Weekend Fun

Happy Memorial Day! We had the most wonderful holiday weekend, as I hope did all of our friends and family, many of whom we had the pleasure of seeing over the past several days. My brother Craig was in town for my sister Mallory's high school graduation. It was so great to spend time with him and Ben is heartbroken that he is leaving to go back to Tennessee tomorrow.

Our weekend of fun began early on Wednesday. Ben and I went to the track for Community Day to visit our favorite mascot, the Firestone Firehawk! We had so much fun touring the garages and looking for Sarah Fisher, Ben's favorite driver. Ben also enjoyed the kids area were he bounced in the bouncehouse, went down a cool slide, and played "bouncy" basketball, football, and soccer. It was so much fun watching him!

Thursday, Mallory, Craig, Ben, and I went to the Zoo where we got a sneak peek at the new Oceans exhibit. It was so cool and Ben and Uncle Craig even got to touch a shark in the dogshark petting pool! Ben and Craig also liked the meerkats, though Mal and I couldn't figure out what was so great about them!

After the Zoo we went out to lunch and then home for naps. That night, Mallory, Ben, and I went to the Indiana Fever WNBA game. We honestly had one of the most fun evenings ever! Ben and Mallory had an absolutely amazing time and enjoyed the balloons that Dean gave them and a visit from Freddie Fever. They were even featured dancing on the big screen during one of the timeouts! The popcorn was also a big hit!

On Saturday Ben, Oma, Aunt Barbie, Cousin Casey and some other friends went to the 500 Festival Parade. We had so much fun. I haven't been to the parade since I was a little girl, and I have to say it was so well organized and such fun! It rained all morning but the skys cleared about 20 minutes before the parade began and the rain held off until about 20 minutes after the parade ended. It was awesome! Ben loved seeing the floats, balloons, and the drivers, and of course, that Firehawk! He waved right at us!!

Sunday was race day and since we live in Speedway, ours is the house where most of our family meets prior to the race. An added bonus this year was the addition of my Aunt Suz and Cousin Chip in town from Texas; they had never met Ben so it was nice to spend time with them. While Dean and Ben's uncles went to the race, Ben, Aunt Suz, and I went down to Jarin's house to go swimming. After a swim and some snacks, Ben and I headed home for a nap. There was a 3 hour rain delay during the race so most of our "guests" came home for a bit before heading back to the track. My family all came over, as well as most of Dean's family, for a post race cookout. We had a great time and the last person left our house at 11 pm--considering the first person arrived at 9 am it was a LONG but very fun day. It was so nice to have so many people we love under the same roof.

Ben was exhausted today but we wanted to do something special since it was Dean's first day off in almost a month...even though he did have to go work at the track for 3 hours, but that is another story! Dean, Ben, and I went to the movie theater to see Shrek the Third. Ben loved it, though he was a little antsy and we did have to make several trips to the bathroom! It was a great outing and we had a blast spending time as a family today. The popcorn was a big hit again!

It was such a great weekend. I am constantly reminded how blessed I am. I love my boys and my extended family so very much.