Monday, September 21, 2009

Quick Catch Up!

I know it has been too long since I have blogged. We have been busy with this and that. Nothing too major exciting going down here at our house. Sophia is still keeping us busy with her random questions and sayings. She is loving school. Gracie is growing everyday, and is a sponge for knowledge. Dawson is making middle school work for him. He has gotten a Facebook and spends his time now on Farmville harvesting and milking his cows. Brandon is enjoying his senior year and working quite a bit as the infamous Pizza Boy. We are planning our first college visit for during fall break. Yikes! Jeff is a traveling machine - India, Colorado, next stop California! And me, I just hang out here trying to catch up with everyone else! Hee hee!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Four R's

Our weekend to Atlanta Motor Speedway consistently involved the Four R's. This isn't your normal 3 R's plus one - - - Reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic - - - this is the Four R's of Atlanta - - - Redneck RV Racing and Romance (and you could throw a fifth R in there for Relaxation if you'd like). For weeks, my Facebook status foretold of the excitement in store of the Quad R weekend coming for me in Atlanta.
For the last couple years, each October Jeff and I join our crazed racing friends (Ryan and Melissa) for the Atlanta race. This year as you might recall we added a trip to Talladega and a truck race in Nashville. The Atlanta race switched up this year and moved to Labor Day weekend and to a night race on Sunday! We added in another crazed couple for their first Nascar race experience. And this gave us the perfect combo to make a full weekend for our Redneck RV Racing and Romance.

Redneck . . . these guys are our friends from Row 51. They love NASCAR. They are super great guys and are a blast to watch the race with. We did get to experience some true redneck's with the folks in the RV's around us as they seemed to not own shirts and a can was constantly attached to one hand. We also enjoyed the folks around us at the race that had trouble hiding their 'class' as we like to call it. Last year, we had our Tony Stewart fan in the pits with her complete orange outfit. This year, we had our very own Tony Stewart fan right in front of us. She was oozing with Redneck class with words and sign language some of us hadn't seen before. RV . . . We rented us a 7 sleeper RV for 6 adults. Yes, that kind of goes against a romantic weekend but we will address the romance later. We tried to name the RV. We thought of Quad R or R to the Fourth . . . but you know once you have seen the movie RV nothing ever fits a rented RV like Rolling Turd. Our RV was actually pretty nice and cozy. It was nice to have the air during the hot days, and still be able to hang outside and watch the locals. :-) Jeff and I took the bed above the cab. It actually ended up being the coolest place as the air conditioner blew right in it. Now not to give you the wrong impression, I must tell you we did rough it at night with no air. But man did that RV help us to produce some killer meals! If I could think of a good R word to go with food, I would definatly be using it. Here we are post Quad R weekend . . . Racing . . . we watched us 800 miles of racing over the weekend. That is 3200 left turns! And Kasey Kahne was in all 800 of those miles. Here we are Saturday enjoying the Sprint qualifiying and then the Nationwide race.
After the Nationwide race, the Speedway played the Alabama game on the big screens just for Ashley (and a few of her closest friends). Sunday, after a big breakfast and a relaxing afternoon at the RV, we enjoyed us some night racing in Atlanta. Here each of our drivers were in the Top 10 coming out of turn three on a caution.
And here is what I got to see for the first time in person . . . Kasey Kahne winning the race! Woo hoo! Yes, my screaming and carrying on probably annoyed those around me but hey . . . our driver won the race . . . I believe I am allowed. And then Kasey even thanked me after the race. Okay, so as my amazing oldest son pointed out later, he actually thanked all his fans. But I know he meant me. I know he could hear each scream and cheer I gave him from the stand all weekend. Ask the others in the stands . . . they believe it also. They also tend to believe that you can push your racer along with the slide of your hand from the stands. They also think that their boos and finger gestures are also seen by drivers going 200mph in front of them. It is a hoot!Romance . . . who says a weekend away at the races in an RV with 2 other couples can be romantic? Those of us that left our sweet children behind with older siblings and grandparents, and left our stress-filled jobs behind for three days to enjoy each other . . . that's who! Romance can be found in even the oddest places. Look at these faces . . . I see romance . . .

So there you have it . . . the Four R's in our weekend vacation at Atlanta Motor Speedway! Good times . . . great friends . . . just six normal folks just a tick above cool enjoying a race!

PS Watch out Las Vegas . . . we are thinking of taking a trip to you in Feb. Probably have to leave the RV behind and take us an airplane though. :-)
(to read Mel's version of our trip . . . click here!)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Not what you are expecting . . .

Okay . . . most of you might be expecting my run down of the RV Redneck Racing Romance Relaxation weekend in Atlanta . . . never fear . . . that will come . . . but for now I leave you with . . .
Sophia and her future husband who thinks she will move to California and watch him race motorcycles.
And my very own mini Taylor Swift. She's got the amazing style and the moves!

PS Kasey won this weekend and thanked me after the race!