For the 4th, we decided to not do much, but celebrate on the 5th. We went to the Oakley rodeo. No, this was NOT my idea of fun. I do not like rodeos. The only event I can somewhat enjoy watching is the barrel racing, and even that is kind of boring. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. We went to this event with my in-laws and both kids. I voted to leave the kids at home (at least Caden) but was out voted. Needless to say, I was not especially anticipating a long night with tired kids at the rodeo. We all rode together in our car (one of the mini-van advantages) and my father-in-law starts talking political (he NEVER does this). He starts off by saying they went to this banking conference and some guy says that if Obama gets elected our country will just die financially, we will go bankrupt, depression. Basically the gates of hell will be opened up upon us. I get the feeling my in-laws agree with this man. Am I really shocked? Then he tells us about a demographer who was at the same conference. This demographer told them that race will no longer be an issue in about 50 years due to all the "inter-breeding." I have heard similar things in my college days, about how the world is changing. This doesn't bother me, but I got the feeling that my father-in-law was bothered. I participated in the conversation by saying that I had heard a statistic that Europe was already changing, that Muslims already make up about 40% of France (I cannot for the life of me remember where I heard that, and if I am incorrect, I apologize). His response was, "How horrible! You know, it's our freedoms that let that happen. When are people going to wake up and realize . . ." At that point, I am not sure if he just faded off, or if the ringing in my ears tuned him out. I can feel my shoulders tensing just remembering it. I was honestly surprised that I didn't literally bite my tongue off. I was quite proud that I didn't say anything back, I just sat there quietly. Maybe some of you don't see what the problem is with this statement. I guess what bothered me so much is that he seems to think that all Muslims are the enemy. Why does the fact that there are so many in France threaten him? And threaten so many people here? So that was all the excitement on the drive up there.
So we get to the rodeo, and like I mentioned before, I am not looking forward to this. They start with the calf roping, which I HATE. I didn't watch most of it, and just kept my eyes on the kids. (The kids were VERY well behaved, considering we were up WAY past their bedtimes.) Then comes the rodeo clowns. They were not funny. The main one was making all kinds of jokes. As one of the bulls was trotting around the ring he said, "You know, this bull kind of reminds me of Obama." The announcer responds, "In what way?" Rodeo clown answers, "Well, he's got a point on one side, a point on the other, and a whole lotta bull in the middle." The crowd goes wild. Rocky and I just sat there and looked at each other. If any of you are familiar with the movie "Borat," you may recall a similar scene at the rodeo. . . that is what it made me think of.
All in all, not my favorite outing. Even Rocky said is his parents want to do this again next year, we will say no. Thank goodness!
(I have some pics of the fireworks and the kids which I will post as soon as I get the camera back from Rocky.)
1 comment:
funny. and amazing that you held your tongue. Your posts are so funny. I love to read them. and what is there not to love about rodeos????
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