We took the girls to the stock show this afternoon.

For those of you who might not be familiar with this, I can best describe it, in all of my midwestern ignorance, as a big fair where there are horses and cattle and ropes and cowboy boots with spurs and chaps and ten-gallons and, well, you get the picture…

It was a lot of fun. Pea and I rode a roller coaster. It was, of course, the world’s tiniest roller coaster, but she wanted to ride it, and being the adrenaline junkie that I am, how could I say no? Here is the proof. Not such a hot picture, but that’s us, there in the 2nd car.

We ate french fries and fed the llamas and the chickens and watched the cutting horses compete and she picked out a pink cowboy hat,

which she wore while riding the pink pony. And then, as we drove home, she conked out in her car seat from the sheer excitement of the afternoon.

And all the while, I kept hearing the song “Don’t Fence Me In” playing in my head. It suited the day to a tee. Pea was fiercely independent, full of energy and excitement and curiosity. There was nothing at the fair that she was afraid of. She rode all of the rides. She fed all of the animals. She rode the horse. When we entered the arena where the cutting horses were, she quickly announced, “I ride hee-haw too, mama?” And all of the cowboys, the real Texas cowboys, had a good laugh over that one. The spunky little girl who wanted to ride the horses that were at least 16 hands. And she probably could have done it, too. There’s not much this kid can’t do. I’m so proud to be here mama that I want to scream it from the rooftops.

My! Kid! Rocks!