{So Many Hats}

AJ got sent to bed early

Too much partying like a rock star and not enough sleep!  Gramma, I saw your comment about being carried in the bag and not being seen by the girls... let me tell you, at this point it may be a blessing.  I am sure that AJ will be BURSTING with new for you tomorrow... he had a pretty big day and met some pretty big names in the racing industry and has the pictures to prove it.  It seems everyone is totally taken with  the little charmer.  I know he really wanted to tell you all about it but he really did need to get some sleep, he's worn out.  So instead you'll have to settle for me, and I can only stay on a minute.  I just wanted to show a picture that I thought was hot.  I know that AJ gets the pretty girls and all that, but this is what turns mom on.... think I can have one like it?  100m to 400m.  Not at all practical for everyday life, but awesome for sporting events and concerts and stuff like that.  And by the way, NHRA doesn't care what kind of camera you bring in with you.... I'm telling you that the NFL could take a lesson from them.  OK... so back to the lens... someone shoule write that down on the Christmas list.  It is the only thing this weekend that I saw that I really liked... well, I did see something else but I'm pretty sure the lens would be the lesser of the two evils... unless you insist and then instead of the lens I would take THIS... Yea... that would be nice.  I'd take that in a heartbeat!  So pretty, so ladylike, so kick butt powerful it makes the ground shake.  Yea, it fits!  Stay tuned for AJ to be back tomorrow.  Thanks for letting me fill in for a night.  Goodnight my friends, sleep well. 

Life is so hard =(

I spend all this time blogging about my adventure and no one is reading about it.  Well, if they are reading about it they aren't commenting on it... I have been so good and blogged EVERY DAY even though I am totally EXAUSTED from all the sunshine and fresh air and the crazy pace that Grampa keeps.  Did you know he only has to sleep like 4 hours a day and he's raring to go early the next morning?  I think getting old might be OK!  Anyway... I'm not blogging anymore until someone tells me that they are reading.  So there.

Another big day!

Oh my goodness gracious… I have had so much fun today and met so many amazing people that I don’t even know where to start!  OK… so this morning Grampa and Mom got up and mom got all dressed in her uniform and everything and we went to the Don Schumacher Racing open house.  It was a benefit for Riley Children’s hospital and let me just say this, it was AMAZING!  Not only was the whole DSR place open for viewing with race cars and all of that, but there was a whole car show going on at the same time so we got to see a lot of really cool cars that weren’t race cars.  I mean wow, these guys have some sweet rides!  There were a couple of Model Ts there and Grampa got out his scrapbook and starting talking shop with some of the guys.  And speaking of talking shop, did I mention that his fingers are almost all the way clean?  Amazing what retirement will do to take the “grease” out of “grease monkey”!

Oh, I almost forgot… mom had an epiphany today and remembered that she could upload vast quantities of pictures into albums on here so she promised to teach me tonight and I will make an NHRA album so that I don’t have to put so many pictures in my posts.  I am starting to get to be a VERY well known turtle you know, and I can’t put ALL my pics in the posts, mere mortals would be jealous! 

So…   back to the DSR thing… we got there at like, 0900 and had to hang around because officially it wasn’t going to start until 1000 and then Tony wasn’t going to be there until 1200.  Mom felt SO bad because Grampa was missing the racing but she decided that it was going to be worth the wait so we did.  I got a lot of pictures with the Army car and that was pretty fun… I took pictures in the cockpit, I checked out the engine, and then I even sat on the tires to see how big they were compared to me… let me tell you, them suckers are huge! You'll be able to check those pictures out (well, not the cockpit one, it's on here... but the rest) in the album because I have a couple of WAY better ones to show you!  I've been feeling a little down because I haven't run into any of the pretty force girls yet and so my countenance has been dragging (ha... I told a funny) anyway... DRAGGING a little and I was sort of sad when I got to DSR.  Well, after we walked around and got some pictures I decided to go over and have a little shot of Rock Star energy drink... they were offering samples and mom said I could have some, so I went over and had a bit of Rock Star.    Let me tell you, when they say "party like a rock star, they ain't kidding!   Remember I said I had been feeling a little down?  Well, after this not only was I feeling pretty jazzed up, but I also made some sweet new friends.  Now I'm not saying that I don't still want to meet the Force girls, but I am here to tell you, if there is anything that can make a young turtle forget his problems, it's these beauties!  And when they heard about the blog and that I had been so bummed lately from not meeting any celebrities, they did their best to make it up to me... let's just say that I'm glad I had the Rock Star energy drink ....gotta love pretty girls in short shorts and tee-shirts! Plus all the kisses helped improve my mood as well!  Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, at the open house there were all these raffles for things and the money went to benefit the hospital.  Well, mom put her tickets in for a couple pairs of bluetooth enabled sunglasses, a rile scope that Grampa wanted and this awesome little car... Well, Grampa put three of his tickets in for the rifle scope, one for some painting thing and one for something else and guess what?  Yep... Grampa one the kickin' $700 fiber optic rifle scope from the raffle.  Now doesn't that just beat all?  He and mom were exchanging high-5's in the stands when they heard the news.  She didn't even mind that she didn't win anything, she was just so excited for her dad! 

