DPoD July 26th - Turtle Day!!!

The day had finally arrived.

We were up bright and early (read 6 am ish) and ready for a great day at the Turtle Races. For those of you who don't know much about it, here's a little history. The Races started in 1974 and involve local youths, businesses and adults registering turtles to be raced. There is a parade, a classic car show, some rides for the kids, a spelling bee (daddy was the junior champion in 1986) and of course, the turtle races. Heats of 8 turtles compete by being placed inside an octagon, The top is then raised and the turtles make a break for the line around the outside near the stands. There is to be no movement from the crowd as the turtles race as they'll well, turtle. The winner moves on to the next set of races and at the end of it all there's a championship race where the winner is crowned. The trophy is absolutely enormous - I think it's taller than Monkey. All-in-all it's a fabulous time for the little town and everyone gets a little closer together as a community. Here are some of the shots of the family attending the big day:

Our turtle - 'Lightning McQueen' (stored overnight in a turtle pool none-the-less to protect him from skunks and racoons that would mke him a tasty snack)

Breakfast of (potential) champions (?)

Getting ready for the parade on grandpa's blanket

The fire brigade arrives with sirens and horns blaring

The old-time fire truck was a big hit for Big C

As were the old guys on little fire trucks handing out lollipops
This turtle stuff is for the dogs (hee hee)
Big C wasn't amused by daddy's joke, but did have his attention on something. You'll notice that there is a purple popsicle in his hand. The heating and cooling guys were giving those out-pure gold!!
The end of the parade is near, as this float has been in the parade every year since it started
Hey- it's the big turtle!!

I got us in for a photo op:

and face painting - Big C got a racing turtle and Monkey got lightning

And we were ready for our race - turtle #1 in heat #1 - thanks for registering us Aunt K!!Monkey was allowed to place Lightning in his penDaddy - you did say this was a race, rightAnd they were off, lightning started slowthen blew past the crowdto win!! The boys were ecstatic! Monkey will gladly show off his trophy if you stop by the houseBig C then took grandpa to the classic car show where grandpa even pulled a few strings to get him to have a seat in one of the cars!

Uncle J was a popular guy. He took both kids to play and really got down on their level. They still talk about him now that they're home

Thanks for a great day at the races.