Prairie Rose Western Days

On a Friday at the beginning of May, we were able to go to the Prairie Rose Western Days.  We had gone once before, a few years ago when it was freakishly cold and we had to wear winter coats!  As you can see from these pictures, it was not one bit cold, in fact it got rather hot for early May.


Once we got there, we immediately met up with friends and took a horse and wagon ride.  We had to stop at the obstacle course, which was new to us.

Dominic felt like he was on American Ninja Warrior on some of these obstacles.

Go Joseph!

Anne on the wobbly balance beam.

Catherine crawled under the wires.

After the obstacle course, they got in line for the tire zip line.

Whee!

Anthony was big enough to ride.

There he goes!

Next we made our way over to a small arena for a talk and demonstration of cattle roping.

The girls were especially excited about the horses.

Ride 'em, cowboys!

That cow is down.  Normally they do this when they need to give them vaccinations.

Next, we went over to a pavilion to learn some square and line dancing.

Anne was the only one of ours willing to try it.  Here she is with 3 friends.

We then walked over to the Indian area, where there were different crafts displayed and sold.

You could go inside this tepee to look around.

Which, of course, we did.  Kids thought that was pretty neat.

A stop for a posed picture.

We had to wait in line a long time to try the tomahawk throw:

Dominic tried.

Anne took a turn.

Joseph was the only one to get the tomahawk stuck in the logs.

After all of that, it was lunch time!

Girls' picnic!

I think they were smart getting into the shade.  It was hot in the sun!

After lunch, we walked over to the gazebo area, where there was going to be a performance involving gun tricks and a bit of a shootout.

Waiting for the show to start.

The kids all moved up for a closer view.

After the show, everyone decided to take another wagon ride.

Boys on a fence.

Friends and cousins on the wagon ride.

The kids and their cousins.

Prairie Rose Western Days

On May 3rd, I took the kids on a Field Trip to the Prairie Rose Western Days, which was located about 10 minutes from our house.  The Prairie Rose regularly hosts Chuckwagon Suppers, with wagon rides, all-you-can-eat supper, and live music, but the Western Days have a lot of other cowboy entertainment and education.  Notice I said it was MAY 3RD, and the kids were wearing their winter coats!!!

The first thing we did was ride on ponies!

Anthony loved it!  He had the cutest little pony to ride.

Of course the girls loved it, too.  They are very horse-crazy.  Here is Anne.

Dominic

Catherine

Joseph

Waiting for the wagon ride.

Here come the wagons!

All aboard!

We rode right behind the horses.

We ate our picnic lunch inside! 

This man showed the kids how he takes care of the horse's hooves.

Rifle shooting.  Catherine got to shoot it, but I had to help her.

Axe throwing!  Little Anne threw the axe at a target, as did Dominic and Catherine.  And me!  Supposedly, I had to throw it first to show the kids.  I even hit the target.

Exploring inside the tepee.

This man told the kids all about chuckwagon cooking.

Catherine, Dominic, Joseph, and Anne with Anthony behind.

By mid-afternoon, it had warmed up to about 50 degrees, so the kids got hot!

We spent part of our time inside, where there were different presentations.  One was about raptors, by the Great Plains Nature Center.  Another was about the Home on the Range, the cabin in Kansas where our state song was written.  We also got to see some bee hives and hear all about honey.  We had a great day!