Hee-haw!

This summer, our kids have been taking part in the Ada County Library summer reading program. As the kids read each day they mark their charts and then turn the completed charts in for prizes. One of the prizes they earned was a night at the Idaho Stampede Rodeo. We had never been to a rodeo as a family before, so we were all looking forward to it. Treyson had concerns about the bull riding; "Do the bulls come up into the stands?" We explained and re-explained over and over that no, the bulls stay in the arena, inside of the gates. The bull riding was the very last event of the rodeo, so we had a long night of explaining to do.

I think I had only been to one other rodeo before, when I was very young. I was surprised at how entertaining it was...never a dull moment. They had different acts in between the rodeo events. Some of our favorites were "The One-armed Bandit", the silly doctor clown and the "Stampede Riders".

The One-armed Bandit was a man who literally only had one arm. He cracked a bull whip in his one hand and guided his horse using his legs. He rode his horse to the top of his trailer and tamed 2 "wild buffalo" with his whip.

The Stampede Riders were a group of women on horses, who had lights all over themselves and their horses. They turned down the arena lights as we watched them ride all over the arena in different patterns. They were cool to watch.