We took Charles and William to the rodeo in Atlantic City Saturday night. Our tradition is to go to the Rainforest Cafe beforehand for dinner. Charles was infatuated with the fish and the animatronic animals got smiles as we made our way to the table. However, as soon as we reached the table, Charles started screaming in panic and tried to climb me (even though he was already in my arms). Cha Cha, the resturant's mascot frog, was walking around getting pictures with families. Charles is terrified of the giant characters like that. I had to kind of hide him behind a tree until Cha Cha finally made his way out of our area.
After we sat down in the gorilla section of the rainforest, the gorillas came to life and started their noises and beat their chests. William loved it--so excited! Charles had a smile on his face, too, until the little girl at the table next to ours started crying in fear. Then Charles started started to wonder if there was something to be worried about and began to whine, too. William kept asking about a thunderstorm, and finally one arrived. The lights flashed like lightening, the restaurant got dark as if the clouds were rolling in, and the animals throughout the restaurant came alive. Gorillas, elephants, birds, and whatever else lives in the rainforest began to make all kinds of racket--and so did Charles. While William was laughing with glee, Charles was crying in fear. Thank goodness thunderstorms only happen about every half hour, but as the service is rather slow at the Rainforest Cafe, we got to sit through three of them. William was counting on that! It's "cool!"
When we got to the rodeo, William seemed a bit tired because he had not napped during the afternoon when we told him to. The rodeo started at 7:30, their normal bedtime. Charles, though, was in awe! He watched the cowboys on the bucking broncos with great interest, but he really enjoyed watching the calf roping. At first he wasn't so sure about it. That's when I told him we could cheer for the calves that escaped, "Go Cow!" But once he watched for a bit, he started cheering and clapping for the cowboys. They played music while the cowboys tried to get the calves, and Charles just danced and wiggled to the music. He had a blast! (Unfortunately, the woman who ended up sitting in front of Charles was not a kid person, which stressed Mommy and Daddy out. Charles was oblivious to her mood and even tried to share his cowboy hat with her. Mommy's quick reaction saved stopped this generosity several times. Charles had a great time, and that's all that matters.)
William eventually got past his fatigued stage to his second wind wild stage, so I took the boys for a walk. We looked at a couple of the booths, and then we saw a crowd of young men playing some sort of ball throwing game at a booth. After they walked off, we walked over, and the ladies offered William a chance to shoot a small basketball into a net taped to the wall. He also got to throw mini footballs onto a velcro football field also taped to the wall. William did a great job and won candy! Woo-hoo! His Skittles were the highlight of his evening. Charles of course wanted to try. The woman let him throw the footballs, but he really wanted the basketball. He did a respectable job of shooting toward the basket. He won a Twizzlers mini.
We left early, but it was a successful evening. Both boys had a blast!
