It's time for the West Texas Fair & Rodeo y'all!

Family traditions...well, this has become one for ours. Abilene is the proud yearly host of the West Texas Fair and Rodeo. Yes sir'ee, every September we Knight's get gussied up and head on over to them there fair grounds to survey the cattle, rustle up some grub and enjoy some bronc ridin'!

Okay, so maybe it's more like this: We pet and feed animals that we don't normally see (like: cows, donkeys, goats, chickens, etc.), spend way too much money on kiddie rides (because hey, the fair only happens once a year!), try to eat every yummy fried or sugary food on this planet (also astronomically priced!) and enjoy the true cowboy sport of rodeo as if it were the most magical thing we've ever witnessed (real cowboys on real horses!).

Bud and Honey (a.k.a. Zach's parent's) met us there last night (9.13.07) and we immediately set off on an agenda filled adventure. First, the petting zoo...


The boys were both smitten by the petting zoo this year. Clay (always the fearless one) took to the animals immediately and started feeding them by hand,





while Owen (cautiously waiting to see if Clay's fingers would be removed by the animals) finally warmed up and thoroughly enjoy the experience. We will probably go back again tomorrow to take in more of this activity.




Second, the "Pork Chop Revue". A very silly live pig show, which for adults was insultingly cheesy, but for a two year old, nothing less than enthralling entertainment!


Third, 1 carnival game. The boys both enjoyed playing the "Duck Pluck" game. It takes an amazing amount of skill and accuracy to pluck a rubber duck from a swirling pool of water and everyone is a winner...


Fourth, 1 carnival ride. Clay had his sights set on the flying elephants before the petting zoo and during the "Pork Chop Revue", so the flying elephants were the obvious choice...



Zach rode with Clay and Honey rode with Owen. (I must confess to being a little disappointed when I saw the rides sign had a picture of a pregnant woman with a BIG "no sign" across it, but then again, someone has to take pictures, right?! I mean, you know those kiddie carnival rides...they can get kinda crazy and send a woman straight into labor!)

Fifth, it was time to focus on the true meaning of our yearly Fair outing, the FOOD. Our menu consisted of roasted corn, sausage on a stick, philly cheesesteak, jumbo corndog, Aggie fries (made by the local Aggie club), water, tea, coke, funnel cake, fried coke and cotton candy...Yum. I love Fair fare! (Notice there are no pictures of this activity. Mainly because we were all too busy savoring every calorie filled bite!)

Sixth, we're off to the Rodeo! Owen has watched a bit of bull riding on t.v., so this activity was eagerly anticipated. We got there early so as not to miss a good friend, Marysa Treviso, open the event by singing the National anthem.


And from that moment on it was action packed excitement! This is where the awe of "real cowboys on real horses" enters into our evening.






We stayed for the bronco riding and steer wrestling, but the boys (and their mommy and daddy) were tired out before the bull riders took to the arena.





Our thought: there's always next year...







Until then, we have enough memories (and indigestion) to last throughout the year.