Sunday, September 13, 2009

The Rodeo

I have wanted to go to a rodeo for a really long time. I have mixed feelings regarding the treatment of the animals, but wanted to see the bulls, the blood, the dust, and the mud. Garth Brooks anyone?

So Justin and I headed out to the good old Puyallup Fair this weekend for the “Justin Boots Pro-Rodeo.” The program gave a nice description of each event so I was able to understand exactly what they were doing, what would get somebody disqualified or a penalty, and how to earn style points. The bullriding is typically the highlight of a rodeo, but I have to say I liked the Team Roping Event the most. Each partner has to be quite skilled at their portion of the event and I was never really able to figure out how the 2nd guy ropes the hind legs of that steer.  Pretty cool!

The funniest part had to be the Mutton Bustin’. This is wear 5 and 6 year old children latch on to a sheep and try to ride for 6 seconds. So very cute and funny!!!

Its was a little challenging to get good pictures from our seats, but here are a few.

The Justin Boots Playoffs Rodeo

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Bareback Bronco Riding

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Steer Wrestling

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Team Roping

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Tie Down (The horses used for this are pretty smart!)

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Bullriding

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We of course had to indulge ourselves with some delicious fair food, but this name? Seriously? Krusty Pup?

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Sunday, September 6, 2009

There will be camping. . . sort of!

We’d been planning on rounding out our summer adventures with a nice relaxing weekend of camping. We had planned on returning to Nason Creek campsite in the Wenatchee Forest. We had camped there last year and found it to be a pretty good site. Unfortunately, the campsite next to us was being occupied by a huge extended group of Mexicans who were playing their mariachi music way too loud for 9:30. The longer we stayed, the more people came and the louder it got. Not relaxing. We actually packed up and drove the whole way back home.

Saturday morning we re-evaluated the weekend and headed back to Lake Wenatchee where we set up camp on the deck of the family cabin. It had rained Friday night so we needed to dry out the tent.  Scout was pretty excited to be OUTSIDE and ON A LAKE. He could hardly contain himself. We spent a good 4-5 hours on the beach that afternoon playing with this dog. It was also the maiden voyage of his new life jacket.

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He gets so obsessed with the ball that he’ll practically drown himself. He can’t stay out of the water and he’ll get so tired swimming and fetching balls he starts swallowing water as he swims around. We wanted him to stay safe while having fun and swimming and the jacket definitely did this.

Here are my guys swimming.

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Check out this video of “doggie paddling”

Here is our lovely fire so we could have some S’mores.

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And some of the beautiful scenery.

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I forgot to mention that it poured rain on and off for most of the weekend. And it was only “sort of camping” because we had all our food with the rest of the family, inside. Thanks Dad and Lea!

A few more photos to finish up.

Man and dog

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Doesn’t it look like a Super Hero Cape?

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This is how he looks while he waits for his Masters to throw it, again.

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It cracks me up when he does this. He digs around in the sand, or water, or whatever, like he’s trying to pick it up, or make it bounce up. I call it “puppy hands.”

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And finally, after a total of about 7 hours of swimming, he rests. With his babies and toys.

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Hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend!