Rainy Memories

Last week we decided to try something different for the Fourth of July. Down in Clarendon near the ranch, they had all kinds of activities going on and so we wanted to go take part in them. And then Hurricane Alex hit and we got rain, rain, and more rain. It wasn't a hard flood out the roads kind of rain but just a steady drizzle that kept everything very wet and muddy. Since it wasn't raining so hard outside, we still tried to continue on with our planned activities. Some things got canceled but we did our best to have fun. :)

The rain brought great opportunities for pretty pictures....this was taken from the front yard of the main house. It got brighter and ended up being a full rainbow but I didn't get a shot of that because my camera was not to keen on being in the rain.

I just thought this was really pretty....pictures really don't do it justice.

We went to the rodeo Friday night and all the kids decided to go down for the calf tag race. The calves have tags on their necks and the kids chase them down until they get the tag and then whoever gets the tags win. Sounds like fun in a muddy and other things rodeo arena right? The kids thought so too until they got down to the gate and then Princess decided that maybe getting nasty by all the mud and other stuff wasn't such a good idea. But it didn't stop the boys and Little Man chased one calf all by himself around the entire arena. Just as he got him cornered, a bigger kid ran in and took the tag. Little Man did all the work but missed the reward. I wanted to boo that bigger kid but figured it wouldn't be very role modelish of me.

The next day we thought it would be great to go fishing in the rain! So we bundled up in our ponchos (or as my nephew called them: burnachos) and went to fish. I'm telling you, we refused to stay inside and let Alex ruin our weekend. It was wet....

...and muddy...

but great fishing! Little Man finally caught him a fish! All by himself! It was a big catfish too...not an easy reel-in. He got it in mostly by himself and then Daddy had to come help a little bit. You can see him doing his victory dance in this picture...

and then stopped long enough to pose for a picture.

My brother-in-law caught one too that we just had to show off....isn't it impressive?

There are five new calves at the ranch right now and one of them was just a week old when we were there. It belongs to the black and white longhorn named Rosa and is so cute!! I want to keep him or her (we're not sure yet.)

The rain made the cows feisty and the one longhorn that is very friendly anyway, really made herself comfortable around us. She is gentle but still makes me nervous when she uses those horns to swat flies. She could take off my head!!!

After awhile, the rain stopped long enough for the boys to go shoot skeet. At the nudging of my hubby, I shot a target out of a nearby tree. I don't do flying targets but watch out when I'm aiming at stationary things. I have to admit that I'm pretty good with a gun. :) Better than my hubby at least...I proved that to him once but he doesn't like to talk about it.

Since the rain started again and seemed like it was going to continue, we decided to come home Saturday night and join in on our neighborhood parade and cookout. Of course, that day was gorgeous! Oh well. It was fun playing in the rain and watching the kids make good memories. That's what I'm all about can you tell? Making memories...that what life's about. :)

Oh, and the mud/probable manure, wet, soggy and stinky laundry was memorable for me as well. The kids asked all the way home what that smell was and I couldn't bring myself to tell them it was them. :)