Going to "The Pen"

Here we are heading into the big event. The Prison Rodeo is really at the prison. This particular rodeo is the largest one behind the prison walls in the nation. I was actually surprised how big of a deal it was, there were hundreds of people in attendance.
Before heading in Claire got to pet Jack the horse. She takes every opportunity possible to get her hands on one of these gorgeous animals. I would love to put her in riding lessons one day.
The rodeo participants (aka prisoners in the Oklahoma prison system) were kept safely inside their very own part of the arena. We never felt nervous or unsafe while we were there, just in case you were wondering.
We were not sure what Asher and Claire would think about the rodeo, but they seemed to really enjoy it. After the calf roping event she was wondering where their mommy cows were and then when the bull riding started she got all excited and said "there are their mommies! they came out to take care of their babies. they are so sweet!". Ummmm...not exactly little one, but I let her go right ahead thinking that. She was so happy, I couldn't ruin it for her by saying that the bulls were in fact not mommies and they aren't exactly sweet.
Claire having a little cuddle break with Jacob in the middle of the rodeo. He had slept for most of it. She was almost as excited to see his eyes as she was to see all the horses and cows.
Allan and Jacob watching the action. I think Allan was in heaven for pretty much the entire time we were there. It was fun to experience his first rodeo with him.

We really did have a great time and made some fun memories. Allan says that we will definitely be going back and that is alright with me. It was not nearly as bad as I thought it could have been. The kids did great, we had good seats, we felt safe, and it was a cultural experience to say the least.

Money The Hard Way

There were a few events I had never heard of before, not that I am a rodeo regular or expert for that matter so maybe they are normal events. The one that I will always remember was called Money the Hard way. It is like a calf scramble, except instead of little kids trying to get a ribbon off of a calf's tail it was grown men and women trying to get $100 off of a bull's horn. It was intense, especially when this happened...

You can see the bull charging (kind of). He ran smack into a guy, head to head. The bull won.

These are the paramedics carrying the cowboy out of the arena on a stretcher.