getting bigger

baby is growing! and kicking like crazy!

Redneck Vacation

Last weekend, Andy and I went to Dallas/Ft. Worth with our friends Justin and Kelli. We drove down on Thursday night and stayed with Justin's mom and stepdad. We slept in on Friday, went for lunch at Genghis Grill and then headed to Speedzone. Since Kelli and I are both pregnant, we couldnt drive the go karts but we had a great time watching the boys. They drove the slick track several times while they waited for the drag cars to open (they were being repaired). The slick track was apparently pretty tricky to navigate and at each turn nearly 75% of the cars would fishtail/drift/completely spin out around the corner.

andy starting the racejustin making around a corner without spinning out

andy making it around the corner with only a little troublejustin and andy both heading the WRONG way on the track.

they had so much fun. i think they drove this track 4 times...?

the drag racing track FINALLY opened. I am not sure how fast they actually went, but they said they had 350 horsepower.

Friday evening, we met some of the Jesters local friends for dinner at Uncle Julio's--mexican food. Great salsa--ate way too much. Saturday, Andy and Justin got up early and went to Top Golf. It is a driving range where you aim at targets. Each person has golf balls with a chip in them so they keep track of the points you score depending on how close you are to the target. Apparently it was great fun because they stayed for 5 hours. Kelli and I slept in a little later and went to IKEA. I bought some curtains for the new house, cutting board, and dish towels. I just love walking around IKEA. If I had unlimited time and $$ I would have needed to rent a trailer to get all the stuff I wanted home. We may have to make another trip once we move so I can get some more of their great LOOOONNGGG curtains for our tall windows. After IKEA, Kelli and I went to the mall to grab some lunch and then get a pedicure. It had been over a year since I had a pedicure and I forgot how great it felt. Since it is getting more difficult to reach my feet, I think I will need to get at least one or two more pedicures before the baby comes! Then we went back to the house and sat around on the couch for awhile, watched a movie, and then decided we would head out for dinner. We went to Babe's, a great chicken place. They serve all their sides family style and then you order your main dish--chicken strips, fried chicken, chicken fried steak, etc. This was Saturday night and a pretty popular place. We were told the wait would be 55-80 minutes!!! It was a beautiful evening and we didnt really have anything else going on, so we waited about 45 minutes and then they called our name! It was yummy but, yet again, we all ate wayyyyy too much and then got dessert. It was painful walking back to the car.Sunday morning we packed up, loaded the car and headed to Texas motor speedway!! This was the main reason for the trip and the reason I called this our redneck vacation. We went to the NASCAR race. We allowed ourselves plenty of time to get to the track since 250000 people were going to be at the race. It only took us about an hour to get to the track and get parked (much less time than we expected) so we had a lot of time to walk around and take in all the redneck culture. It was pretty chilly and windy that morning!Once we got to our seats we warmed up quickly. We were in the sun, but it was only 60 degrees. I was afraid I was going to fry being as pale as I am, but 2 coats of SPF 60 served me well :) only a slight sunburn where my hair was parted. white trash pregnant nascar fan picture. I considered wearing a wife-beater and holding a koozie with a beer for this photo, but decided against it. ha. i am not sure what face I am making in this pic....maybe I did have a few beers???

the other white trash pregnant nascar fan and her hubby

here is a short video of one of the restarts after a caution. it gives you a little taste of how LOUD and how FAST these cars are. You just can't understand by watching it on TV. It was really a lot of fun. It was amazing to hear all the cars start up and then rev up as they start the race. The middle part of the race was a little boring because there were no wrecks and I really dont follow nascar enough to know about all the drivers. The end of the race was exciting though because it was a pretty close finish and our favorite driver, Jeff Gordon, won! and just FYI, I was curious how the baby would handle the loud cars....but I think he just slept the whole time. I didnt feel him more than a couple times during the whole race. Kelli said she didnt feel her little girl move much either. maybe nascar is a soothing sound for babies....? It took us about another hour to hour and a half to get out of the parking lot and on the road toward oklahoma. We got home and picked up the dogs then headed to bed so we could work the next morning. boo. we had a REALLY great time and didnt want the vacation to end! We are already talking about a repeat trip.