The Race is On

Despite the craziness in our lives with camps, markets, sickness, etc., the kids have been working really hard on their go-cart and were ready to roll on the big race day, but the weather was not cooperating, at least in the early part of the day. We have been having another wet summer, and the forecast for race day was heavy t-storms with severe flood warnings, which up here you take seriously, especially since the ground is so saturated.

We woke up on race day to a pretty heavy downpour, and I figured the race would be cancelled. I called JM and he seemed a little skeptical, but said he’d make a noon time decision. The plan was to have ES come over and spend the day, and then we’d take them over to the race and meet NMP, their fourth teammate.

I told the kids the weather restrictions, but they were upbeat and took it in stride. They were optimistic that anything could happen, and sure enough, by around 9:00AM, the rain stopped, even though they said it was going to rain for the next several days. By 10:00AM, the driveway was pretty dry, and things were looking up. The kids were stoked. JM contacted us around 11:00 and said things were looking good, and the race was on.

I loaded the cart into the trunk and headed over. There was a good turnout, even though there weren’t as many carts as last year. Dozens of kids showed up, but there were only about four carts, so everyone shared. There was the usual reluctance to give up their creations, but it all worked out fine.

The weather turned out to be beautiful, sunny, warm, breezy, and most importantly, dry. It was just right. As I mentioned, there weren’t as many carts, but the ones that did show up were nicely done. SR showed up with the fanciest cart of them all, it was beautifully done, though you wouldn’t expect anything less from her dad, RR. They did a fabulous job, the thing looked like a Formula One racing car.

The ran the race differently this time, with time trials rather than an actual head to head race, and A and ES won it all, by a fairly comfortable margin. It was really cute, A was saying they came really close last year and this year they were going to win it all, and sure enough, they came in first. Last year they were a fraction of a second away from winning, but they didn’t mind because everyone had fun.

N and NMP came in the top three, and there is some question as to whether they were in second or third. I’m not sure how JM determined the order, but the read their names off as second place, even though SR had a faster time. They may have done averages or something, not that it matters, because it’s not about winning... yeah, right. Whatever the outcome, they did a fantastic job, worked really hard, and had a blast. Afterward you could tell they were excited because all they talked about was how they were going to design their go-cart next year. We’ll just see about that.

After the race, we took the cart home and then all went for ice cream at Frazer’s Place, AM’s treat. What a great way to end the great day. I’m glad the kids had fun, and despite the stress of having to finish that cart in the midst of all that is going on, it was all worth it when you see how invested the kids are and how much fun they had. That’s what life is all about, isn’t it?

Interestingly enough, a couple of hours after the race, the skies opened up and it started raining. Talk about catching a break. Sometimes life has a way of making you believe in magic.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Blue Devil Productions for the pic.