a kickin' top fuel kind of weekend

Lauren came home from school on Friday with her first school yearbook. It's pretty cool. I didn't get my first yearbook until middle school and that was just a paperback not a hard cover like this one. (I covered up the name of her school because that's what responsible blogging parents do...so I'm told.)
Wow...700 students attend her elementary. All this time I thought it was a small school.
The kickin' top fuel weekend started off with a quick nap for the boys. After a long night of sleep they deserved some shut-eye sofa time. =)
With five minutes to spare I woke the boys up and threw everyone into the car. We were off to Lauren's last soccer kickin' game of the season (of her life?)

All smiles on the way there....
She's still smiling because I told her I'd give her 50 cents if she kicked the ball six times. (I'm so not above bribery.) She was all about kickin' the ball!
After the game the team had their end of season celebration.

cupcakes

medals with their names on them

and pictures
(Somehow our team missed the scheduled picture day but a photographer parent was nice enough to snap photos of the team and players individually.)

Great Job LAUREN!

Unrelated Side Note: At Bunco this weekend I was told I'm pronouncing My! Daughter's! name wrong. I pronounce it LORen (like the "lor" in Lord) but apparently in the South Lauren is pronounced LARen (like the "lar" in lark.) Who knew?!

After a soccer kickin' day we had Miss Olivia come over to keep the kids while our friend Clark took a bunch of us to the Southern Nationals at the Atlanta Dragway. Clark's family owns many of the autoparts stores in our area and they get tickets to just about each and every local event. He had some extra tickets to the drag races and was nice enough to take Matt, Matt's co-worker Doug, and I along. Hospitality and VIP passes included.

We found our seats.

Doug (not looking,) Clark and I

And then I made my rounds.

me and Ron Capps

Tony Schumacher!! and me

I felt so tall with them boys. I can't wait to stand next to some jockey's when I go to my first Kentucky Derby. okay...back on track!

After we enjoyed our VIP complimentary gourmet lunch buffet (I had the chicken and Matt had the steak...both were delish) we went back to the stands to watch some races.

top fuel dragsters

(nitro) funny cars

pro stock bikes
one is a Harley can you tell?

pro stock cars

The next few pictures are really cool. I wish Matt was around to help me explain them but I'll do the best I can. While we were back at the US Army hospitality suite I got to watch the crew work on Tony Schumacher's car. It was amazing!

They basically take everything apart, clean it up, and put it back together.

backing the car into the work area

super charger/blower and intake manifold (obviously)

can you believe they even take the manifold off the supercharger and check the lobes?!
me neither. WOW!

the heads and headers are off too
the tank is refilled
not just gas but nitro-methane
(I pour that with my cereal!)
Very quickly they put the car back together. The intake manifold awaits.

The complete process took all of 10 minutes. Unbelievable.

Although my good buddy Tony Schumacher didn't win I had so much fun at the races today and learned a lot about Drag Racing. (one of Matt's favorite past-times)

Back at home we found the children and Olivia having a blast. Olivia...#1. unloaded the dishwasher, #2. did Lauren's hair in a fancy flip pony-tail, #3. Played outside with the kiddos, #4. Played inside with the kiddos, #5. taught them chocolate chip math...MATH! #6. made them a fancy lunch and dinner and #7 was the best sitter ever. Don't even ask for her phone number because she's ours...all ours! =)