Friday July 3, 2020 Bike ride - Rodeo and Fireworks!!!

This morning Scotty and I got up early and rode our bikes up to Mt. Rushmore.  President Trump was here for the 3rd of July celebration so we could only get to the 2 mile point of Mt. Rushmore.  The ride was about 44 miles and it was scenic and sensational.  The Black Forest is awe-inspiring. Scotty and I have decided that when our kids are all grown up we want to travel and bike everywhere together.  :)))                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                    President Trump was here at Mt Rushmore for a huge celebration and fireworks. I seriously tried so hard to get tickets.  How cool would that have been to be there???  There was no way for us to get tickets so I did the next best thing. . . . I took my family to a rodeo!!!  Graham said, "What is a rodeo". hahahha.  I hope that when we get back to Simi my kids will be more well rounded:)))  The rodeo was in a city called Belle Fourche.  Our truck needed to get it's rodors flipped so I made an appointment for that while we were there at the rodeo.  The ford dealership was the best.  They know what they are doing when it comes to big trucks:))  They were so nice and they worked super fast.  It was a great experience.  While they worked on the truck we went to a park and then to the city fair.                                                                                                                     We stopped to eat before taking our truck in.  Scotty decided that he didn't like his drink so he threw it all over the floor:)))  hahah. Just kidding, he dropped his drink and mine making a huge mess.  It was so funny. He was totally embarrassed.                                                                                      

               

Asher and Taj were playing and Taj won.  

The rodeo started at 7 PM so we made our way over there. First thing they did was bring out the flag and sing the National Anthem.  Then the speaker said something like this, "Now I know that if you watch the news and TV that they are all saying that the flag doesn't stand for what it used to.  I'm here to say that it still does and I believe in the flag". Something like that. Scotty and I were so touched.  I love how patriotic they are here and how much they love the USA.  My cute family didn't really fit in at the rodeo with our vans and t-shirts. We needed cowboy hats and belt buckles. Even so,  everyone was nice to us and the people sitting around us were super patient with my squirmy 5 year old.                                                                                     The  athletes  in the rodeo were all competing to make it to nationals.  They rode bucking broncos and bulls.  They roped cows and tied them up.  My favorite event was the steer wrestling.  I told Asher that he needs to do that.  He would be so good at jumping off of a horse and wrestling down a cow. hahahhah.   We don't follow the rodeo scene so we didn't know any of the cowboys and really it took us a minute to even figure out what they were supposed to do in their events. We still had fun and now my kids know what a rodeo is. At the end of the rodeo they lit off fireworks and played patriotic music.  The city did a fantastic job.  It was a wonderful experience for us.  As we all walked away we joked about the cowboy culture. We loved it.