Fun Friday night at the rodeo! There is a rodeo we go to every year in Colorado. It was canceled this year and we were so disappointed. In Dubois, they have Friday night rodeos all summer long. I have heard many of these rodeos, as the arena isn’t too far from my in-laws and we can hear it from the RV, but I have never been able to attend. Today was finally our day!
We got there early to get good seats and as more and more folks showed up, I was struck by how many people we are starting to know and recognize around this town.
At one point I lost Levi, but knew he hadn’t gone far. Trista started to worry, so I stood up and turned around and there was Levi, playing under the bleachers with a sweet little blonde girl.
One of the reasons that we were disappointed about the Colorado rodeo is that Levi was registered to Mutton Bust. Last year was his first time and Trista had done it twice and he was really looking forward to it. At that rodeo you have to sign up in March for the rodeo in June and I am afraid he will be too big next year, but he has asked about it many times. We didn’t think they did mutton bustin’ at this rodeo and told him so. However, they made an announcement that if you wanted to mutton bust, you just needed to head on over to the office and sign up to do so on the spot. John got up to find Levi and Levi popped out of those bleachers so fast! He was VERY excited to get the chance.
Unfortunately, he was trying to sit up on the sheep and immediately fell off! We also got some heckling from the announcers for being from Colorado. Each mutton buster earns a dollar for their ride and while Levi’s ride was short, he said, “I got the very best dollar bill.” Then he tried to give it to his girlfriend!
During the presentation of the flag (which happened after mutton bustin’), Levi was not near me. I looked over and saw that he had taken his hat off and placed it over his heart. There was a long thing that they did with the flag and Levi stood like this the entire time. There were some boys playing with trucks in the dirt near where he was standing and at one point, he kind of side-stepped over to them (not moving his hat, nor taking his eyes off the flag). I watched to see what he would do and wouldn’t have been surprised if he had joined in… he didn’t. He told those boys to stand up and then side-stepped back to where he had been standing! In the hand behind his back are flowers that he had picked for me!
The kids had a ton of fun running around with all the other kids. They were SO DIRTY! Later in the rodeo, they do the calf scramble. They call ALL of the kids into the arena and then release two calves with bandanas on them and the kids chase them around until they get the bandanas ala flag football. The kids who get a flag get $2! Levi’s girlfriend was one of the winners!
Lining the kids up and getting them warmed up! 
Calf scramble craziness!
