Rodeo Time 2016

In honor of the upcoming 2017 Houston Rodeo here's a flashback to last year!

William has gone to the rodeo with us every year since he was born!!  And like everything else, every year gets a little more fun.  Last year we spent two different days at the rodeo.  One Saturday morning we made our way into town for the carnival.  We got there right around the time they opened so we didn't have to deal with too many lines.  William really got into the rides this year!  I've never heard him squeal so loud as I did during the "fast rides".  It was super sunny out, so since we had Anna Grace we tried to make it a fast trip.  Not to worry, we fit in a pony ride, the petting zoo, and of course lots of popcorn.

This mama went to the rodeo twice last year.  Once for a girls night and the next with my people (plus sweet Hunter).  William loved seeing all the animals this year.  He's actually starting to understand what is going on!  He obviously cares the most about the popcorn and ice cream.  The night we took the kids we left before the concert started, but made memories that I'll cherish forever.  This was the day our pediatrician finally agreed that something wasn't right with Anna Grace.  We spent this night loving on our kiddos and just enjoying them and our yearly trip to the Houston Rodeo!

My night out with my girls was obviously super fun!  That pretty much goes without saying.  :)  A night out is always awesome.  We had dinner in Midtown before heading to the Rodeo where we discovered they served Cakebread Chardonnay for $5.  Score!  It was an awesome night celebrating my best friend, Alison's, last rodeo (well her last one until she moves back to Houston!  hehe).

Alison, Anna, and the Lindseys braving the rain!

Never have a bad time with Anna!

We've already lined up our rodeo tickets for this year and I. Can. Not. Wait.  

Brad Paisley at The Rodeo

We had two fun days at the Houston Rodeo this year.  The first was the carnival.....the second was the actual rodeo!  My mom was in town that weekend for the procedure I had that Friday and we had our Gender Reveal party the day after.  It was a busy weekend, filled with lots of fun!  Luckily, we had a good parking pass so the rain wasn't too bothersome.  William was super pumped to see the animals and wear his new cowboy hat and boots.  

Staying dry with daddy  |  Crazy guys  |  There's nothing better than ice cream in a cowboy hat  

Listening to some good music  |  The best family pic we could get  |  Telling Nana all about the rodeo

Having fun!  |  My little cowboy

I'm always shocked at how well William does at these type of events.  He will just sit and watch everything.  He loved the bull riding (not a good sign) and he couldn't stop talking about how fast the horses could run.  During mutton bustin he told us he wanted to ride....he's been practicing on daddy every night since.  LOL.  Brad Paisley did a great job performing.  William loved watching him play the guitar.  Basically, this night is William's dream come true.  Animals, music, guitars, ice cream, pizza, and popcorn.  It doesn't get much better than that!  The only thing we were missing was Papa.  He was out of town hunting.  As you can see, we took lots of pictures to send him!

Houston Rodeo Carnival

This year, we decided to fight the crowd and take William to the Houston Rodeo's Carnival.  William's been to the actual rodeo but never to the carnival.  He was in heaven!  As soon as he saw all the rides he started saying on repeat, "I ride that!"  Unfortunately, most of the rides require you to be 36'' and our little buddy was just a hair under that.  He was able to ride some of the simpler car rides.

Our first stop in Houston that morning was Barnaby's.  This was our favorite breakfast place when we lived in town.  Our waitress even remembered us!  After filling our bellies we headed to the carnival.  We did beat some of the crowd since we got to the carnival around 10:00.  First up was a camel ride!!!  William kept saying, "We're up high!"  After the camel ride we headed to the pony rides.  We were a little nervous that he wouldn't want to get on the pony alone....but he did great!  As soon as I put him on the pony he asked if he could touch his fur.  He loved how soft the pony was.  Although, the little guy was disappointed he couldn't ride many things he still had a blast on the trucks and motorcycle (which went surprisingly fast).  Before heading home we had my favorite, dip 'n dots, and cheese popcorn!  YUM.  

We had such a fun family day!  Our 12 week check up was the next morning and I'd been super anxious about the appointment.  This was just the day I needed.  FUN, FUN, FUN!