Everyone woke excited about the rodeo tonight, but first we had a few museums to visit. First up was the Sixth Floor Museum which details the assassination of John F Kennedy. This is something I had really wanted to do and found it really interesting. The kids weren’t that excited about it to start with but the older two got more interested when they started learning about it. Greer, not so much! The Museum is on the Sixth Floor of the Book Depository Building where it is alleged Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated JFK from. It was interesting to see the building and distance between where the shot was allegedly made and where the motorcade was when he was shot and also the better opportunities he would have had to shoot him – you have to wonder if he did it why didn’t he shoot earlier when the distance was far less and therefore surely much easier. I guess we will never know the truth.
Once finished in the museum we went down to Elm Street to see the spot (still marked on the road to this day) he was killed, the view up to the 6th floor and the grassy knoll.
Much to the kids disgust we then walked no more than 10 minutes (they thought we should drive) to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. We decided we wanted to see the Oceans: Our Blue Planet 3D film which was on about 40 minutes later. We also wanted to see the Pixar exhibition, “The Science behind Pixar” and the woman on the desk suggested we see that straight away. When we got there and spent a little time in there, we could tell the 40 minutes was not nearly enough time. Mark spoke very nicely to the lady at the desk and she said we could come back. It was a very interactive exhibition which the kids, especially Greer, loved. It showcased the STEM concepts used by artists and computer scientists to bring Pixar movies to life. They could make 3D models, design virtual sets, use rigs for expression, make stop motion animation, lighting design etc etc.
We left the Pixar exhibit to go the movie, which was a BBC documentary… Sophia and I both fell asleep but everyone else enjoyed it. We then grabbed a bite to eat from the cafe before heading back to the Pixar exhibit.
We went to the sports exhibit where you could race famous people – TJ tried his luck against Patrick Mahomes (an NFL player), check your reaction times, record yourself doing different activities and get an ECG.
We moved around the rest of the exhibits, dinosaurs, earthquakes, gems, humans etc. There were a lot of interactive exhibits throughout the museum which kept the kids engaged. We almost had to drag them away.
We walked back to the car and went home for about an hour to do a bit of packing before heading back out to Fort Worth for the Cowtown Christmas Championship Rodeo. It was the first day of qualifications and they had 8 entries in each event We had great seats so settled in to be entertained – we even made it to the big screen. As is always the case at American sports events it started with the National Anthem and they also had a prayer (not so usual).
Before each event they gave a “101” and described what they needed to do and how they judged it which was incredibly helpful. The first event was bareback riding and the riders needed to stay on for at least 8 seconds in order to qualify. In all events the top 2 went through to the final on Saturday. They also did roping, saddle bronc riding, wrestling, barrel racing and bull riding. There was also a trick roper and trick riding display. It was a great nights entertainment which everyone enjoyed.
