Back from vacation!

Travis & I have safely returned from Ohio. We left last Friday evening (8/29 - my mutha's birthday) and headed to the Fairbury race track with the camper. We camped there Friday night, watched the Prairie Dirt Classic Saturday night and then pulled out Sunday morning for Ohio. Billy Moyer, #21 late model driver, had himself quite a money-making weekend! He won $5,000 Friday night at Farmer City, $10,000 Saturday night in Fairbury and another $3,000 at Eldora Speedway in Ohio by winning the Baltes Classic. Can you imagine winning $18,000 in just 3 days by driving really fast in a circle?! Maybe I should let Travis buy himself a race car.....YEAH RIGHT!

We arrived at Eldora Speedway early Sunday afternoon. Travis & I had every intention of taking pictures while we were out there, but for those of you that don't know this yet - we are AWFUL at remembering to take pictures of anything! We decided to find a camping spot at the usual site that we camp at, but apparently we were one of very few people that didn't reserve a spot this year because the closest we could get was 17 rows back which put us about a mile and a half away from the track. Now that is a long, long way for my pregnant self to walk, but we set up camp anyway because we were told that we could drive up to the track and walk from the parking lot. Ok - I can handle that! We relaxed that first afternoon and watched the Baltes Classic that evening or at least I tried to relax - my allergies were awful the entire time we were there. I either carried a handful of Kleenex or the whole box everywhere I went. By the time we headed home yesterday, I was on my 5th box of Kleenex!

On Monday we decided to try to find Walmart to buy our meat and other cold stuff that we needed for the week. That was quite an adventure! I certainly had no clue where we were going and Travis was trying to remember from the one and only time he had been there a handful of years ago. Travis finally asked one of our buddies where it was and wouldn't you know it was probably the only turn in this nearby town that we didn't take. Once we found it, I noticed a Bob Evan's Restaurant right next to it and convinced Travis to take me out to breakfast just this one time while we were out there. Yum-O! (That's my Rachael Ray reference for Travis who just LOVES her - ask him about it!) While we were at Walmart, we decided that Bruiser needed a bigger kennel in the camper (yes, he came on vacation with us). At home he's use to a kennel that's about 100 times bigger than he is and in the camper he can't even turn around in the one we've been using and he hates it - not to mention that he's learned how to break out of it. So Daddy got the spoiled dog a new kennel a size smaller than what we have at home and then decided that he also needed a cozier pillow to sleep on. Bruiser seemed much happier with his new home, but I think he still ended up sleeping with us about 1/2 the time which was fine with me. He was such a great dog the whole time we were out there - we very rarely had to put him on his leash. He would always stay right next to us - particularly Daddy who he is so attached to and it was quite a sight to everyone out there to see big ol' Travis babying this little 5 pound dog - kissing him, carrying him, talking baby talk to him - they were quite the pair! Bruiser did get quite a bit of attention from our friends out there and even strangers who couldn't resist coming over to pet him. He was also very protective of us and would growl and bark at anyone he didn't recognize. Daddy was very proud of him!

Eventually, we ended up packing the camper back up and heading over to another area where the rest of our friends were camping. We were getting lonely all by ourselves in the other spot and there's only so much the two of us can talk to each other about. So our new spot was within walking distance of the track and we were surrounded by all sorts of people we knew. We also ended up hitting Walmart a couple more times and the laundromat. With me sneezing 500 times a day, I was pretty much pee'ing through all of the shorts that I had brought! The baby is sitting really, really low so a cough or a sneeze usually sends me straight to the bathroom or leaves me with a trail running down my leg (cute, huh?). At first we bought a couple more pairs of shorts at Walmart, but I was going through those quickly too and finally we hit the laundromat to wash a load of clothes (definitely all of my shorts) and Travis won Bruiser 3 new "girlfriends" from one of the video games they had there with the crane that you had to use to try to pick up stuffed animals. Let's just say that Bruiser is not shy about showing his love for his girlfriends in front of other people! He was quite entertaining and is really not very nice to his girlfriends - one of them even lost an ear during one of the escapades. Oh and we also found this awesome soft-serve ice cream shop at a little town just a few miles away - I think we went there 3 times or so? They had 24+ flavors of ice cream to pick from! Travis, being the wild man he is, got himself a chocolate/vanilla twist (oh boy!) and a Andes Mint blizzard type thing. I tried the Black Cherry ice cream, Bubble Gum ice cream and had a warm apple dumpling with caramel sauce and vanilla spice ice cream on it. SO GOOD!!!

The rest of our time there was nice and relaxing. I hung out in the camper quite a bit of the time while Travis was at the track - it must be an only-child thing with me b/c I thoroughly enjoy being by myself. I read some cookbooks, watched movies, played on the laptop, finished a book - it was nice! I did go with everybody to watch the big race Saturday night and I have to admit that the heat races were more exciting than the actual 100-lap race itself, but it was fun.

We had plans of getting each of the kids a t-shirt while we there, but instead they received an even bigger gift! We drove by this one corner many, many times while we were out there and the go-kart sitting there with the For Sale sign always got our attention. Finally, we decided to call the number listed and the guy that was selling it said that he bought it brand new about 2 years ago and only drove it maybe a dozen times so it was in pretty much perfect condition! It even had a roll cage on it and a seat belt (safety first!) and his asking price was a steal compared to what a new one would cost us. So, because our kids are not spoiled at all, we decided that the go-kart would be a nice addition to the collection of toys the kids have in the shed (so far it's just bicycles and a 4-wheeler) and we bought it up and slapped it in the bed of the truck. They were all excited about it when we got home and of course about 3 laps around the yard and it ran out of gas and our gas cans were all empty. :o( Travis has to figure something out so Patrick can drive it - the poor kid's so small that he has at least a foot to grow before he can reach the pedals! But he has no problem with the 4-wheeler so at least he has something he can drive around.

Although vacation was nice and we enjoyed our time away, I was happy to come back home. Travis felt like he could cry as we were pulling away from the track - he's in Heaven when he's there, but there will be next year!

In other news - I have my next doctor's appt. on Wednesday afternoon. I have to arrive early to drink this really sweet drink and then an hour later they check me for gestational diabetes. I never had to do this test with Lexi & Kiegan so it'll be something new for me. It's hard to believe that I'm already 6 months along - the time is really flying by!

Maybe some day I'll get some more pictures on this thing.....but don't hold your breath for them. :o)