I made it to two of the rodeos the kids participate in. I brought my mom to both of them and we had a terrific time watching kids goat tie, pole bend, barrel race, rope a race.
At 3, Kitten is still on a lead line, where her mom has the reins and trots along next to her as she rides her pony, Gus, through his barrel pattern. She doesn't like the fact that mom is right there and you can hear her yelling at Mom to 'go faster!' when they do the pattern.
Babalouie has a blast doing all the events and he frequently finishes in the top 3.
Xena, at ten, is a top contender. Her favorite events are goat tying and roping and she's good at both. She won several events at the rodeos we saw. She's becoming The Kid to Beat!
She practices every chance she gets because she loves it. She doesn't wait for her Mom to tell her to go practice her throws, she's out at the barn all on her own, tossing loops over calf dummies.
Sara and Zack's baby was a week overdue when the doctor scheduled them to have the baby induced. They checked into the hospital to get things rolling. Now, our entire extended family absolutely LOVES new babies coming into the family, so it's not an exaggeration to say that dozens of people were very interested in this news. Thanks to modern technology, it was easy to let everyone who cared know that the long process of inducing labor had begun.
Thanks to modern technology, I was getting texts from all directions asking if the baby had arrived yet, for several days. It can take a long time, as several of my sisters and sisters in law knew from personal experience. Best to just live our lives and greet the news when it came.
That means that I was going painting on Friday morning. I awoke to this:
A flurry of texts and the whole painting class agreed to postpone till the next day, which was supposed to be much warmer and beautiful. It's been really strange this fall: the weather has been clear and dry and warm except on Fridays, when it's been universally cold, wet and windy. Plein air painters have to be ready for anything but we all agreed that this was ridiculous.
The snow didn't last the day and it wasn't cold enough to kill the flowers but I'm happy we postponed painting until Saturday. The weather was glorious and best of all there was a text from Zach;
So I was on cloud 9 when I got to our painting location. It was a glorious day and I produced two canvases I like.
Someone at class asked me why I was there instead of at the hospital to meet the baby but I figured after the ordeal they'd just been through (labor for the better part of 2 days), the parents needed a day's rest before I barged in on them.
After class I had to get cooking. We were celebrating Katie's birthday so I had to make chicken scallopini for the whole family. Obviously, Zach and Sara were unable to attend but there were still 12 coming for dinner. That's a lot of chicken breasts that needed to be flattened and fried.
By 5:00, Xena, Babalouie, Kitten and BoopityBoop were whooping it up in the basement (the lair, as the twins call it) and my Mom was being entertained by several of her grand kids in the TV room. We put the kids at the kitchen table and all the adults were able to fit at the dining room table. Dinner was delicious and dessert was chocolate chip bars with candles, rather than cake, which was a huge hit with everyone.
The party ended around 9, as my Mom gets tired and BoopityBoop had been to two birthday parties in one day and the rest of the kids had to get rested up for the last rodeo of the season.
I was in my jammies before they all got home and sound asleep before 10.
Sunday morning, Zach suggested we join him at St. Pete's for mass, then go meet #6. What a great idea!!
When mass was over, Zach had a few errands to run for Sara, so he suggested we go get some breakfast, then meet him at the hospital in an hour.
Between the church and the hospital are several terrific places to have Sunday breakfast. The problem we encountered was that the Vikings played at noon and all our favorite spots had lines of hungry football fans lined up out the doors. We ended up at a place called Claddaugh's, which served coffee and muffins, which we decided were all we really needed. The coffee was delicious and the cranberry walnut scones were likewise and Jay and I had just declared the place perfect when Zach walked in the door. Turns out, we'd accidentally found one of he and Sara's favorite places and one of the things on his list of errands was to get her coffee and a muffin.
From there, we headed over to the hospital to meet 6, who was now one day old.
Sara looked fabulous. No one would suspect the ordeal she'd been through in the last few days. We didn't stay too long. I knew they both needed peace and quiet. Also, I had a rodeo to get to.
I ran home, changed my clothes, then went to pick up my Mom, who also wanted to see the last rodeo of the season. Megan had arranged things with the property owners to let us drive right up on the lawn over the arena so we could watch from the car. Last time, we pushed Mom in the wheelchair, as walking over uneven grass is difficult for her. Also, it hadn't been as cold last time. We got there in time to see Xena and Babalouie compete in barrels. They both did well and finished high but didn't win. Then came roping, which we'd missed last time. It was really fun and the kids did well. After missing her first throw, Xena caught her second and third and forced a rope off with the only other rider who'd caught three. Xena won!
The last event was a ribbon race, which is not an adult rodeo event but it definitely showcased how well these kids can control their horses! Two kids on horseback, holding a three foot length of crepe paper between them, had to ride down the arena side by side, round a barrel and return, without ripping or dropping the ribbon. That takes skill and control!
After the last event, all the participants and their families have a big pot luck dinner in the barn, which Mom and I were invited to but did not stay for. We were exhausted from the busy weekend.
Later that night, Ty told us that after the awards for today's rodeo, they tallied up the whole season and gave awards for Best Overall in each event. Xena won the buckle for Goat Tying and Roping! Babalouie didn't win Best Of in any event but he was top three in a couple of them. Just like gymnastics in the Olympics, the Big Award is the Overall Cowboy of the Season.
Xena won it walking away.