A Day at the Race

On Sunday, the day Peter has been waiting for finally arrived.....his first trip to a NASCAR race. He has been looking forward to this for the past month.

We were relieved to see that the weather was going to be in the mid 70's.....perfect weather for a six year old boy who will be sitting in the sun all day. We left early in the morning and arrived at the track around 8:00. After making our mandatory trip to the Jimmie Johnson trailer to buy our new hats, we walked around for a while and looked at various cars and other displays.

The highlight of the trip (other than the race itself), was getting to attend a question and answer session with Jimmie Johnson, Peter's favorite driver. This was a kid only event (parents were to remain quiet). Peter was able to build a car with me (Jimmie Johnson's of course!), and then was able to ask Jimmie a question. Some other kid "stole" Peter's original question, so he had to come up with a new one quickly.

The race was great, and Peter made it through the entire 3 plus hour race. We were excited when Jimmie was leading with 6 laps to go.....until he blew his engine. However, in true Peter fashion, he said he was OK with Greg Biffle winning the race.....apparently he is 4th on Peter's favorite driver list.

Taking a picture in front of an old car

Building our car in the Jimmie Johnson tent

While waiting for Jimmie, Peter made a new friend....shocking.

You have to take your picture next to cardboard cutouts!

Peter and the Jeff Burton car

The view from our seat

Listening to the drivers on the scanner

Miriam the Ballerina

This week Miriam did a 3-day ballet camp at Hearts in Step, a local Christian dance company.  She went with her friend Mary Kate and had a very fun time!
Here is our little ballerina before the first day, showing off her ballet outfit:

Esther did her hair:

Today was the last day, so the parents were invited to come for the last 15 minutes to see them perform their dance.  Miriam's group danced to "How Great Thou Art" and it was beautiful!  They also recited a Bible verse and brought home a craft that tied in with the verse.

Fun at the Zoo

Since Karen and Juan were in town for one more day, we decided to take advantage of a cooler day and went to the zoo.  Our Children's Museum membership allows us to get in free in August, so that was an added bonus.

We had not been to the zoo since last August and I was impressed with some major additions and renovations that had occurred since last year.  We spent quite a bit more time there than we ever have before and had fun exploring the new additions.  The extra time may have also been due to the fact that Juan and Karen paid for the kids to pet the stingrays and Grandpa and Grandma covered camel rides, which are things we normally skip.  That made it an extra special zoo trip!

Esther had Aunt Karen's camera most of the time and she got some great photos of the animals!

The classic John Ball Zoo picture:

Petting the stingrays:

This guy loves walking that camel in circles all day...

After the zoo, we went to Olga's for lunch and Jersey Junction for ice cream. 

I LOVE ice cream!

Then we went back to my parents' house and played outside for the rest of the afternoon.  It was a great ending to a super fun weekend!

Weekend of Celebrating!

This weekend was filled with fun and celebrations!  We left Saturday morning to go to Farmington Hills to be a part of the jubilee celebration for my Aunt Elaine.  She celebrated 50 years of service to God as a Sister of Mercy.  We attended a mass and then enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Aunt Elaine and relatives and friends.  We are grateful that we could be there for her celebration since she is such a special part of our family.  It was also nice to visit with some aunts, uncles and cousins that we don't get to see very often.

The Sova Siblings:  Mom, Uncle Larry, Aunt Joanie, Aunt Susie, Aunt Elaine.  They are standing in order of age... all 5 of them were born in a 6 year time span!

After lunch we checked into our hotel, watched some Olympics, grabbed an early supper and then drove to Comerica Park for the Detroit Tigers baseball game!  Peter went last year with Casey, but this was the girls' first time attending a game.

The weather was hot, but sunny when we arrived...

A few innings in, the sky started to get dark and people with smart phones saw on the radar that we were in for a storm...

Fortunately it was a brief storm, so we huddled under the roof on the concourse with everyone else until it passed, dried off our seats and enjoyed the rest of the game!

The fireworks after the game were great too!

This morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at our hotel and the kids swam in the pool for a while.  Then we drove home, unpacked and went over to my parents' house for my Dad's 70th birthday steak dinner!  Peter told Grandpa that he only seems like he's 66, so that's quite a compliment.

We are thankful for celebrations of God's goodness in our lives and the lives of people we love.  It was a great weekend!