February 8, 2009. San Antonio, Tx. Rodeo.

We made a whole day of it. First we looked at the stock show, and wandered around the judging competitions which included the cutting horse contests. We all had our tickets so went our own way, with each parent with two children and Ken and I together. The first thing we saw when we arrived in the morning at eleven was the pig racing. These little pigs race around the small track while we cheered them on. Our tickets for the actual rodeo was for the one o'clock competition, so bit by bit we assembled at our seats, and we were ready for the competition. It was a great show with everything the rodeo does. Being a professional rodeo rider is a very difficult way to make a living. These events hurt. Our seats gave us wonderful views of the whole contests ,so even we did not order our tickets early, our seats were excellent. The skill of the riders is amazing but i am pleased to have avoided the riding of bulls or broncos, because it all seems dangerous.

After the show we again broke up into groups, Ken and I to go and see more animals and judging and the girls with David and Suzanne to go to the Carnival and go on the rides. The girls are given a bracelet which gives the girls free run of the rides and they had a blast. Ken and I saw the biggest Brahman Bulls we have even seen and we watched the goat contest. We are so stupid that we can not tell one goat from another so we were always surprised when the winner was announced. With cell phones working well, we were ready to gather together at five-thirty and head out for dinner. David chose a restaurant in Monte Vista, their old neighborhood, and it was a pleasure to dine at one of our old regular restaurants. At dinner, Allison suggested that we go around the table and each tell the part we liked best at the rodeo, starting with Grandpa, so we did. Everyone liked a different part, but everyone loved the whole thing including all adults. The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo is held every February so next year we will try to be here again. It was a lot of fun.