Central Indiana Winter Spectacular

 We kicked off show season with this set of calves in mid-January at the Central Indiana Winter Spectacular, a first time show down in Cloverdale, Indiana. I'm not sure what was more fun - being with our kids and friends at a cattle show, or listening to our kids meddle over the thought of staying in a Motel 6. 

(Backstory on this one -- when I worked at Purdue/in the Conference division, I held a few conference at The Hyatt in downtown Indianapolis. When I had events there, I'd earn points. We then would use those points for free night stays....I think I had maybe 15 or so over the years. So, the only hotel my kids know, is a Hyatt, because unbeknownst to them, it was FREE.....which is the ONLY reason we stayed in such a nice place with young kids. So, imagine their dismay when the Motel 6 in Cloverdale didn't have an Eagles Nest rotating up top, or an indoor pool and hot tub/workout area. We have officially raised hotel snobs.....because when we finally took them to the kind of hotel we can actually afford, their noses were held quite high in the air!) 

So, we left after school on Friday and headed down, got checked in, set up our stalls, and fed calves. By 9:30 or so, we finally head for the hotel.

 After check in, and getting the room literally RIGHT next to the front desk/entrance area, the kids kept saying loudly, "This isn't that bad. This is actually kinda nice!"........and we all marveled at how nice the place was. The guy at the front desk was an 8/10 on the creeper scale, and only elevated his status to 9, when we asked for a rollaway bed and additional pillows and he said, "Hold on, I'll have to go out back to the shed for those"..............................insert all the creepy music here. However, when he came back with a vacuum packed pillow, fresh out of the new stock box, we all kind of rejoiced -- at least their wouldn't be bed bugs on THAT pillow! HA We crashed and were up early the next morning to head to the show and wash calves. 

Saturday morning we were the only ones to sign our kids up for showmanship. I'm a firm believer that if we're going to go to these shows, you're going to hit the ring as many times as possible, to get our moneys worth! Well, unpopular opinion, but they obliged and got their calves washed up and blown out and ready for showmanship. 

The rest of the day was kind of a blur between shopping the boutiques, buying things from Sullivan's trailer, fitting, and 10 kids showing (Stockment, Wiese, Maxwell & Bell). What I loved most in the flurry of the day, was watching the kids jump in and help each other, guide each other, and cheer each other on. Colton loves to dive in and help fit, on his own animal or anyone else that needs help. Emmalyn even helped Alex do Tina's tail! Each of the kids calves behaved well in class, and looked really nice. For this show, we were able to sign Keaton and Jase up to show steers for the first time - and naturally, they were some of the LAST to show for the day. It always happens that way. And to be honest, by that point in the day, fitting and breaking down their steers just wasn't in our reality! HA Thankfully, they are still young and were happy to take their janky lookin "fit" by 7 year old calves into the ring against some of the nicest crossbreds of the day!! HA Regardless, they did fantastic. The bigs gave advice to the littles, they showed with confidence and their calves, Marco & Polo, behaved so well for them. After a quick trip through the McDonald's drive through for dinner/coffee for Dad for the drive home, we were off. We got home around midnight, took the calves to the barn and CRASHED. 

All in all, it was a pretty great day at the livestock show. And, you kids humored me and let me relive my Freshman year of High School State FFA Convention by playing this gem on the way down to really psych their spirits!! https://sonichits.com/video/Jared_Tyler/Livestock_Show