Houston Rodeo Part I

March is Rodeo month here in Houston. Apparently, the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show is one of the largest in the world as there were over 2 million people that attended the rodeo this year. Each night they have rodeo events and music concerts, not to mention all the heart-attack food you could imaging, like chicken fried bacon...yep, you heard me, bacon. So, we decided to take Nate during the day to experience some of the children friendly activities.

Any time you enter an event and this is the first sign you see, you know that there is some crazy stuff going on.

They had a huge children's area with a youth farmers market where they teach the kids all about what farmers do on a daily basis (well sort of). Here is Nate with his chicken feed getting ready to feed the chickens and gather eggs.

Nate fed the chickens and gathered the eggs (of course the chickens and eggs were fake), but each kid got a basket to collect all their farm treasures.
Nate was really happy to be a farmer...I was even happier that only a portion my big, 9 month prego belly made it in to the picture. Robert did take a picture of me in the "Birthing Center" area where all the animals gave birth. I was not amused so this picture did not make the cut.

Here they gave each kid a "seed" to plant and water, then pick the corresponding vegetable. Nate decided to grow peppers.

Nate reaping the fruits (or veggie) of his labor.

They also had the kids go to the orchard to pick "oranges".

Not to mention a fully functioning replica of a cow that the kids could milk, well squirt water into the bucket.

After they collected all their farm produce, they went to the market where they sold the products and received "money" for which they could spend in a store filled with rice krispie treats, raisins, and, juice. Nate wasted all his money on rice krispie treats.

We were lucky to have Robert come with us on his morning off from school, so I made him get in some pictures. Better him than me. Aren't they cute!

Nate was accompanied by some of his friends on the farm. Here they are showing off their hard earned cash from the farm.

What would be a Texas rodeo without a Texas Longhorn.

They had a section of tractors that the kids could climb on and this one had a simulated screen where they could "drive". Nate had fun; Robert got kicked out for cutting in line and not sharing.

The final activity was a carousel ride. Nate had a good time riding his horse. I had a good time watching as the up and down and round and round motion was not conducive to my feeling well.

Overall we had a great experience at the Rodeo. This was only day one of our adventure. We went again to experience the actual rodeo and redneck food (they fry EVERYTHING!), which means that there will be a second post....when I get a chance.