Two Brothers Like No Other: Circus Circus, Reno and Mini Horses

A couple of weekends ago, we met up with Doyle's dad and his wife in Reno. They were there for the mini horse show and it was a great opportunity to visit with them and get a little vacation in before DJ started school.

The last time we had seen grandpa was when Cody had his heart surgery 2 years ago so we were overdue for a visit with them.

This was the kids' first time in Reno, so where else would we stay, but Circus Circus!

There were 2 beds in the room and once we told Dj that the one bed was just for him, he went straight to it and did what DJ's do best - jump!

After about a half hour of jumping on the bed, we headed out to meet with Grandpa and Grandma at the mini horse show.

Here are the boys with their dad and grandpa.

Aren't mini horses cute? Don't you just want one???

That night, we headed back to the hotel for dinner and to go to the Midway to watch shows and play games. LOTS of games.

Here was the one act we caught that night - the traspeze, as DJ would say.

That night, DJ got his first tattoo!

Isn't that one mean looking, smiling kitty cat???

After the first night, DJ got in bed with all his winnings. He won 8 that night, but ended up with about 20 of them by the end of the weekend. They all have names, too. Except for the fish, because as he said "mom, fish don't talk so he couldn't tell me his name!" As always, he was creative with their names. Pictured with him here are (in no particular order) - Cherry, Hairy, Beary, Ribbit Ribbit (guess who that one is), OO OO AA AA (that's the monkey), Stripes, and I think the lion's name is Orange.

The next day, the most important show for DJ (and the rest of us were excited for it, too) was the dog show. It was so much fun to watch. I fell in love with the white great dane.

The first night, we weren't able to win DJ the giraffe that he REALLY wanted. My bean bag got absolutely nowhere near the milk bottles. Doyle came THIS close to winning one that night, but it didn't quite happen. You needed to knock the bottles down three times in a row to upgrade to the giraffe.

The 2nd day, though, that was the first place DJ wanted his dad to go and sure enough, he won it. Here is DJ with his overpriced giraffe! :)

Cody wasn't sure what to think of the place. He enjoyed the lights everywhere, but it was a bit overwhelming.

We found some little rides for him and we spent some time there with him so he could enjoy some time outside of the stroller.

Here he is with Mickey. Do you see how he is leaning forward? He had just looked behind him, saw Mickey and tried to jump out of the car! HAHA

On the last day, we went back to the mini horse show to watch the Costume contest that Morgan (their cousin from Grandma Margaret's side) was in before heading home.

Here is one of the other entrants.

Here is the group that Morgan was a part of. They had a Bedrock theme. Cute, huh? They won 2nd place, but they should have won first place!

I like how the horse doesn't mind at all that he is dressed as a dinosaur!

I just had to take a picture of this little one. It is a baby mini horse and is about the same size as our Boxer dog.

DJ now wants a horse so that he can name it Ping Pong Buttercup.