We did a lot of fun things at the fair on Saturday. We milked a (fake) cow. We had a yard of lemonade (two, actually). We stared lovingly at someone's Thomas the Tank Engine collection in the hobby hall. We rode in "drivable" cars on the midway. We checked in with a put-upon mama pig and her piglets. We checked out all the crap for sale, and resisted the impulse to buy (though the dryer-vent-cleaning brush set will probably come home with us this week).
But all of those things have been completely overshadowed by the Mutton Busting. What is Mutton Busting? Well, it's like bull riding. For kids. But instead of bulls, the tots ride sheep. Sounds like fun, right? Well, it did. And as you can probably tell from the pictures that precede this entry, it was an adventure rich in anticipation. The boys weren't the least bit scared at the notion of riding semi-domesticated livestock, God bless 'em. They probably trusted us.
Here was my thought process. I saw and heard a crowd behind the rides. I took a peek. I saw a kid on a dirty, vaguely sheep-shaped streak in the ring. I thought, "How cool!" Our neighbor had talked it up, and hey ... what if our kids had mad rodeo-style skills, just waiting to be unleashed? I know: it's silly. But it probably won't be the last time.
The boys seemed excited at the prospect of sheep riding. Chas was even jumping up and down. They got a little less excited when we put the protective vests and full-face helmets on them. Then, they saw the first contestant go. And fall. The crowd went nuts, and so did Chas, who was supposed to go second. He started crying and screaming, so we pulled him off the sheep. And we tossed Eddie onto it. Eddie didn't cry, or seem upset. He just leaned over, grabbed a couple of handfuls of wool, and ...
Ended up on the ground, screaming, about 10 feet from the fence. It happened so fast. Cheryl captured the moment Ed went flying, and you can see that at her blog:
eddieandchasdiaries.blogspot.com
It's really something. Once I consoled my sobbing but seemingly undamaged boy, I reflected on the madness of what we had done. It seemed like such a relatively harmless if not good idea at the time. Not every kid can say they busted a mutton, after all. I'd like to say a lesson was learned, but I don't know ....
We'll just have to see what happens when trying something stupid and potentially injurious is THEIR idea.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The "put-upon pig" is a dead giveaway that you've read too many Thomas the Tank Engine stories (as have I -- 3 of them tonight alone). I'll never see the words again without thinking of poor put-upon Percy.
We all have our cross to bear. At least the kids aren't making us read Power Rangers stories at bedtime (not yet, anyway).
Post a Comment