momMY slice of life: Ft Worth Stockyards

Warning Folks! This post has tons of pictures!

So, my plan for this summer was to do little "camps" at home each week, with each week having a new theme. I'm going to be honest and tell y'all I've not done so well at it. Summer has been even bussier than I planned for it to be. I'm not giving up though, and I'm starting back tomorrow!

The first week of Summer, I did do well with my plans and we had "Wild West Camp". Everyday I taught Dylan something about the Wild West and did a craft with he and London. We also checked books out from the Library on the WW. I thought Dylan might like this theme, but he LOVED it!

After learning lots during the week, we went on a family trip to the Stock Yards in Ft Worth. We had a blast!! In case you have never heard of it, it is about seven blocks of Ft Worth that is set up to look like an Old Western town. They have all kinds of activities for the kids to do, lots of cool shops, and lots of yummy things to eat. There is a big cattle drive and a Kiddi Cowboy Camp you can enjoy for free too. They also put on a show, "Western Shoot Off".

This is where they kept some of the Long Horn Cattle that were in the Cattle Drive. Dylan, London, and I made their hats and sheriff as one of our crafts for the week.

All along the road there were "real" cowboys just trotting along.

London did well most of the day, but she was not happy about having to stop to take pictures!

My sweet cowboy. Dylan LOVES to dress up and pretend, so dressing up as a cowboy was right up his ally!

We were able to get great spots (not seats, because everyone was actually standing) for the show. It was really cute and pretty funny. Dylan loved it and so did London until they shot their guns (blanks) and then she was not happy. The loud noise scared the daylights out of her!

So after the show, we took the kids and had some good 'ole Texas BBQ! Daniel and I both ordered a briquette sandwich that was off the charts yummy! The break from the heat and food in our tummies is exactly what we needed to be able to really enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

I was so tickled, because we kept telling them they were going to ride a real horse, but they both just wanted to hang out on these things!

Dylan saw the mechanical bull and immediately wanted to ride. I was just a bit nervous about it. Not that he would get hurt so much as that he would be scared. I really try not to push my fears off on my kids though, so I didn't say anything about it and I just let him go. And oh my!, he had the best time! His smile was from ear to ear the whole. entire. time. It was magic watching him. Pure magic.

After the bull riding, Dylan and Daniel tried their luck at a huge maze. It was neat the way they had it set up. When you start, you punch your little card that they give you in a time stamp thing. Then you go around the maze trying to find different letters. When you find each letter, there is a stamp that you punch into your card, and you can't finish the maze without all the letters. The boys had a blast! London and I enjoyed watching them from the sitting area and cooling down a bit. She and I sang lots of "Twinkle Twinkle", which is her favorite song.

What is an Old Western Town without the Old Time jail?!?

We took the kids to ride "REAL LIFE HORSIES!", as Dylan saying. Dylan and London both really, really loved the Pony Ride. I think it was London's very most favorite thing of the day. I would say the bull was Dylan's favorite.