Steve Wins Twice at NHMS

This last race weekend was an interesting one. The weather on Sat. was horrible - cold and pouring rain all day. Only 7 cars had registered for Steve's group, which is low (usually there's 10-15.) On Sat, only 4 had shown up, and for qualifying in the morning, just 3 went out on the track - Steve, our good friend Kevin, and Carl. 4 laps into qualifying, Kevin was following Steve through turn 2, hit water running down the track, spun and hit the concrete wall. He was going 95mph when this happened. His car was extremely mangled, and he was taken off in an ambulance. Thankfully, he was ok - just a bad headache. (His helmet hit his camera mount on the rollbar and dented his helmet.) The workers cleaned everything up, then sent Steve and Carl back out. Not 2 laps later, Carl is following Steve through the same turn, hits water and goes into the concrete wall himself! Again, mangled car and Carl taken off in an ambulance - he was ok.

So for Saturday afternoon's race, that left Steve as the only car. In all our years of racing, we have never seen a 1 car race in SCCA! Steve went out, did his pacelap, then got the green all by himself. After 10 laps, they called the race, gave him the checkered flag and wrapped it up. Steve wins! Not a very exciting win - but hey, he was the only one that kept his car on the track in one piece during qualifying... sometimes, that's all that matters!

Here's Steve doing his one-car pacelap to start the race. =)

Steve wins! They even sent him out to do a victory lap - after he just drove 10 laps by himself! HA!

On Sunday, Don - the 4th car, entered the race with Steve. So there were actually 2 cars in the race. Whoo hoo! Too bad it still wasn't much of a competition. After about 4 laps, Steve was way ahead and Don couldn't catch him. So again - Steve won!

What's ironic, is that Kevin had the regional championship sewn up until this all happened. Now that Steve adds 2 wins to his points total, Steve takes the lead. It all comes down to the last race in 2 weekends. Depending on how Steve and Kevin each finish, will determine who takes home the championship. Same thing happened last year, and Kevin inched out Steve. Will Steve be able to inch out Kevin this year?

Here's Steve's victory lap on Sunday.

The winner!

Zach "driving" the winning car back to our paddock after the race on Sunday.

Zach and Emily's 3rd Birthday Party

Yesterday we threw a pool party to celebrate Zach and Emily's 3rd birthday. We had 15 kids between the ages of 2-5, along with parents and a few older siblings (about 35 people total). It was a BLAST! All the kids loved the pool, and I was impressed with all their swimming skills. I was afraid there wouldn't be many actually in the pool - but they all were! And they all swam pretty well too! (And no one drowned.)

The weather was perfect - low 80's, sunny, clear and a slight breeze. After reports of rain coming all week, we were blessed to have had the best weather we could have asked for.

The "lifeguards" on duty.

We also set up the slip-n-slide, a baby pool and the water table. No one used the baby pool, except as a place to wash the grass off their feet. It was filled with grass at the end. The slip-n-slide was hilarious.

Emily LOVES this ring. With it - she swims all over the pool. As you can tell by the pictures, she never took it off.

Friends - Cindy, Carrie and Vin.

Steve slaving over the grill. We had burgers, hot dogs, chips, pretzels and watermelon - all of which got devoured.

The men.

Lots of food for everyone.

Cake time! Mickey Mouse this year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Mmmm.... good cake.

More frosting, please.

Swimmer girl. She was in the pool for almost 5 hours yesterday! Everyone left around 2pm, and we dragged her out at 5pm - at which point she passed out on the couch.

Enjoying the cake and ice cream.

More friends - Eric, Kerri and Julie.

We waited till this morning to open presents (they were exhausted yesterday.) Emily's new sidewalk chalk and one of the princesses she got.

His new racecar toy.

Izzy "helping."

Wow... TRUCKS!

Grandma and Grandpa brought something for Izzy too.

His new gorilla.

Aunt Christina.

Loon Mountain - Last Part

Since the kids enjoyed hiking thru the Polar Caves so much, we also went to the Lost River and hiked and climbed thru the caves there after Steve arrived. Again - tons of fun.

Ahhh... if only they were this lovey all the time!

More climbing.

Mommy and her kiddos.

Daddy in the caves.

Again - Zach loved all the climbing!

This was before entering the "Lemon Squeeze" cave. Only mommy and the kids did this one. At one point, I was on my belly, wiggling through a small opening feet first... and then, oh yeah, having to help 3 kids through! It was a challenge.

At the end. All the climbing and a hot day left us pretty sweaty!

Daddy and his kiddos.