Saturday Jay and I took Jacob and Andrew to the Western Stock Show. They were really excited to go. It was fun to see all the tall buildings downtown, Invesco Field where the Broncos play and the roller coasters of Six Flags Elitch Gardens. The boys thought that any of those places would be a good choice for future field strips with Grandma and Grandpa. Finally, we arrived....at the parking lot. We would have to take a shuttle bus to the event center....yea!!!! It was Andrew's first time on a bus, but Jake was quick to point out that it was his 6th time on a bus!!! The advantages of age! After a very fun and short bus ride, we were finally there. We had tickets to see the draft horses. We were on the second row and no one was in front of us. We saw big beautiful horses, miniature mules, and big mules. Grandpa bought us Chicken Fingers, french fries and root beer. A highlight from the draft horse show was the Costumed Mules contest. We learned that a mule is part horse and part donkey....so they're almost as big as horses but really stubborn! Participants dressed up to show off their mules. Once couple had gotten married in the horrse barn that day so they rode in a mule-pulled wagon all decked out with Just Married signs. One girl was dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz riding her mule, The Wicked Witch of the West ... the mule wore a purple and black witch's hat. The winner of the competition was a hitch of mules ... 6 abreast, pulling a pickup truck. The boys loved this one so I've included a picture.
Later in the day we wandered around the various exhibits. A highlight for the boys was getting to sit on a really big, tall horse and have their pciture taken. The size of this huge horse is no optical illusion in the picture ... it really was a big horse. We had a great day with the boys and finished it off with hot fudge sundaes at McDonalds. The only thing missing was all their cousins!!! It would have been perfect if Cody, Landen, Crew, Corinne, Catherine and Ryan had been there too!
