San Antonio Rodeo

Aunt Mary came to visit this past weekend. We picked her up from the airport Friday afternoon and went straight downtown to the rodeo. Ok... not quite "straight" downtown... there was a stop for gas... for traffic...  for two different trains... and a mini, unplanned, "tour" of downtown... No, I was never lost. All along I knew I was in San Antonio :)

We arrived at the rodeo grounds about 2:30 or so. The grounds are essentially just a giant carnival. The rodeo is later each evening. We opted not to go to the actual rodeo, the kids were wore out by then. And so were we!

Nathan & Faith have never been to a carnival before. They loved it. So many new things to see, and people to watch! They'd had no nap, so I fully expected at least one to pass out for a nap in the stroller. But both kids were wide eyed and having too much fun to think about a nap!

Nathan rode the circus train ride, and had a blast!

I expected him to get off and say "more!" but there were so many other rides

and things to see, I think he wanted to keep moving.

After the train ride, Nathan rode the little lady bugs.

They went around in a circle, relatively fast for a 2 year old. I was unsure how he'd like it, but kids much younger than him were riding. And he wanted to ride, so I let him. And he loved it!

While Nathan rode the lady bugs, Faith rode Auntie M!

She had a blast being thrown in the air by Mary!

When the ride was over, he threw is arms in the air, smiled big, and shouted with joy. He had fun!

But, again, he didn't ask for more.

Instead, he pointed to another ride he wanted to try! A roller coaster!!

It was a mini roller coaster - no huge hills or loops. But still, it was potentially scary for a toddler! We waited in line, and I debated the whole time... was I being a bad mom to let Nathan ride with his Auntie M??  He met the height requirements... and there were a few younger kids in line... I said a prayer and let him go.

And he loved it!!!

Auntie M got to take Nathan on his first roller coaster ride ever. And based on his reactions, it won't be his last! I tried to get him to smile for a picture afterwards, but he already had his sights set on more rides!

But on the way to the other rides, Momma got her sights set on a funnel cake... hehe. So the four of us shared a yummy funnel cake - Faith's first. She loved it. It might have been Nathan's first too... he loved it too! But who doesn't?!?



After our funnel cake, we all rode the carousel together.



Next, Nathan rode the Dora swings... they were toddler sized and only went around - not up. After all the other rides Nathan enjoyed, I figured he'd like this one too. And he did... at first.

But after a couple rotations, I think he started to get dizzy. He kept trying to spot me, and his head was going back and forth quickly in order to do that. Halfway through the ride, he began shaking his head and saying "no, no, no, no". When the ride ended, the ride attendant got Nathan off first. Nathan did well staying calm even though he didn't like the ride. And he still wanted to ride more things!  We had one ticket left, so we went in search for anothe toddler ride.

And we ended up at the dinosaurs. They're a lot like the Dumbo ride at Disney world.

And Nathan enjoyed his last carnival ride!

Blogger has changed the way they let me upload photos... and they won't let me upload any more. So you'll have to wait till tomorrow for another post with the rest of our photos from our afternoon at the rodeo grounds.