St. Paul Rodeo

Had we not...... parked a half mile away not knowing that there were parking spots closer
Had we not...... arrived with too little time to get our food, ride the rides, and find our seats
Had it not...... been in the mid-90's, causing me to sweat like crazy
Had it not...... been like the entire county fair crammed into one-fifth of the room, complete with the same size of crowds
Had I not...... been so obsessed with getting the RIGHT kind of Elephant Ear that it caused a major fight between John and I
Had we not...... know that Brayden only wanted to play the Carnie games vs. ride the rides, thus wasting us $10
Had we not...... been seated just one row from the very top row, underneath the roof making fireworks viewing impossible...........

We might consider returning to St. Paul's Rodeo next year. But, given all of those little obstacles, I think we'll still be on the hunt for the ideal Fourth of July Family Tradition in 2010.

Fortunately, the group decided to NOT spend the entire day in St. Paul and instead we got a leisurely start - sleeping in and having a complete repeat of the Third's meal at noon with the Schillings and Whites.

We took our time getting out of town, leaving Syd with Mom and Dad as fireworks are VERY unsettling to her. The Whites rode with us, we parted ways the Schillings, headed to the outlets, and had a lot of fun checking out the sidewalk sale. My favorite moment of the day was probably sharing Mikayla's first grape soda, walking along, telling her to remember this day when she ever tastes grape soda again.

Things turned a little sour when we encountered the mayhem at St. Paul. It was just too overwhelming, and without having had any previous experience, I felt majorly out of control, which is a bit of a recipe for disaster for my personality type. Throw in feeling responsible for suggesting this idea in the first place.... and yeah, I'll admit, the melt down over the Elephant Ear was a little bit ridiculous. (John would say a lot ridiculous!).



The rodeo itself was good, but the animals scored much more than the riders. There was a lot of "no scores". Personally, I think the Sisters Rodeo had more of a personal, special feel to it.




But, all in all - it was a new adventure. And, as we pulled off the side of the country road, all seated in the car to watch the fireworks set out from the rodeo, laughing about the antics of the day, I'm glad we did it. But, I'm open for ideas for 2010........