Irwindale

It's hard when you have a large family with such a wide range in ages to find things you can do together that are age appropriate for all and not too expensive. As a result, we tend to do things in smaller groups. I'll take the younger boys to the movies... while the older boys tend to do the movies with their buddies now. Or maybe I'll take a couple of boys to an amusement park and leave the younger ones with friends. My husband takes a boy (or 2 or 3) on hunting trips occasionally and has been taking one along to the Irwindale Speedway to watch his buddy race every once in a while for the last couple of years.

Now he always invites me to come with him to the Nascar races, but there just always seems to be something else I need to be doing... like laundry... that holds me back. However, a couple of weeks ago was Family Night at the Speedway and kids 15 and under were free. So, failing to find an appropriate excuse and really wanting to do a family event, we all piled in the car and headed to the race track.

I was told that we needed to leave at 3:00 because the gates opened at 4:00. This would give us plenty of time to visit the pits and see the time trials before the races started at 7:00. Oh... boy...

As it turned out though... arriving early wasn't so bad.


(Just ignore the little shirt mishap.)

And all the kids had fun... from 6 to 17. They got to meet the drivers and get autographs (and candy). Then we watched four different races... trucks, funny cars...



faster cars (which my husband's friend was racing in)...



and, my favorite although I don't have a picture, the figure 8 track in which you watch cars almost crash while screaming "woooooo" a lot. Trust me... it was fun. Really.

I never knew I was a Nascar fan, but what's not to love about family, fast cars, knitting and a cold beer? Good times.