Saddle Up Saturday (and Sunday)

Whew! I think I've finally recovered from the weekend...like just now. It was a whirlwind of a ride and, of course, we arrived at Grace's riding lesson on Saturday morning, only for me to realize that I had my camera, but no digital card. @!#$%^&%$#! (and that's about as nice as I can say it) I had my Blackberry and I took just a couple of shots because they're so grainy. She did really fabulous though - at the end of her lesson, Kacey unfastened her security tie to Pal and let Grace maneuver him around the pen by herself - she turned him, made him go, made him stop, etc. all by herself! I'll remember my card this Saturday - it's already in my purse!

That's Kacey and Grace way out by the road doing Grace's balance exercises...

Sunday was the last day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It was Extreme Bulls and ZZ Top. Although Jack is a fan of ZZ Top, he says they're not sounding so good these days...like how old are they anyway? We listened to one song and he had enough...the extreme bulls was great - as usual - BJ Schumacher won...I think this is the second time he has won in the past three or four years. I must say, though, if any of you bull riding fans out there are familiar with the local Alvin, Texas rider, Douglas Duncan...he came in third, I believe...not bad for the largest rodeo in the world!

This is our girl enjoying the show - I knew we were going to do the carnival afterward, so again, these are just from my phone...

After our one ZZ Top song, we headed out for the carnival - we didn't figure she would want to ride much once she saw everything up close and big everything was...humph...were we ever wrong! This is what she spotted first - Jack said she never batted an eyelash and was even trying to rock the car with her feet...I don't know if this child is really mine - I'm terrified of heights! Do you see them waving? Honey, if that was me, my knuckles would be glued to that bar!

Here they are at the tippy top - my whole life teetering in the wind - ohhhh...I could not wait for this ride to be over!
They're about to get off...thank heavens!
The darn merry-go-round was going so fast, I didn't have a chance at a good picture, but she rode by herself for the first time and even though the picture is full of motion, I think you can see how full of herself she was - just the cat's meow!
Then, she wanted to "fly" - on this ride, you lay on your stomach and it takes you in wavy motion up in the air in a circle - she loved this! She would have done this all night - this is before it started and she looks like she's ready to get the party started, doesn't it?! Patience is not my child's greatest virtue - that is for sure - and she comes by it honestly, from both sides of the family!
Finally, she wanted to ride this slide - her Daddy and I were very unsure about this one, but this little boy came in right behind her in line and he didn't look too much older, so we let her go - the boy is in the green shirt going up the stairs on the left side - Grace is right ahead of him in the red dress. She sat on a burlap sack and came zooming down - this one scared her a bit - but, still, we have a little daredevil on our hands!
For her preschool graduation, they are doing a segment on the solar system. She has a three-line diddy about Pluto (the now non-planet) that she has to memorize, but there's a song she has been walking around the house singing for a week now - I'll try to get her on video tomorrow - precious...

It's raining puppies and kitties outside now, so I think I'm gonna go catch some zzzz's. See ya on the flip side!