And We're Off to the Rodeo!

Actually it was more like the midway at the rodeo.  Aaron and Hunter were bouncing off the walls by the time we finally decided to get moving - out of the house that is.  I finally freed the clutter beasts from Ethan's room and Geoff dug up the last of the "stairs" on the side of the house in the back yard.  A and H were pretty good considering but they were definitely ready to get out by 7:00pm. 

We aren't... wait, I'm not "a little bit country".  Geoff has been in the past so he owns a hat.  I worked in a country bar a couple of times and had a hat that I guess I eventually allowed the dust bunnies to run away with.  It really belonged to them anyway by then.  Now that I'm living in an area that lets its old west heritage loose once in a while, I feel like I need at least one outfit to show my western pride.  And why not? I have about eight different outfits for golf and I've only been once a year for the past two years.  However, golf outfits are super cute.  I digress.

So we headed out to the midway after asking repeatedly if the kids were hungry, knowing full well that they would be as soon as we arrived anyway.  For the second time in as many days, my good intentions to stick to my "diet" were out the window (not a real diet if you're just tuning in, just stuff I'm supposed to avoid in case I actually have acid reflux; read: anything at the fair grounds is probably fighting to be at the top of that list).  And Geoff was helpful as well in as many days, texting me "Bud or Heineken?" when he was out.  I chose Heineken.  Not that we felt like having one after returning home so that worked out - yesterday.

But back to the midway.  We arrived and were standing in line at the gate behind a bunch of teens who were probably looking forward to kicking it up for the night.  An extremely generous dude with an official-looking badge asked if we were just going to go to the midway.  We said yes and he let us in the side that doesn't have to pay.  Well Yahoo!  Off to a shining start!  We headed for the rides, passing a sign that said "Monster Truck Rides $8.00".  I drew Geoff's attention to it.  I'm not sure who wanted the ride more, him or the boys.  They all went. I headed back for mini-donuts. 

In this small Southern AB town, the rodeo itself is the highlight.  The midway is there for the very few individuals who aren't coming to see the rodeo so it's not especially big.  There were only two rides that Hunter didn't need an adult for. I got the lucky first take on an adult needed one; the Tilt-a-Whirl.  I used to love the rides. 

One year, when I was Miss. Hometown, my gf and I went to the Ponoka Stampede, paid for I believe by the mayor of my hometown and I think they even gave us a ride as well.  Anyhow, I still wasn't much for the rodeo then and my gf and I rode the rides.  It wasn't very busy that day and the guy at the Zipper told us we could stay on.  We must have ridden that thing for an hour straight.  I guess a Miss. Hometown sash does wonders for free rides.  Afterwards, we headed for the Spider.  That's when it hit me.  Too much movement.  I threw up before it stopped and I haven't been good on rides since.

Back to the present.  The Tilt-a-Whirl didn't look so bad.  By this time, I had eaten an entire bag of cotton candy, mini donuts, a hot dog, French fries with gravy and onion rings with gravy.  When Aaron and Hunter got to the gate, the ride master told me I had to go too.  "You're not going to make me pay for this are you?" I said to him as I passed him the TEN tickets for the boys to go on. I was really thinking about the possibility of my getting sick. It didn't seem right to be charged for that type of excitement.

You know how these guys aren't really the chatty sort unless you're some leggy teen in a tube top?  Well he muttered something and took my tickets and I headed into a "car" with the boys.  Aaron had just been on it with another kid who apparently wanted to go again also so we climbed in with him.

These things work better with more people.  I had forgotten that before we got on.  Anyhow, so off we went and when that thing spun I was like HOLY CRAP!!  My stomach just turned a little at the memory.  And again, when it's not that busy, they seem to allow you to ride for longer.  At one point I wondered if the ride master was tormenting me on purpose since I refused to pay as a chaperone.  I swear I've never seen those cars move like mine did.  I just kept praying that I wasn't going to hurl.

Finally the demonic ride master slowed the damn thing to a stop and we were able to get off.  The boys wanted to go again but I told them we had to wait for Geoff to return - there was no way I could have gone again without covering us in vomit.   Geoff returned and the boys asked for another shot at the Tilt-a-Whirl but he turned them towards the rides Hunter could go on without us.  Smarty pants. 

Aaron headed to the Ferris Wheel and lucked out with a camera shy blond girl for a companion.  As they were going up and up Geoff returned with Hunter and showed him where Aaron was.  They were pausing closer to the top at this point and Hunter says "I want him to come down. Now."

That was cute.  They all took another ride on the monster truck and I held back again.  Granted I'd never seen a monster truck ... anything, but riding in the back of one seems like a dumbass thing to do.  I watched though, you could tell the driver knew how to not make the thing flip over.  Still.  I bought another bag of mini-donuts. 

We figured that was good enough for the night.  We'd been there for three hours and managed to spend $160.  How that was even possible is beyond me.  Though, $40 for monster truck rides adds up.  The boys were happy, I hadn't puked, and we were fairly tired out.  Aaron and Hunter danced all the way home because they were high on sugar and fun times.  Geoff and I were absolutely finished.  There's a reason these things only come once a year; parents just can't handle themselves.