Everything Really IS Bigger and Better in Texas!

On the way to Ohio, we visited the Jones family just north of Dallas, TX. The Joneses were in Brazil at the same time as Brant's family and they are some of our very dearest friends. We got to spend the 4th of July in Texas (most likely the most patriotic state in the nation), went to a real Texas rodeo, rode horses, went waterskiing (more accurately, Marcie went waterskiing--and got up for her first time!!), ate lots of ice cream and just had a fantastic time. Spencer LOVED it and couldn't stop talking about the cows and the horses the entire time. It was a great trip and Texas lived up to all its hype!

Here's us and Amanda at the McKinney 4th of July Parade. It was 30 minutes--too short for Marcie, but perfect for Brant.

Brant helping clean, prep and saddle his first horse ever! Jeremy, of course, never took his eye off of what Brant was doing and gave him tips all along the way, but he did it!

Marcie and Spencer riding Lucas, a beautiful horse who only has two speeds: walk and run! Needless to say, the three of us were not on Lucas unless he was in "walk" mode :)

This is Brant (on Freedom, left) and Jeremy (on Lucas, right) enjoying some time on the horses on a blistering Texas Saturday afternoon.

A cowboy riding a bucking bronco at the rodeo! Spencer loved all of the livestock and was smiling the whole time.

This was perhaps the oddest and funniest (and saddest?) thing we had ever seen. The small creature you see on the back of the border collie below...is a monkey. Yes, a monkey. The monkey sits on the back of the dog and "drives" a few goats into a pen, all while the dog acts like a horse and runs back and forth. We were convinced that the monkey's legs (if not his hands as well) were tied to the dog to keep it from falling off...very sad, yet Jeremy and Brant couldn't stop laughing during the entire act!