Friday Night Rodeo

 I love rodeos. And I love taking pictures at the rodeo.  It was one of my favorite things to cover back in the dark ages when I was a reporter/photographer, and I enjoy it as much today as I did then ... even if it makes me look like a tourist :)

 After the five year old's horse show Friday evening, we picked up a bite to eat at a local drive-in, then headed out to the rodeo.

 The ten year old always likes to participate in the calf scramble (where the kids try to catch a ribbon tied to the tail of a calf).

 It's a riot to watch too.  The ten year old has decided we need to go to the track as often as possible so he can work on running laps before football season starts ;)

 The five year old would never get out there and run with the kids, but he cackled all the way through it.

 I thought this was a pretty cool picture of the ten year old jumping back over the fence.

 Then we were back to serious rodeo action.

 This is my husband's cousin's son.

 He and his brother and cousin are all serious riders.  His brother is at the National High School Finals Rodeo this weekend.

 This guy took a re-ride and wow was it worth the show.

 The boys sure enjoyed watching (and boy do I need to get to doing haircuts soon!).

 The mutton busting event is always fun to watch.  Love this girl's expression.  She made the longest ride.

This little cowboy decided to ride backwards.  He actually made it pretty far, and looked like he wasn't getting flopped around as much as some of the others.

This little guy had a great run going until his sheep went end over end.  He was tough though.  He competed later in the pee-wee barrel racing, and won.

 This boy was on our ten year old's football team last year, and here he is riding a steer.  His dad is a cowboy too and was in the roping, so I guess it runs in the family.

 And this boy is one we taught in AWANA clubs a few years ago.  Always knew he would be a cowboy.  It's in his blood too.  And both of them have cowboy names - Buck and Colt.

 This was absolutely adorable.  Cowboy daddy helping his little girl in the pee-wee barrel racing event.  One of the cutest things I've ever seen at a rodeo.  You should have heard the crowd cheer for her.

 Here's my husband's cousin's son again - this time bull riding.

 He went for a pretty wild ride.

 We were really glad to have Daddy with us tonight.  He was able to go to the five year old's horse show too.

The boys were sure glad too :)