Our first rodeo and another train expo!

In November, Grandpa told us that there was another model train expo coming to Denver and I knew we had to go. The boys love the trains and the activity of the different train sets - big ones, little ones, Lego ones, Disney ones, a haunted house/fire truck one, mountain themes, urban scenes, etc.

Off we went to the Western Complex in Denver to see the trains. This year, it wasn't as expansive as it usually is, but the boys didn't seem to notice. They were really interested in the Lego train set this year (of course I was adding the cost of something like that to our house, thinking of all the pieces strewn about, and where I would keep something and quickly threw that notion away).

The young model train group met with us as we idled about and they informed us that you had to be at least 7 years old in order to be in their group due to the difficulty of working with set pieces. I thought that was nice but they said it in a manner like I should have known that answer. Interesting. We also saw our friends JD and Tawnya for dinner one weekend night and enjoyed their delicious meal (half of which they grew in their house) due to their aquaponics business. It was neat to see that in action in their basement and learn about different strategies to sow and harvest healthy food in an urban setting.

They have Emerson (pictured) and a set of twins but the boys gravitated towards Emerson...well, mostly Eban did. Jack was fine playing by himself.

Lastly, a highlight of November was attending a genuine rodeo. I was on facebook and read that one of the alums where I work would be in town as she's married to a rodeo cowboy. I emailed her to ask if the Denver event was kid-friendly and she enthusiastically told me to come on down with the family! Well, we did!
We got there a tad bit early like she informed us and we were immediately whisked away to the back area where the cowboy competitors and their families stayed. Charity's husband, Kelly, is a bareback bronco rider. He told us about the sport and talked about the fact that they do not condone animal cruelty, etc. I absorbed so much info on a new sport it was crazy. Charity and Kelly even gave Eban and Jack some candy in the back area, so they were instantly happy! Then Charity gave us a tour of the 'behind the scenes'. We saw Miss Wyoming or Miss Colorado practicing with her horse...and Jack was immediately smitten. I thought Eban would be but I think Jack was impressed with the pink bedazzled outfit.

Then we went down to see the horses up close. Some cowboy knew we looked new to the arena so he kindly gave us half apples to feed the horses. The boys LOVED this part. They couldn't get over the fact that they fed horses apples. They each picked a horse name and we had to call them the names for roughly a week. Eban chose the name Spike and Jack chose the name Samsit or Samtis. Right? I have no idea if Jack meant Samson or what, but he corrects us to say Samtis or Samsit at times.
Anyway, we went out to the stands eventually and we had great seats (row 2). Eban wanted the rodeo food and kept saying he had to go to the bathroom which was conveniently close to the concessions. I told him I didn't have any money. On his next visit, he took daddy and pretended to pee then looked up at him and said, "You got the money, right?" They came down with fruit and something else so he was quite happy to have rodeo food.

Kelly did his competition and won the whole rodeo. He came into the stands and kissed his wife and showed off his belt buckle and other awards. He promptly gave them to the boys to look at and I nearly fell over as I could envision the kids oohing for two seconds and then seeing how far they could throw the prize. They didn't throw it but we were certainly guarding the prizes as the kids held them. Jack was even allowed to sit on the prize-winning saddle for Kelly's win...I'm sure he liked Charity holding him to boot...but from the picture I grabbed, you can't tell that he was thoroughly enjoying the moment.The boys loved the rodeo so much that they wanted to ride horses following the show. The only horses they could 'find' were our dogs and thank goodness, the dogs are so mellow with them that they tolerated their antics for a week or two. They have resorted to just playing 'horse' and using their horse names. They also have come to LOVE apples and Jack actually the an entire apple in one sitting in the back of the van - - core and all! He said he was a hungry horse. I guess so!

Kelly winning the bareback competition

Jack playing with his dogs

I thought they were napping when I heard laughing...so I took my camera upstairs and captured this