'Cause I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby

Ever since Ethan saw some kids doing mutton bustin (small kids riding a sheep for those who don't know) last year he has been talking about doing it himself. Well we found out that this year at our county fair they were doing a whole pee wee rodeo for kids 12 and under, so Jake signed Ethan up for all the events. They had stick horse barrel racing, goat dressing, and a couple other stick horse events that I have forgotten.

Look at the excitement on his face, yeah right. Jake thought it would be fun for him but Ethan ended up thinking all the stick horse events were pretty "boring and lame" and couldn't wait for the mutton bustin which happened to be last.

I think he somewhat enjoyed the goat dressing but only because he actually got to do something other than run a stick horse around in the arena. They had to run out to the goat, catch it and get a hat on it around its horns. After the goat dressing it was finally time for mutton bustin. As they were getting ready for mutton bustin, Ethan decided he wanted to ride a calf too. What?! Sometimes I think he forgets that he is 5! Since Jake was with him and I was sitting in the stands with Olivia without a say in the situation, he got signed up to ride a calf.

He lasted one of the longest on the sheep, though not many lasted longer than a few seconds. Even though he fell off and got a little roughed up, he still insisted on riding the calf.

Ouch! That just does not look all that fun. He didn't last long, but none of the other kids I watched did either. He was the smallest/youngest to ride a calf by far. He didn't really cry afterwards but he was pretty upset as we were walking to the car. I'm not sure if he was hurt, or if he was just upset that he had fallen off because he wouldn't talk to us except to say that he was never riding in a rodeo again.

As soon as we got home he laid on the couch and was curled up under a blanket and asleep in less than five minutes.(The little purple thing is one of Olivia's doll blankets that she put on him to make him feel better.) After he woke up an hour or so later, he and Jake were talking about riding the sheep and the calf and Jake asked him which one he liked better. Ethan said that he definitely liked the calf better because it actually bucked and the sheep just ran around. He also said he definitely wants to do it again next year and the next year and every year and when he gets a little bigger he wants to ride a bunkin bronco and a bunkin bull.  What a difference a little nap makes!