It Was a FUN but BUSY Weekend

It all started on Friday evening.

Each year at the end of the season the local race tracks have banquets to honor the drivers and fans that support their tracks.

Friday was one of those banquets and it was an extra special night for our family, especially for G2.

If you've read my blog for awhile you know that G1 and G2 started racing full body cars in 2008 and toward the end of that season they were trying their hands at turf cars aka Mini Sprints.

Side note: These races aren't geared for any particular age group. The boys compete against men sometimes 3 times their ages and who have years of racing experience.

This year G1 decided to focus totally on turf cars and did quite well while G2 continued to race his Pure Stock along with racing in the turf class.

Between the 3 local tracks where they raced, G2 amassed an amazing 27 wins between the 2 classes. That was more wins than any of the other drivers and he was recognized for that accomplishment.

But that wasn't even the big news of the evening. G2 was named DRIVER OF THE YEAR of the 3 local tracks for the 2009 season!

He was selected out of ALL the drivers that raced at the three tracks - not just those who raced Pure Stocks or Turf Cars - ALL the drivers! Quite an accomplishment for a 14 year old young man.

We are all very proud of him, not just because he received this special honor, but because he is truly an all-around nice kid.

Congrats G2!

Tomorrow - Saturday evening's Progressive Dinner.

Celebrating Another Birthday

Fifteen years ago today AD and I welcomed our second grandson into the family.



G1 had weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds. The clothes that Daughter had for him before he arrived were either too small or they didn't fit for long.

We just knew this guy would weigh at least 10 pounds, maybe more. So everyone planned accordingly when shopping for the new arrival. However, when G2 arrived he weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces. His clothes fit him for quite awhile! (We did buy some smaller things for him until he could grow into the ones we already had.)

And now overnight - he's 15!




Friday night his folks hosted a birthday party for him. Of course I made the cake.

If you've been reading my blog since August you know that the cake I made for G1 for his birthday looked - at least similar - to his turf car.

Over the past few months I kept asking G2 what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. His answer was always, "Chocolate cake with chocolate icing." He never wavered.

I said, "But I made your brother a cake that looked like his turf car." And G2's reply was, "I want a chocolate cake with chocolate icing."

I took the issue up with Daughter. She told me not to worry about it, just make a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

Two days before his birthday I asked one last time. You can tell by the picture what his answer was. I still felt compelled to do something even a little festive - hence the Autumn sprinkles around the edges.


The party was held in their shop - the shop where the boys' race cars are housed. G2's friends seemed to be pretty interested in them. There's G2 showing his Pure Stock to one of his friends while G1 talks to another friend.


See G2 checking out his cake. Can you tell what he's doing?




He was picking the chocolate border off of the cake and taste-testing it!



He taste-tested quite a bit!

Besides the cake there was lots of other good food - ribs, pork tenderloin, brisket, potato salad, deviled eggs, baked beans, chips, tortilla pinwheels, crackers, cheese, canadian bacon. Everything was delicious.




In addition to housing the boys' race cars, the shop is also home to trophies, trophies and more trophies. Some belong to the boys' dad, some to G1 and the ones in this picture are just a few of G2's many trophies.

It was a fun evening celebrating G2's birthday.

In a couple of weeks we'll be celebrating another special event in G2's life.

This year, at the young age of 14, G2 was chosen Driver of the Year out of all of the drivers from the 3 area race tracks! Quite an accomplishment for someone his age considering he races with/against men twice and even three times older than he is - a few even older than that.

His Papa and I are very proud of G2 for the young man he is and wish him the happiest of birthdays!