Cow Poop

We had our first grandparent excursion in Casper when we took Emerson and Myra to the county fair. We arrived at their house shortly after 5:00 p.m. to find them dressed in blue jeans, and cowboy boots and rarin' to go. All they were missing were the cowboy hats. Dean and I didn't quite look the part in our tennis shoes but we were wearing blue jeans.

Once we arrived Dean pointed out to the girls that he smelled cow poop. Myra completely agreed with him and chanted all the way in as we bought tickets and found our way into the center of the fairgrounds "I smell cow poop", "I smell cow poop", "I smell cow poop."

Our first act as responsible grandparents was to buy cotton candy. Emerson managed to swallow large handfuls without any problem. Myra was able to plaster it to her nose and chin but had trouble getting it in her mouth. She walked around like a fish with her round mouth opening and closing and blue cotton candy hanging off her nose and chin.

The first mistake we made as out-of-practice parents and "new" grandparents was stopping at the carnival first. I foolishly thought we'd let the girls have a ride on the merry-go-round and then hit the barns. What I quickly learned was if you stop at the carnival first, nothing else is as exciting the rest of the night. Myra revised her chant from "I smell cow poop" to "I wanna ride the horse", "I wanna ride the horse"... We somehow managed to pry them from the rides and explored the animal barns. Dean and Emerson took their time as they slowly moved from pen to pen. They seemed to have intent conversations about each different animal. I'm can only guess that they must have been discussing the genetic differences between a black cow and a brown and white cow or the reason the daddy peacock is prettier than the mommy. Myra and I, on the other hand, flitted from pen to pen with the longest stop approximately 3 seconds. At one point I suggested to Myra she might want to watch carefully so she didn't step in cow poop. Consequently the chant changed to "I see cow poop", "I see cow poop", I see cow poop".

We made a quick tour through the exhibit hall, touched creepy lizard-like reptiles, played for a while in the science booth and then made our way to the rodeo. Dean bought us Indian Tacos, sodas, and warm, gooey cinnamon bread. We made a picnic on the floor of the stadium and waited for the rodeo to start. As we were eating, a guy dressed like a cowboy, walking on the tallest stilts I've ever seen, wandered through trying to get kids to walk between those really tall legs. Once the rodeo started he disappeared and we didn't see him again. It wasn't long before chant number four began which continued all the way through the rodeo and on the ride home, "where's the big guy?", "where's the big guy?", "where's the big guy?" Emerson and I finally told Myra the really big guy's really big mom told him he had to go home. Sadly, that wasn't satisfying and only resulted in "why?".

Rodeos aren't all that exciting for little girls but we made it through to the end with the help of ice cream and a break in the middle to go ride the merry-go-round, the boats and the cars. At about 9:45 p.m. we deposited them safely at home, dirty, sticky, tired, and as Leslie pointed out to me "you all stink like cow poop."◦

Cow Poop