City Folk

Every year we, as Houstonians, have the pleasure of experiencing the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for a solid month out of the year.  That time is upon once again and our play group thought it would be a fun outing for the kiddos.  The six mommies packed up our nine babies and one nanny and we were off!  

We started at an exhibit called Fun on the Farm, where the kids could milk a fake cow, sit on a tractor, and trade in their fake crops for real snacks.  

This was by far my favorite part or our experience because it did not involve abuse of any kind.  Things took a turn for Caroline when she and the other kids wanted to ride on the ponies.  Caroline wanted off after the first minute of being on the pony, however she was strapped on with a leather belt and I couldn't get her off until the ponies stopped. So she went round and round begging to get in her stroller, which she never wants to be in.

Next we decided to break for lunch, then it was time to watch "Mutton Bustin." If you are not familiar with this, it is when people allow their small children (4 or 5 year olds) to get on the back of large, franticly running sheep and see how long they can stay on before getting bucked off.  This entire concept makes me nauseous!  So I was already uneasy but the straw that broke the camels back was when we noticed a sheep that had just been ridden swaying back and forth with blood running from its head.  Evidently, a small child had ripped the horn off its head and no one seemed to notice but our group!  

(I did not get a picture of that.)

We then found our way to the petting zoo, where there are goats, more sheep, pigs, bunnies and even a deer.  Caroline was not a fan of the goats that were eye level with her, but she was fascinated by the baby animals.  Katy, one of the moms in our group, asked if the animals would bite our kids.  Thats when we learned that all the top teeth of the animals had been removed. Yep, more animal abuse!  

Thompson and Vivian were troopers.

After several bottles of hand sanitizer we were out of there, I do not wish to return anytime soon!!!