Riding the Bug

Two Cowgirl hats and riding double don't mix.

Adalyn's first rodeo. Well, I guess technically it was her first but I have been to practice pens that were more organzed.

The girls love holding Adalyn. Charleigh got one of her dolls out today
and put her into Adalyn's clothes. She brought her into me while I was feeding her and said "wook at my baby, her name is Adalyn."

Cooling off.....

Charleigh and Cooper playing in the river.

The Good Ole' Jack's Fork

Kyren spent many, many hours down at the river across from our camp skipping rocks. He would count how many skips he got andtry to beat his high score.
It had rained so much that the river was up and moving pretty fast.

The girls had matching swimsuits that my mom got them but you can't really appreciate how cute they are beacuse Charleigh has her lifejacket on.




The girls sandcastles didn't go to well with the creek gravel.

All of the boys spent thier time catching minnows, tadpoles and crawdads. They were sweet enough to come show Charleigh and let her dump them into the holding bucket. Charleigh kept giving them kisses, I had to tell her not to kiss the crawdads, I really didn't want her to kiss any of them but I figured it wouldn't hurt anything. Maybe it will keep her tough.

REady for the Water

Mom had some Capri sun juice boxes she had froze that all of the kids were enjoying before we headed to the river to swim.

Ben was on Adalyn watch while Mom and I took the other 3 plus Cooper, Carter and Cale to the river to swim.

Do the Wave........

We have been teaching the girls some different waves. There is the rooster wave(one hand on the center of your head), the donkey wave,(two hands flopping like donkey ears) the queen wave,( the wave Clementine stuck with the whole parade), the little rascal wave (one hand under your chin, and Charleigh's personal favorite).


Here you can see Clementine demonstrating the "queen wave" and Charleigh the "little rascal wave."

Let Freedom Ring

The fourth of July Parade, I think it might become a tradition. Just like it was with us growing up. Charleigh was asking to ride in it again this year before we left for Eminence. Dad tried to talk them out of riding, he said "Wouldn't rather catch a bunch of candy?" "Or would you rather ride?" Charleigh answered "RIDE!" Clementine answered "Ride a Palomino."
The girls looked so cute, even if they were cowgirls again.

Wild Women

This was what I had for them to wear. Oh my aren't they adorable? Dad wanted them to dress up as cowgirls. How original huh?

My little Sheep Buster!

She loves to wear a rodeo contestant number on her back!

Wild Ride

Kyren wanted to ride in the rodeo too. He was ready for a bigger sheep or a calf but he rode what they had. Dad had to pretty much drag him off see the pictures.......

Sheep Rider!

Charleigh really wanted to ride a donkey in the rodeo but they were way too wild for her. She decided a sheep would be fine, that is until they opened the gate. I heard her crying "Mama, Mama." They first tried to put her on a goat that I am pretty sure weighed less than Clementine. I am not sure if it did want to stand or was just too weak to stand with a kid on its back, either way the sheep had to earn his keeep. This was the only sheep they had for all of the kids! The people putting on the rodeo (they didn't even deserve the title of rodeo company) were backwoods to say the least. The Sheep kept trying to go under the fence back to his goat friends. This upset her even more. But, by the time she came over to me she was fine, this week she was begging to ride a sheep again!

The Donkey Rodeo

While we were on vacation in Eminence they had a donkey rodeo. Ben and Dad entered it along with about 20 other riders. Ben had a mule not much bigger than Wittle Buddy! He made to the fence right in front of us and was drug off by the fence rails. His arm was a bit scraped up and he didn't make it to the full eight seconds (how embarrassing. Dad was the first one to make a qualified ride, but not before his donkey bit a chunk in his thigh. Charleigh wanted to ride a donkey too, we had to tell her that they weren't like her Little Buddy, she settled for a sheep. There were a couple of riders that were highly intoxicated, one in paticular (about 300 or more pounds) decided it would be a good idea to continue to hold his beer in his free hand while he nodded for the gate. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. He went a few jumps(maybe 2,) and got slammed on the ground. I think it was more like concrete than dirt. I don't think it had ever been tilled up and I honestly do not think I have ever seen a person hit the ground as hard as he did. His beer went flying across the arena and it took him a good 3 tries before he actually got to his feet. It made it sooooo worth watching. Many more tried, some in shorts and flip flops, some women, some wanting off before they were out the gate, but when the dust settled and all the riders rode the winner was a 57 year old man.