Nascar Baby !!!

Since I became a stay at home Mom, vacations have been cut down to a camping trip once a year...this year, we didn't even get to do that, so when Billy got the chance to take us to an all-expense paid Nascar race...we were in!!!  We have loved Nascar for years, and been to a couple races, but never with the kids.  Blake has watched the races every Sunday since he was ity bity, and has quite an extensive collection of his own race cars.  We knew he would be thrilled, but Taylor is a bit young...if we had family close, we might have left her behind... but I'm sooo glad we didn't!

We got hospitality passes along with our tickets, so we got to park in the preferred lot, right next to the gate entrance, ushered to a reserved chalet where we were showered with souvenirs, all the food/drinks for the day, and even got to visit and hang out with Jamie McMurray!  Bass Pro sponsors his #1 car, so he really treated us well.  Blake got his pic taken with him and we got some goodies signed. 

We got to go check out the "behind-the-scenes" stuff.  We went back to the garages, where all the cars were being inspected, gassed up, and ready to race!  We got to walk down pit road and check out the pit crews.  We even got to hang out on the field for a pre race concert.  It was all awesome, but Blake's favorite part was getting to sign the track and the wall!! 

Blake is four tires tall!



I love the shot of a soldier walking
down pit road under the army-
sponsored pit sign!



They both got to sign the white line!

Billy wrote this....awwww, how sweet!

Blake and Tay's signature...and his checkered flag

they are tiny on the track!

signing the wall

Taylor was pretty whiny, so we started to worry that she might not make it through the entire race.  It is sitting for about 4 hours...yikes!!  Right before the start, we headed for our seats, a man in front of us noticed Taylor and asked if we wanted to borrow his ear-silencer muffs (his little girl wasn't there)...I told him thank you, but I already brought headphones for them.  I knew that they weren't the same as earplugs/muffs, but thought that they were better than nothing and they might keep them on, at least... The ones he was offering were huge...bigger than her head, she was already shaking her head "no" to them, as he was asking. The engines started, and as soon as the warm up lap began, Taylor started to literally shake from the loudness, she happily agreed to wear the big ones!  We put them over her little ears and never heard a peep out of her the entire four hours!!!  She watched the race so intently, we were wowed!   I really want to buy a pair to have at home!  lol!  Both kids were awesome, the race was great, Blake's favorite driver won (go Jimmy!!), we are so blessed to have had this opportunity to take the family on this wonderful trip! 

Leaving the track, Taylor says, "Wow, that car thing was soooo fun"  that coming from our 3 year old (who we thought wouldn't appreciate it), makes the entire trip worth it all!!!