We went Saturday. I told the k i ds it was because it would be less crowded, but really, it's because that's when they hold the celebrity race. (I'm more into People magazine than NASCAR.) This year's hotties -- I mean celebrity drivers -- included Keanu Reeves, Adrian Brody and Tony Hawk. The women in our group all cheered on Keanu, and the kids all cheered on Tony Hawk. My brother played no favorites -- he drank a beer and cheered for all the cars, so everyone was happy.
Well, almost everyone. A certain young man who's name rhymes with "shark" was a bit grumpy.
But he cheered up later when we came across this sight -- apparently, the guy on the right imbibed a little too liberally from the giant beer can and needed a siesta.
After lunch and watching the race cars run a few more laps, we headed for the convention center. It was filled with booths and vendors handing out f r e e s a m p l e s of all sorts of crazy stuff -- the kids were in heaven, as they love nothing more than a freebie.
Mark found this car to sit in. Coolest Hot Wheels he ever played with!
The kids were also excited to wrestle around pricey cars and make us nervous.
"Be careful!" I cried out, when they were messing with a $150,000 car. "You can't even afford to replace the side mirror on that car!"
We finally lured them away by pointing out the free soda sample booth. As we walked away, I almost gained a new kid, when I accidentally guided a little boy to the right, toward the rest of our group.
"That's not one of ours!" my brother Scott called out to me, and when I looked down, I saw he was right.
"I'm so sorry!" I apologized to his laughing mother. "I thought he was my nephew!" She laughed again, and joked that I could keep him, but I assured her we already had our hands full.
Then it was on to the National Guard booth with an inflatable basketball pop-a-shot game, where the kids fought over who would shoot first. First, my nieces lost the ball between the inflatable and the booth next door, and then they managed to deflate the whole thing.
"Walk away," I hissed at them, as the basketball court quickly fell to the floor. "Don't make eye contact, just walk away!"
Luckily, they complied, and we all walked by the oblivious National Guard guy with eyes averted.
The last activity was the best -- the kids tossed tortillas at a frying pan, trying to win bottles of hot sauce. Mark even won a free t-shirt.
By that time, we'd had enough. Enough loud cars, enough herding chil dren away from potentially dangerous/expensive booths, and enough beer to feel a happy buzz. (Being a lightweight drinker definitely has its benefits when it comes to $10 beers!) We took our free bottles of hot sauce, and headed back for the Metro home.
Until next year...
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