RAWHIDE!

Firday night we went to a town outside of Phoenix called Rawhide. It is set up in the 1800 to resemble the look and feel of the Wild Wild West! It wasn't very busy so we got to do alot of activites and see some shows. Plus Ty loved the ability to run like a wild man up and down streets and checking out every little detail of the place.

We got to see 2 shows that had gunfight and stunts. Ty said his favorite part of "cowboy town" was watching the "fire come out of the guns" Here we are posing with our "guns" infront of the show stage.

Jeff and Ty panning for gold.

Ty got his first realistic gun at one of the toy shops. He LOVED it and even slept with it strapped on last night (that's a true test of how much he loves a toy...if he wants to sleep with it). Randomly through the town the cowboys would get into a scuffle and have a gun fight in the middle of the town street. Here Ty is pretending to be a cowboy in a gunfight in the middle of the street.

The town was set up like the wild west days.

Jeff and Ty riding the train

You'll have to watch the video and read below to get the full story on this one.

Ty with his trophy for WINNING the sheep riding contest at the rodeo.

Ty on the burrow.

Jeff and Ty riding a stagecoach (they are on the back)

And we couldn't just walk past the petting zoo...the goat lover had to go touch the animals

Me and Ty in front of a covered wagon

I think this is supposed to be Clint Eastwood...you know he lived in the 1800s.

The story...oh I've never laughed so hard...so every Friday night at Rawhide they have little rodeo where you can watch bullriders and they let amateurs have a shot at it. After the bull riding they open up the ring to all kids under 6 years old to compete in a sheep riding contest for a $1. Ty and I waited in line with about 30 other kids, we stood towards the end of the line so I could talk to him and let him see what its was all about. The majority of the kids fell off as soon as the gate opened and the sheep started to run and almost all of them cried after they hit the ground. I told Ty that if he rode the sheep he might fall off and it would hurt but he was pumped about riding. They gave him the choice of having help (they would hold onto him as he rode) or he could do it by himself? Can you guess which one he went for? While in line I kept telling Ty that he had to hold on really tight and not let go of the sheep...and that's exactly what he did.

Ohh...Mr. Fearless held onto the sheep and it was the sheep that fell to the ground not Ty. And Ty was STILL holding on. If you watch closely in the video you can see that the sheep falls to the ground and Ty's helment actually flys off but the kid is STILL holding on for deal life and one of the rodeo hands actually peels Ty off of the sheep because he was not going to let go . Everyone was taken with his determination and one of the clowns holds Ty up into the air and shows him off. They were laughing at him as they brought him back to me saying that he must have been biting the sheep because he was spitting wool out of his mouth. ( Later Ty told me that he was biting the sheep and holding his belly to stay on.) The whole thing made me laugh so HARD. Come to find out he got the highest score out of all the kids and got 1st place. (which was totally unexpected we were just for fun but there were some kids competing seriously) They announced his name to come back into the ring to get his trophy and take pictures. It was quite a humerous night. He doesn't understand that he won and asked me what the trophy could do.

In the video I am in the black shirt just to the right when the gate opens. If you listen to the announcer you can hear him bashing Texas (they announced Ty by name and where he was from right before they opened the gate). What a fun night. It sounds silly but Jeff and I were so proud of him...for doing his BEST!