This is how we do it.....here in North Dakota anyway

We're back from our little mini-vacation to the lake. Here in North Dakota, if you want to get away for the weekend you either hit a rodeo or you hit the lake. We of course do both. One weekend we do a little rodeoing and the next we go fishing at the lake. The weekend before last was spent at the Blaisdell rodeo, Blaisdell being population 25 in a good census year. Its biggest attraction is a rodeo arena that people flock to a mere two days out of the year.

Kaydn Rye did the Kid's Showdeo, which for those of you non-rodeoing types consists of events in two age groups - 7 and under and 8 and over. Here's Kaydn Rye in the stick pony race. (He's the one in the green John Deere sweatshirt.)



Here's Kaydn Rye in the pull-the-ribbon-off-the-goat-race.



And here's Kaydn Rye in the calf scramble, where the children all race to be the first to corner and tackle a calf and be the first to grab the ribbon of it's tail without getting smacked in the face with a hoof. (Kaydn Rye is the little one in the green sweatshirt trying to keep up with all the big kids.)



Rodeo is definitely a unique lifestyle and one that has been bred into my family for generations, and of course, Kaydn Rye proudly carries on the tradition.

My brother, the little rancher that he is, of course took the title of All Around Cowboy during the showdeo. Here's him comin home after a winning time around the barrels.



Here's a picture of my dad in the Ranch rodeo, which is a separate rodeo that consists of team events that relate to actual ranching, like roping certain numbered cattle in a herd and herding some of them into a separate pen, just like you'd do when you're separating cattle in the corrals. And of course, in the background is North Dakot's claim to fame, the blue horizon that goes on forever.



And of course, here's a pic of Kaydn Rye, my brother Jedd and me.