The first afternoon they taught them how to get off the barrels properly and then wham, bam, load up the heifer "steers". For those of you who know Rylee (all 56lbs of him), when I saw those heifers, I just about choked. Josh was helping in the arena, so I texted him that I thought I might throw up. He text me back and told me to "Cowgirl Up Mommy", so that's what I did. Rylee's first ride was a bit of a train wreck. The "steer" had been leaning on his leg in the chute and she was a bit of a wild-child, so she dumped him in 2 seconds, however, he did manage to do a front flip and land on his hands and knees to dismount! Steer 2 went a whole lot easier and he did a great job. That night we went out for A&W, then Rylee and Josh swam for a bit before bed. A little Reiki treatment on the boy and off to La-La land.
Jordynn got to spend most of the weekend with Nana and Aunty in Eckville which was really nice for her because just sitting in the arena probably wouldn't have been exciting enough for her. Mom took her to an easter egg hunt in Eckville on Saturday and she won a boogie board, so she was super excited.
Rylee got on 5 steers on Saturday. He did awesome. He made a great little friend, Waycee, who was pretty much a tie for same size. The Johansen's were very careful that Rylee & Waycee rode mild steers so that they didn't lose confidence. Saturday night was much the same as Friday only Mom, Terry and Jordynn came down and we went for dinner at BP's in Olds, then back to the hotel. Early bedtime.
Sunday morning we woke up to chocolate easter eggs hidden all over our hotel rooms and throughout the hotel. We had some breakfast and then off to the arena. Tony & Kim and a friend of ours, Nicole all came to watch Rylee on his final day. His teacher, Marla tried to make it before the finals, but didn't get there in time.
Sunday at the arena started badly. The first kid out ended up getting his spur caught in the rope and they couldn't get him off. They finally had to cut the rope off to get him off. He ended up getting air-lifted to Calgary. Turned out he only had a pulled groin, thank goodness. Amazingly all the kids cowboyed-up and got on. The kids rode one steer in the morning. After lunch we had the buckle round. Rylee was 3rd up in the Junior/Newbie round. He scored a 63 pt ride for technique and dismount! Turns out that was the best ride for that group and he won a giant buckle for it. He and we are SO proud! What a great moment.
Kudos to all the Johansen's - especially Don - what an amazing man! What a great weekend for Rylee and for us!
As for Josh, he didn't fare so well. He was in the arena helping out and got stomped and run over a couple times. Turns out he broke his ankle. Hope he can get some kind of temporary fix before our trip to Hawaii!
