Fort Worth, Texas

While Rick had business meetings in Dallas, the girls and I spent the day in Fort Worth, Texas at the stockyards. What a fun day! It was authentic Texas! Cobblestone streets, cowboys (and girls), Longhorn cattle, the Cowboy Hall of Fame, a cowpen maze, passenger train, rodeo and twice a day cattle drives right down the main street. Very cool place.

Romero demonstrating the lasso technique

Stevie and I wore our cowboy hats and felt right at home.

We met a cowboy named Romero, who demonstrated how to lasso and chatted with us about the cattle.After walking around the area and chatting with Romero, it was time for the day's first cattle drive. Everyone lines the streets and watches as the cattle and cowboys come round the corner and walk on past. So neat to see. The cattle were so close we could touch them!
 After watching the cattle drive, we ran into a cowboy that had a Longhorn saddled up for folks to sit on. Of course we took advantage of that opportunity. That old guy (the cow) stood as still as a statue while all 3 girls got on and I took pictures. I think he had done that before!

We also had an opportunity to Skype with the second grade class back at NSA while we were at the Stockyards. It was fun to share the day with them. We tried our best to show them some Longhorns (2nd grade: if you are reading this, I am including this extra Longhorn picture here just for you!).


Finally, it was time for the girls to give the Cowtown Cowpen Maze a try. There are observation decks to look out over the maze before you enter so you can attempt to plan your course...the girls insisted that I not help 'guide' them from the watchtower.

Stevie in the maze!

Once they took off, I immediately lost sight of them as they were too short for me to see their heads in the maze...I could hear them saying "Oh My Gosh" and "AH, Which Way". It was MUCH harder than it looked but, eventually, everyone made it. Ashley even went back to help Stevie find her way and lost the first place finish to Rachel as a result. What a great sister! We had a great time!