So of course, back at the track this was MY favorite car of the day... just remembering every time it ran what it felt like to party like a rock star!  Oh, and I also got this picture today....  yea, I know it isn't the real thing, but sometimes beggars can't be choosers and who knows WHEN (or if) I will even get to catch a glimpse of the Force Family, much less get time or a picture with them.  It's funny down on pit row...  there are SO many drivers and SO many sets of trailers and everything, but there are only a handful of people hanging around the other trailers and a HUGE crowd around Team Force... it's totally crazy.  I guess they are kind of racing royalty.  Ashley has to compete against her dad in the Smokeless Shootout here.... she qualified in 1st place (read: rockin'!)  and he qualified in 8th (read: last) and they are going to be going head to head.  It's the first time a female racer has been in the Shootout and i think it is pretty awesome that not only is she there, she's sitting at #1.  I hope she wins... I am cheering for her in Funny Car and then of course, we are cheering for Tony Schumacher and the Army team for the TF Dragster.  Mom would be a little upset if I cheered for anyone besides the Army car, that's for sure.  Well, I have a lot more to tell you, but I really need to go to sleep.  I'm starting to get a little worn out and there will probably be a lot more excitement tomorrow!  Ok my friends, I will catch some zzzzs and I will try to get an album of pictures on here in the next couple of days... mom was supposed to help me but she racked out so she's useless!  Ok... talk to you tomorrow!  Peace Out!

Off to the races!

 

I love it when they make smoke with the tires.  I just think it is the coolest thing.  I seriously think that mom should go home, take out Sally and stand on the brake and gas and see if she can do that some thing…. It’s just cool!  I know that she has been turning the idea over in her head about turning the Mustang in the garage into a racing car... I don't think she can afford it though so I'm guessing probably not.  Besides, who is she kidding? She's getting a little on the old side and I don't think her reaction time would be quite the same as when she was younger.  Maybe she should let me drive.  Wait, I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that's like letting Gramma out on a Sunday.  Well check this out my peeps, aren't I the cool one?

I know that it's hard to see me inside the cockpit there, but let me tell you, it was totally cool.  Here's a little bit better picture of me sliding into my seat...

I was kind of hoping to get one of those cute Force girls to come and give me some pointers but I didn't see any of them... I think they were probably all out laughing at all the guys that Ashley is going to beat in her pink car tomorrow.  That's got to be tough on the ego you know... I mean, not only can your friends go, "Dude, you like, got beat by a GIRL!" but now they can also say... "Dude, you got smoked by a chick in a Barbie mobile!" Gotta tell you though, mom is wishing for a pink mustang in the WORST way right about now.  The car is still under wraps, but every once and a while a breeze will lift a bit of the cover and you can see the color of pink underneath... it's nice.  Yea, I know, I'm a guy... but I am secure enough in my masculinity (or turtlinity if you will) to recognize a nice color when I see it and this is a particularly striking shade of pink.  Not garish, not pepto bismal, just a very pretty pink.  Pretty in pink... I wonder if I can convince her to go green for me... I mean after all, her dad drives the green car... OK... anyway... enough about my little crush... on to some of the fun pics.  I decided that I could talk to Grampa again after the bag incident cuz he took mom to get me a new tee-shirt and a hat and some glasses to keep the sun out of my eyes here.... Plus he also went around the Nitro mall and asked the vendors if anything happens to any of their NHRA bears during the weekend could I have their t-shirts.  Now, I don't wish any harm on my brother stuffies, but I am so totally digging on maybe getting one of their cool shirts.  That would totally rock... thanks Grampa!  Anyway, about my other new clothes, I don't have them on in today's pictures cuz I wanted to save them to look extra nice tomorrow... I'm going to the pits to have my picture taken there!  Anyway... so here are Grampa and I with our super cool ear mufflers on sitting in our seats in the Top Eliminator Club grandstands... aren't we just the coolest EVER?!  After the races today we went to Grampa's favorite restaurant and had his favorite meal... I'd tell you more but I got in trouble for taunting yesterday and had to sit in time out so I don't want to say we went to Cracker Barrel in case it's someone's favorite and they complain so I can't tell you that so don't ask me anymore.  Just know that I had a good dinner and now I am going to bed cuz tomorrow is a VERY BIG day!  Mom is going to try and meet Tony "the Sarge" Schumacher and see if she can take his picture and do a little interview with him so she can write a story about going to the races.  It should be pretty cool.  I'll tell you about it tomorrow.  OK friends, I gotta rack, I can barely keep my eyes open and mom is insisting I take a bath tonight before bed.  SIGH... I just took a swim in the pond... shouldn't that count for SOMETHING?  OK dudes and dudettes, catch ya on the flip side... night y'all!

