A Full & Busy Week In Munchkinland...

...has already come and gone. It's been a hoot for the most part too, but I do know now why parents raise the kids and grandparents are second stringers. I just don't have the amount of energy these days needed to keep up with 20 million questions and the 30 minor crisis that pop up in the course of a normal day. All in all though it's been a fun week and looking forward to more of the same this coming week.
Taking off from where I left off early Saturday morning.....I woke up to cool but very blue skies. So I grabbed the camera gear and headed out the door. Fired up the hot rod and headed off for the Ball Park. It was early, a bit after 7:15am so I just took my time and cruised about 60mph all the way into G.R. enjoying the scenery and the brilliant early morning blue and greens of May. Once I got to the park and paid my entry fee I parked the car and popped the hood, got the display board up and then spent awhile shining and polishing stuff that needed attention while a steady stream of cars started to pour into the lot. After I'd gotten all the cleaning that I felt like doing I grabbed the camera gear and for the next couple hours just wandered around, checking out the old stuff I'd seen before and the new stuff that appearred over the winter.

I took a break around noon to grab a hamburg and then kicked back in the chair for an hour and watched the crowds go by while I listened to some Boomers on the Ipod. Before I knew it almost it was awards time so I went up to see who got the recognition this time around. Once the awards were all handed out it was time to head for home to pick up the daughter and head for the racetrack.

By the we got to the track it was right around 5:00pm and after not being there much in the last couple years, things were different. The late models had the weekend off and in there place, over 40 entrys of front wheel drive, 4
Cylinder American and Jap compacts. Bone stock and ready to rock and roll. I talked to several guys about them and what it took to get in the division and for less than 1500 bucks I could be living out one more little dream. It's cheap racing to keep things interesting at the track cuz there's fewer and fewer folks these days that can afford to run a late model. I don't see it happening in the next 12 months but ya never know what I'll pull outa my hat.

Anyhow, we spent the evening wandering around from spot to spot, taking pics and talking to folks we hadn't seen in awhile and some we just met. There was some good racing during the evening and the 4 bangers were a hoot out on the track, going 3 and 4 wide like they were at Talladega. The night finished up with a school bus race. Certainly the other end of the spectrum from the little cars and not as interesting either.....only 4 of 'em and they were still all on the wheels at the end. What fun is that??

By the time the show was over it was almost midnight and gettin' pretty chilly so we headed for the truck and some warmth. I didn't get more than 5 miles down the road before Jennette was crashed out in the passenger seat. Just like years ago.

Sunday I slept in a bit. Got up, made breakfast and then sat around most of the morning playing with Ethan who seems to like me for some reason. We sat on the couch and made noises at each other and played with his different toys. At some point everyone kinda crashed out for awhile and when I woke up it was close to 3. Those busy days really poop me out the day after I guess. Wanda and Jen took off for Bingo about 3 and Ri got to the house to save me about 4:30. I went downstairs to check email and pull my pics from the weekend off the discs and onto the computer and because I was still half out of it I did a stupid thing and wiped out one whole disc of Car pics from the Show. I hit the damn format tab instead of finalize and boom, they're gone. Pretty helpless feeling cuz once those little 1's and 2's are gone there ain't no bringin' 'em back. I blaming it on Sony though as a design flaw. They shouldn't have put the two features so close together and then gave them both words that started with an F. Easy to mess up and it's not the first time I've done it either so there may be operator training issues going on too.......

So after that I decided to go get some cheap pizza for supper and after choking down a slice or two of that me and Ri packed up the kids, along with Bailey and Chris and took 'em down to sluka field to play on the equipment for awhile. By the time we got back home from there it was after 8 already. Me and Bailey decided to take a cruise around town once before calling it a weekend, stopped at Dairy Treat to share a bit of ice cream and then headed for home.

That's about all I've got to report for the moment. We got another whole week ahead of us so there's plenty of time to cover some more ground. I also need to get the old mower fixed and my chain saw blade sharpened before Friday so when I head up to camp Friday I can get things looking good before everybody else gets there Saturday. Also, the bikes going in for a checkup and an oil change Wednesday so it's ready for the trip at the end of June. I am thinking about moving the trip back a week or two but haven't acted on the thought yet. Kansas is coming to play a concert on the day I would originally be leaving and I'd kinda like to see 'em again, for old times sake if nothing else. If I could sell the van or at least have the clown prince send me my economic incentive cash soon I'd be in fine shape to get all this stuff taken care of in time.

'bout time for bed and another week of grandparenting........I'll be putting up pics tomorrow night and during the week.

TC