When I was in first through third grade, we lived in Texas. Although my health improved after we moved to Maryland in 1981, there were certain things I really loved about living in Texas. My dad pastored a church that involved a decent drive from our home, so we used to spend the afternoons with a family in the church in between the morning and evening church services. Sunday afternoons were the best because they typically involved swimming, horseback riding, being taught rope tricks, etc. I also loved the Christian camp where I spent a week each summer. At that camp I was taught how to participate in a few different rodeo events, and we would put on a "rodeo" on the last day for the parents. My kids have taken horseback riding lessons, but up until this week, they had never attended a rodeo. I have a list of activities I want the kids to experience before they graduate from high school. We've accomplished some of them but not all of them. For decades I've heard people talk about the Pennsylvania Farm Show which has been held in Harrisburg every January for over 100 years. President Eisenhower won some competitions at the Farm Show! It lasts for a week, and about 500,000 people attend the event. The last three days of the event they also hold a rodeo. On Thursday after we picked Nadia and Ian up from art/chorus at the Christian school, we drove to the farm show. The rodeo started at 7:00pm. We didn't stay until the end because the kids were getting tired, and we live a little over an hour from Harrisburg. Oliver already asked me if we can go again next year. I don't think we'll go every year, but I also don't think it was our last time to attend the farm show or a rodeo. The contestants in the rodeo were primarily from the northeast part of the country, but some were from Florida, Texas, etc. The shocking thing was that three of the contestants were from Watsontown (the small town we live in), and three were from Milton (the small town where our church is located). One of the men from Watsontown was the champion of his event!
I would have chosen to buy tickets for the rodeo today because it took place earlier in the day, but the kids had a Bible quizzing competition this afternoon. Last night the kids quizzed from 7-10:30 pm. Teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana traveled to compete at our church. I stayed at the church from 8:00-3:00 today to assist as a timer during the quizzing. Nine kids from our church were split into three different teams, and all three of our teams took places #1-3 of the eight teams. Ian was on the winning team, and Nadia was on the team that got second place. The girls' team (Nadia, Faith, and Jill) only lost to the boys' team (Ian, Xandir, and Ben). The funny thing was that they each had a sibling on the other team. Ian didn't do as well on the individuals as he did in Ohio in November, but he did come in 5th place. Xandir and Lucy are Oliver's age, and they are both quizzing for the first time this year. They are doing a great job. I hope Oliver can follow in their footsteps when he joins the team next September! This year they are studying Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Next year they're studying Luke.
Nadia and Ian had a busy day. In addition to the quizzing competition, Ian practiced his piano solo on the piano he will be playing on at his recital in a few weeks, and they both had auditions for the musical at the Christian school. Nadia sang "Feed the Birds," and Ian sang "Hakuna Matata." They both were given parts! Nadia will be Mrs. Mayor (JoJo's mom). Ian has five parts - Vlad Valdikoff (black bottomed eagle), Max (the Grinch's dog), citizen of the jungle, hunter, and in the circus. I hope they have an enjoyable experience over the next three months. They will have three performances April 11-13.
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