacks, drinks, sunscreen, and coats
• Make sure you have a ratio of 9 adults to 2 kids. That really helps!

I didn't get a chance to take a ton of photos since I was busy juggling an overflowing diaper bag, camera bag, camera, and children. I brought Grace to the portapotties twice and hung out with Ethan behind the stands to let him walk around a bit. I did manage to get some good photos of my favorite event in the Sisters Rodeo...the Wild Horse Race! It's absolutely hilarious to watch teams of men try to subdue wild horses and then ride one around a barrel at the opposite end of the arena. Truely a crack up.


By the way, this is far from our kids' first rodeo. This was Grace's fourth Sisters Rodeo experience and Ethan's second. We also attend the Snake River Stampede Rodeo in Nampa, ID every year since my father in law is on the rodeo board. We usually attend 3-4 performances during Rodeo Week every July.

Snake River Stampede

We had a blast at the Snake River Stampede this year! We went to three nights of rodeo and enjoyed every minute of it. Or at least every minute of the first three events before the kids were done for the evening. Good thing the first three events include my favorite event...saddle bronc riding! Opa bought Grace a pair of pink cowgirl boots on Thursday and they haven't left her feet since. She loves them! She also loves her cowgirl hat this year which is a change from last year when she refused to leave it on for more then 2 seconds. She was so excited about going to the rodeo this year she told everyone we saw that's where we were going. She got to sit with her Great Grandpa for two nights which I know he really enjoyed. Ethan seemed to enjoy the show as well, though when we brought him up to the Rodeo Club he crawled directly to the bar every time we put him on the ground. I'm not so sure that's a good sign!

One exciting thing that happened this week was that Grace has turned a corner and is finally getting the hang of potty training for real this time. She's connecting the dots and is asking to sit on the potty and then actually goes! It's pretty exciting. She filled up her potty sticker chart and got new Curious George underoos as a reward. She even told me she needed to pee when we were watching the rodeo Saturday night so I booked it to the ladies restroom (thank God there was no line at the time!) and plopped her on a seat and she went! It was a pretty monumental event as anyone who has ever potty trained a child knows. So she got some cotton candy for a reward, her first taste of the fluffy stuff!

By Saturday evening everyone was pretty wiped but we still managed to stay up until 2am partying on the deck outside and eating more Breakfast Casserole and Butterscotch Rolls then we should. Tasty stuff! Sunday was a lazy day until that evening. More on that in the next post...it's a doozy of a tale!

Pictures!

Miss Grace checking out her spiffy new boots in the mirror

Sam watching the rodeo from the sidelines

David giving me a nice smile :)

Isn't that iphone handy? Yes he still loves the thing!

Oma and Ethan watching the rodeo together

Daddy and his little cowgirl

Grace loves her cowgirl hat!

Ethan getting his first dose of Rodeo Week

Doesn't he look cute in his Daddy's hat?

Mutton Busting! Super cute, although I'm not so sure my kids will be doing that!

Grace sitting with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma

Kellie and Ethan watching some rodeo

Her first taste of cotton candy

Sam and Jackie digging in to the midnight breakfast Saturday night

David and Sam fighting over the Butterscotch Rolls

The Wildest, Fastest show on Earth

Rodeo Pictures Finally Up

Just a heads up for all my Snapfish Followers that I finally got the Sisters Rodeo Album up. Yes it took awhile but I've been busy. Sorry for the delay!

The littlest cowgirl

I still haven't gone through all the pictures from this weekend, but tonight I managed to get through most of the "people" shots and will work on the "action" shots later. So for now you can enjoy some pictures of our little cowgirl having a ball playing on Jim and Jane's rocks. She's easy to entertain!