Watermelon Jubilee & Rodeo

As those of you near and dear know, the 3rd weekend in June is a special one in the little town where I come from. Every year, on that weekend, our quiet little town turns into a hub of activity for the annual Watermelon Jubilee. This year was the 65th annual, and boy has it changed since I was a kid. Mostly for the better, but more on that later.

Here are two pictures from Friday night. J picked out an oh-so-cool cowboy hat when we were in New Mexico a couple of weeks ago. And he really did pick it out all by himself - walked right over to a WALL of hats, plucked this one off of a hat holder and announced he found "the hat" - and it FIT! Of course, I had to buy him his first real pair of cowboy boots to go with the hat.

Check out our lil' cowboy.



I can't get over how cute he looked! He kept saying, "I'm a REAL cowboy." In fact, he even got in the rodeo arena. It is a tradition to have a calf scramble mid-way through the rodeo. It is for all kids under the age of 12. (Yes, I did it when I was a kid.) At first, J wasn't so sure, but after seeing all the other kids climbing the fence and running in the dirt, he was game. That's him lined up on the end on the left.

He didn't get close to either calf, but he had fun running around, falling down, and running around some more. One of his cousins did get the ribbon off of the calf's tail and won 2nd place! WOOHOO!

More on the Jubilee tomorrow. Tonight, I need sleep...