Cowboy Days

I have great memories of taking Brishen to Cowboy Days back when he was our 3-year-old and the only child in our family.  I have the cutest picture (somewhere) of Brishen trying out some calf roping.  Now Brishen is 14 and was away at youth camp for the weekend when we went.  It was so much fun to get to go to the event with my new young ones, and Basia loves any sort of event like this.  Basia immediately got up that morning and dressed in her boots, her hat that looks like an elephant sat on it before throwing it over a cliff, and, though she took it off before we left, her holster and pistol.

As soon as we got out of the van, we noticed Grandmother, Granddad, Camden, and Kaia making the rounds on the stagecoach.  We promptly got in line to do the same.  The kids absolutely loved it.  Basia rode on her own up top.

We then wandered around, looking at animals and displays and bumping into Las Cruces friends who we hadn't seen in a while.  The event had the coolest murder mystery where you interview people in character and costume.  It's a little too tough to track when you are with a 9-year-old, and 5 kids age 4 and under, though, so we didn't get anything solved.  We got to witness a young sheep dog lose control of the sheep for a while until he was put away and the more experienced dog brought out for the rescue.

We were last at the Farm and Ranch Museum almost a year ago for a field trip.  At that point, Mr. Strut was terrified of the goats and sheep.  This time, he ran from pen to pen, loving them all.  It is so nice to see that sort of progress in such an obvious way.

It was a great event, and I'm sure we will return again next year!