Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Giddy-Up!


This year will mark my 8th in Tucson. Hard to believe, really! And there is always something going on in this city of one million.


Having been introduced to Tucson's south side since my very first day in town, I became familiar with the local happenings right away.


One such event is the Tucson Rodeo, which happens every spring. We are still in the wild west out here...and Rodeo is a big deal. Kids even get a couple days off school during rodeo days, one of which is the parade.


Amazingly enough, in my eight years as a Tucsonan, I had never experienced the Rodeo Parade. It is always on a Thursday morning. Being a hard-working, dedicated employee...I never took the time off work to attend the parade.


But this year, the stars aligned and things worked out perfectly for me to take the boys to our first ever Rodeo Parade: Working at home allows me to make my own schedule and Jeriann had gone out of town, so I had Knox and Thane both. So, after some careful planning, I rustled up my cowpokes and we headed out to the parade!


The parade starts at 9:00 am but, like I said: It's a big deal. People start setting out chairs and even parking their cars along the parade route as early as the day before! I made plans to meet up with my girlfriends Arely & Marisol at 6:00 am.


We were lucky enough to find parking spots right next to the street. It was a little chilly before the sun came up! I fed the boys a makeshift breakfast in the car and we stayed inside with the heater on until the sun rose over the Rincon Mountains. And then it was a glorious morning for a parade!


I took the opportunity to dress the boys the part: Knox wore his cowboy shirt and took the stuffed horsey that Grandma Maria got for him at the Budweiser Horse Stables when we visited, two years ago. And Little Sheriff Thane had the cutest jean jacket with a badge on the front and "Wanted: For Being Too Cute" on the back. I still say dressing kids is way more fun than playing Barbie ever was!


So my handsome buckaroos and I toughed it out from 6:00 am until the parade finally made it's way to us at 9:15. Horses, horses, and more horses! It is actually the largest completely non-motorized parade in the country.


I had been telling Knox for a few days that we were going to see the horseys.


Little did I know just how many we would see!


He was certainly not disappointed! Although, looking back, two hours is a bit much.


But the boys were both troopers and they hung in, horse after horse, right up until the end.


Knox also enjoyed the bands. He is very into drums: surprise, surprise! I got a great shot, completely by accident. I was trying to get a picture of Marisol's son, in the band, when two of his comedian band-mates decided to ham it up for the camera.


All the participants looked great and they were having as much fun as the crowd.


One of the very last entries in the parade was the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. Knox was re-energized when he saw the Chinese Dragons coming down the street.


They were quite the sight, and just what we needed to push through to the very end.


We definitely enjoyed ourselves and I'm glad that I got a chance to experience some real Old West fun with my little cowboys!

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