The Lee Family: Rodeo Time!!

Last night we took the girls to the Fort Worth Stock Show's rodeo with friends Arren and Susan. For the past three years, CK has been offered 6 amazing rodeo tickets right in the front row by one of his clients. It is literally one of my very favorite events of the year! In prior years we've invited our friends Thelma and Harvey and their daughter, Isabella who is a very good friend of Sofia's. However, this year we wanted to include Olivia which meant we only had two tickets to invite others. So, we invited our friends who don't have children, who CK knows through flying. They arrived at our house around 5pm and we loaded up into our car and headed to dinner in Ft Worth. Arren suggested Rail Head BBQ, which was recommended to him my one of his friends. It was very busy, but we finally found a parking spot and went inside. Sofia decided on ribs, Olivia had the chicken and CK and I both ordered the pulled pork sandwich. The food was really good and perfect for the rodeo!

After we finished dinner, we headed to the Stock Show. We parked in our phenomenal parking spot (the parking pass is included with the great tickets) right outside the arena and made our way inside. We were about 20 minutes early, so we got settled, grabbed some drinks and cotton candy for the girls and settled into our seats. Sofia was SO excited that she kept asking "how much longer now?" every 30 seconds! Olivia was really excited for "the horse show" to begin and didn't really know what to expect but fed off of Sofia's excitement. Right at 7:30pm the lights dimmed and the spot lights roamed around the arena - it was show time! Sofia was SUPER excited! The lead-into the rodeo is just incredible and it was fantastic to be in the very front row! Both girls loved sticking out their hands for high fives and listening to the announcer's booming voice. It was fun to see how much Arren and Susan enjoyed the rodeo since it was their very first one even though they were both born and raised in Dallas!

We spent the next two hours watching the cowboys compete in bronc riding, calf wrestling, team roping, bareback horse riding, barrel racing and finally bull riding. We also loved watching the calf scramble which is pretty chaotic and silly. There was also a chuck wagon races segment which sent clumps of mud flying onto our laps. It was really exciting and the girls loved it as much as they squealed. I was hoping that they would also have Mutton Bustin which is basically a kid rodeo including little kids riding sheep! It's usually 4 to 6 year olds who volunteer to climbing onto a sheep who is let set free. Whoever stays on the longest wins. It's pretty amusing and some of the kids are really good!

After the bull riding, we headed back to our car (after standing in the bathroom line with Sofia who was desperate!). Both girls really enjoyed the rodeo, although they also became a bit restless about halfway through. Olivia headed to the bathrooms with Susan and after they returned, she spent the last half of the rodeo sitting on Susan's lap and cuddling. It was a nice relief and gave Sofia the opportunity to sit on my lap for that last hour (she always complains that she never gets to sit on my lap because Olivia is always in it). On the ride home, both girls stayed awake and Olivia was really awake! We got home around 10:30pm and were all tired, although Olivia acted like she was ready to stay up for a few more hours. Arren and Susan headed off after we said goodbye to them and we put the girls to bed. Both fell asleep very quickly, despite how awake they were acting. Such a fun evening!!

Girls and their cotton candy