Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2015

Last Wednesday Annie had an appointment downtown and my mom had the great idea to go to the Rodeo after. Plans changed and Paul was able to join us instead. We missed Nana Nell, but we had a fun family day!

I saw this adorable Sheriff Callie costume at Target and really wanted to buy it, but I practiced some restraint. That was until my mom mentioned the rodeo and then I had to perfect excuse to buy it. ;)

 As always, we did a photoshoot prior to the rodeo. :) 

 She loves coming up with poses...

 What did I tell you about those poses? :)

 Annie with Sheriff Callie and her horse Sparky. 

After a not so pleasant doctor's visit, (urology tests are never fun!), we made it to the Rodeo.

 There are those poses again. :) Notice our beloved Astrodome in the background. :) I used to go to multiple rodeos a year, but it has been a few years. So many in fact that I forgot that it wasn't in the Astrodome anymore! 

We let Annie ride the ponies! 

 I convinced Daddy to let her ride alone. She was tied securely, as were the horses. She'd be fine. Surprised that I was so brave? Don't be. The second they started walking I told Paul to grab her when she came around. I couldn't handle it. Here she is after their first round and Daddy is ready to join her in the walk. Womp. Womp. Womp.

Annie and Pearl :)

Next up was the petting zoo- be still Annie's and my animal loving hearts. :)

 Cows are my favorite! I was so excited!

 After I took this pic, the cow started to turn and I saw its tail in the air. "Paul, move her now!" The cow kept turning and ended with its butt right by Annie's head! I yelled, "Paul MOVE!" He got her out of the way barely in time- she was seconds/inches away from being pooped on, on her head!

 Petting zoos have rules, as they should, and they also have workers to watch out- but parents still need to watch their kids, right?!  Anyway, here is a worker holding this cute chicken for Annie to pet- because it is against the rule to hold any of the animals. Well, my heart hurts when I see this sweet chicken. 5 minutes later I was standing by a small fenced in area where they keep the ducks and chickens. A girl, about 8-10, was standing on the fence, (breaking the rules!) and guess where her mom was...standing right beside her! The worst right? Wrong, it gets much worse. The girl jumped off the fence and jumped right on the chicken! ON IT! The mom's reaction? She just made "eyes" at her daughter. That's it. It took all that was in me not to chew them both out, come on people! Poor chicken.

 Petting zoo take two:

 Someone in the zoo offered to take our pic. :)

 What's not to love? :)

 Annie recently got into the movie Babe- she was very excited to pet "Babe." :)

 We saw Miss Moo and I was a little confused as to why she would be stationed here with this terrible lighting. Oh well, Annie didn't care and was ecstatic to see her! Annie got her pic and Miss Moo blew her a kiss. Then she started walking away. Turns out this was not her photo spot and she was on her way to her break. I didn't know and I thought this was her spot! I felt so bad, we had no idea! I'm still thankful that she took a pic with Annie, she was one of the highlights! :)

You could pay to hold a kangaroo and take a picture with it. We had to do it. :)