It's no secret that Bryce admired and loved his Grandpa Don Hemmert more than pretty much anyone else in the world and many of his best childhood memories include the time he spent with him. One of their favorite traditions was attending the Famous Preston Night Rodeo every year with seats down close to the buckin' chutes since the rough stock events were Grandpa Hemmert's favorites. Bryce enjoyed watching Randy Munns as the clown and "all of the rodeo except for the barrel racing". One year he even won a National Finals belt buckle when the seat number he was sitting in was called. When asked what his favorite part of the rodeo was each year, his answer is simple-"just being with grandpa."
This year Bryce decided that it's about time we took our little family to the Preston rodeo. So we reserved some seats and then headed over the hill after work today. The kids were soooo excited to go and looked forward to it for days. Thankfully it didn't disappoint. Buddy struggled a bit with his anxiety and sensitivities to noise because the music and announcer was so loud and the clown did a motorcycle act complete with fireworks-all sounds that can send that poor little boy right over the edge. And, of course, I didn't even think about taking ear plugs with us. He snuggled up close to me with his ears covered and he made it through it and even enjoyed most of it.
After the rodeo we let the kids go on some of the carnival rides. They had fun on the carousal (Kylie was nervous so I rode with her), but then the next ride they went on was a little faster than sister liked so she got scared and was done after that. Brandt LOVED the rides and was running all over like a crazy man trying to decide which one to go on next each time. Thankfully it was a small area so we could keep track of him. He and I went on a kid-size dragon roller coaster and the end and he had so much fun on it that we went twice. As we were heading to the Ferris Wheel, which is the ride I asked him to go on with me, midnight struck and the lights went down. Buddy felt so bad that he didn't get to take me on my ride and kept apologizing for taking too many turns on his rides. He was being such a sweetheart! I love seeing that tender and thoughtful side of him. Kylie and her dad were ride watching buddies, and she seemed just fine with that. I was secretly relieved that for once she was scared of something that her brother wasn't... Overall, we had such a fun night and we can't wait to repeat it again next year!
