Sunday, September 13, 2009

Football, Outlaws, and Rodeos...Oh My!











What a full Saturday! We started with a football game in the morning where Harry's team, the Orange Crush, won its first game of the season. They now stand at 1-2 with many more wins to come (hopefully). It was then off to Bella's swimming where she again looked very good in the water. Her teacher introduced the side breath for the front crawl which appears it will take a while to achieve.





Then it was off to the Defeated Jesse James days in Northfield, MN. Harry, Becca, Bella, my Mom and I went, but we left Erick home to rest and get some alone time. The Jesse James days celebrates the heroics of town residents on the day of Sept. 7, 1876, when Frank and Jesse James, along with their gang of outlaws, tried to rob the 1st national bank in Northfield. Instead of a successful robbery, two of their gang were killed and the others were captured. Only Frank and Jesse James got away, but their level of successful bank robberies was never the same after the day in Northfield.





We watched a reenactment of the event in front of the real 1st National Bank, which has been restored, but still stands where it did that day. They used real guns that shot blanks and Bella kept saying how loud it all was. She enjoyed it despite of the loud gunshots.





After the reenactment we went to the Jesse James Days Rodeo. I myself had never been to a rodeo. The kids had gone before with my Mom to a few at the State Fair. It was very interesting. Lots of music (Kid Rock was a favorite) and excitement. Of course we had to add our own excitement to the night! Right before the rodeo started, Becca tapped me and said, "Mom I think I am allergic to something!" I looked at her cheek and it was bright red with white hives. Just a few minutes prior to this, the picture from above was taken, where a horse brushed his nose against her cheek. Becca's been around horses many times before so I know she's not allergic to them, but someone said they spray them with fly spray and I think that's what caused the reaction. For the first half of the rodeo, she said her face felt like it was on fire and being poked with needles. Then it seemed to settle down.





During the rodeo I was surprised by something called Mutten Busters. Apparently kids sign up before the rodeo starts to ride sheep like a bucking bronco and see how long they can stay on. To me, it didn't appear very safe. The kids were small, about 5-8 years old, and those sheep threw them off hard. Then the kids had to quickly scramble off of the ground to avoid being stepped on by the sheep. Harry, of course, stood up immediately after it was over and said, "Next time, I'm signing up for that!" Hmm... what's the phrase I'm looking for...Oh yeah! Over my dead body!!!!





The rodeo went very long. It started at 8pm and didn't end until shortly after 10pm. Around 9pm, the announcer said that the first 10 kids with cowboy boots to climb over the fence and get in the arena were going to participate in a contest. Well, of course Bella had her red cowboy boots on so I quickly brought her to the fence and over she went. She ran to the middle of the arena with the rodeo clown with the other kids. The contest was to take off your cowboy boots, run back end of the arena and back again and then find your boots (which they had all mixed up) and put them on first. Bella didn't win, but she sure had fun!!!





We didn't get back home until after midnight. We were all were exhausted. Today, we are hoping for a Vikings win and a day of recovery.

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