Ideas for things to do with kids on a weekend:
1. Regional Boat Show
2. National Western Stock Show
At the boat show it was just me and Audrey. Though it was in the Convention Center in January you might as well have been at the beach. There were enough Hawaiian shirts, flip flops, umbrellas, palm trees and drink stands, not to mention all the boats, to make it feel that way. And we got to learn cool stuff like the following:
I colored that one for Gracie. Audrey did one too, and we have the pictures on 2 t-shirts. Good thing too - that bit of knowledge will probably save us next time we go boating.
In all seriousness, there was so much stuff for kids to do at the boat show that I'm sure Audrey had more fun than I did. Just climbing into, around and upon a bunch of boats would have done it but they had so much more.
And then today was the National Western Stock Show. I haven't been to something like that in a long time. It was me, Suzanne, Audrey and Grace and was hectic but fun. By hectic I mean too crowded to walk by yourself through a crowd, let alone with a stroller. There was a moment when I was pushing the girls in ours (and it's a "double-wide," as one cowboy called it at the show) through a crowd and there were literally so many people trying to go every which way that I just stopped and figured I'd be stuck there forever. It was gridlock.
By fun I mean that there is an entire complex - far too big to really get all the way through in one visit - with everything from face painting and games to a petting zoo to a climbing wall to every kind of retail you can imagine. Naturally Audrey wanted her face painted twice - once on each cheek - and I have to say the artists there did the best face painting I've ever seen. We were told they fly in from Texas each year to do the show and by the looks of the line all afternoon, they make a killing.
Then of course there was the main event - the rodeo - which Suzanne and I looked forward to but we figured the girls would last about 5 minutes. Thank goodness we were wrong - I'd say they made it for an hour and a half before Grace really broke down and we were forced to leave.
Although at the beginning, during the opening to the show, I thought we might have to leave too. I caught on video the final moments of the kick-off and I think it nearly scared Grace straight through the roof. She was terrified, and Audrey wasn't too happy either. Not to mention the heart attack I almost had.
The video is sideways because I'm not smart enough to use my new phone correctly but you'll know what I mean when you get to 0:22. Keep in mind you're watching it on video - if you were live multiply the sound by 100.
