Still Learning Things

On Saturday we went as a family to the Stampede. Of the 5 Stampedes that we have lived in town for, we have only gone to 3 years of it. One year we actually "escaped" the crowd and the rush to Las Vegas. Where there are a lot of crowds - not much of an escape, though we enjoyed the time together and got to go the Star Trek Experience, a highlight for me... yeah I know, sci-fi geek. Hey, we talked about going to the convention this August there for our 10 anniversary, but it just felt too weird to think of for me, so I guess I am not that big of a geek after all. This post is beginning to be all about Star Trek, so I guess I will get back on track... now where was I? Oh, right, going to Las Vegas... we also saw Blue Man Group - so good! Would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to see them. We are going in September when they come to Calgary, I am excited to see them then.
So on Saturday at the Stampede, we enjoyed looking around. We don't do the midway as I cannot imagine spending money on throwing balls at targets to try and win stuffed animals that we don't have room for in our house. DH already has my love, pride and respect, he doesn't have to win me anything. :) We don't do rides we don't have the money to spend on a couple minutes of fun that we may have experienced before (see Las Vegas, 2004) and sometimes I get ill. We do go to the Stampede market - product show - which always has interesting things. We walk through the entire thing, looking at stuff before going back and getting the items that we want.
We also went to the Buckaroos event for R. He enjoyed getting his face painted, Daddy made him a commemorative button, he "jumped" in one of those bouncy blow up things and got his picture taken in sepia tones dressed up as a cowboy. I am planning on putting up a post of R at the Stampede on his blog later today or tomorrow, so look for it there.
DH had gotten tickets to the rodeo from work, so we went to it. And this is where the title of the post comes into play... I never knew that my husband had never (NEVER!?!) been to a rodeo before. And... he never knew that I had been to them frequently before he knew me. We have been together a total of 12 and a half years and we discovered something new about each other. He also discovered, and I remembered once my parents mentioned it, that my dad had been quite the cowboy. When we lived in Swift Current he (my dad, not DH!) always went to the ranch of some friends for roundup and branding and all the cowboy stuff. So we enjoyed the rodeo and I got to "educate" my husband on what was happening and why they were doing this or that and what the cowboys/cowgirls were being judged on. It reminded me of how I used to enjoy rodeos before my allergies go so bad that sitting in an arena with all that dust flying and animals and straw. This was great as it is outside and we were high up, so no allergies! We also saw a cowboy named Jody Turner bull ride and that was exciting as DH used to work with his mom at RockPointe! (Reminds me, I gotta email her!)
Anyway, thanks to my parents, DH and I got to attend the later part of the day of Stampede without R in tow. That is when we looked at all the product and bought stuff. R got a set of Ideal Blox (looking at this website, I now think we paid too much! :), DH got a hat from www.walkabout.com that looks great on him, I got a cadet hat, we got a double hammock that is made of something like parachute material, some pillows with that soft sand like stuff inside for sleeping in the car and the hammock and so that R doesn't get that crink in his neck from being over sideways while he sleeps in the car. I also got a beautiful reversible jacket from a store called Shanghai Girl (the store is in Inglewood) with my birthday and Christmas money. It is blue and has dragonflies all over in embroidery. I feel like a princess in it. I am going to get DH to take a picture of me in it and I will post it another day.
All in all, a great day in Calgary at the "biggest outdoor show on earth"!
Well, I hear my baby crying, so I gotta go get him up for the day. It's funny how you can miss them and it's only been 13 hours since you last saw them.