Neener, neener, I went to Texas Roadhouse!

One thing about the Eastern United States and the Southern United States, they’ve got some ROCKIN’ restaurants!  Last night we got to go to Steak and Shake.  Mom hasn’t been to S&S since she was in Kansas back in 2006!  Grampa was not too impressed with the burger, it was a little small for his taste, but the shoestring fries were good and he had a vanilla and orange shake  that was awesome.  Mom chose the restaurant tonight… yup, you guessed it, we went to the Texas Roadhouse so Grampa and I could have a steak.  Grampa had a HUGE Texas T-bone and it made him VERY happy!  We started dinner by snacking on peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor.  So here is a picture of me with the peanuts. 

They have the BEST bread here.  Well, I don’t know if it’s actually the bread or the cinnamon butter that they give you with it but it’s yummy!  We had a little cactus blossom also.  Grampa ate a bunch of it, but the horseradish sauce spilled a little on it so he didn’t want that part and mom and I took that! Like I said, grampa had a ginormous T-bone and then mom had a 8 oz sirloin that she shared with me.  It was way yummy.  It was even OK that the waiter mixed up grampa and mom’s temperatures for the steak.  Grampa asked for medium well and mom for medium and they got the right steak but the wrong cooking style.  Mom’s was medium well and grampa had his pretty in pink.  They were so hungry though that they just went ahead and ate them the way they were.  The waiter gave them a little bit of money off though so that was nice.  Anyway.  I need to go off to bed now but I will definitely tell you more tomorrow and post more pictures!  Anyway… I will talk to you all in the morning.  Peace Out!!

VIP and then NOT!

So the way that this trip came about was because gramma really gets to go everywhere cuz grampa isn’t really a big traveler.  So when mom goes places she takes gramma a lot.  Gramma got to go to New York and Washington D.C. last year for mom’s birthday, she got to go on the mustang road trip, and of course she got to go to a couple of scrap retreats… you remember Arizona and the bunny last year, right?  Well, mom asked grampa if he were to go on a trip, where would he want to go?  Well, grampa said he would want to go to the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He never really thought that mom would follow through and figure it out.  Well, she managed to do OK!  She got us tickets for all six days of the racing, and not only did she get us tickets, she got us TOP ELIMINATOR CLUB tickets!  It’s a total VIP treatment.  So the only thing that we had to do was figure out how to get the tickets picked up!  The first gate we went to sent us all the way around to the other side of the raceway to get our tickets.  When we got there, we saw this sign… and yup, they meant us!!  How cool is that?  VIP Credential… wow!  So now we are officially VIPs and we had our tickets and everything.  Well, I was only VIP for a while!

Here’s how it went down.  Mom and Grampa left me in the van to take a nap while they scoped out the place.  They wanted to make sure it was safe for me to come in and everything and apparently while they were in there, they got their official TEC souvenir bag.    Well, after they got their bags, grampa volunteered to go out and get me from my nap.  So he came out and told me that I could come in and I was SO excited until I found out that grampa is a little more socially inhibited than mom!  He actually cares what people think and didn’t want to be embarrassed by me.  So yea, this is me, being carted into the drag races in a BAG like some stuffed toy from the store.  Can you believe it?  It’s like he doesn’t know that I have feelings.  Carry me in a bag will you… I think it might be a while until I am speaking to him again!  Big meanie!  I'm enjoying myself so far, I didn't know that the races could be so much fun.  I'm hoping to meet that one hot girl, the one who has a dad who races too... she's really pretty and I just think she's cool.  Mom wants to meet "the Sarge" for all the obvious reasons.  I think she wants to do a story on him also.  Oh, and the cool drag girl?  She is running a new pretty pink car this weekend and we caught a glimpse of it, but it's all covered up and won't be unveiled until her first qualifying round.  Mom was TOTALLY bummed.  She wanted to see the pink car SO BAD!  She'll be there on unveiling day though!  Ok... I have to do one more post about dinner and then I am racking out... it will be an early morning for us as we head back to the track!!

First Class!

OK… so I have a TON of pictures to share with all of you guys so I will try to do my best to put some writing with them!  I have to tell you about the flight last night first.  When mom got to DFW the nice ladies at the airport upgraded her to first class to thank her for her service.  First class was WAY cool!  Not only was it a way big seat but mom got the window and there was no one next to her so I got to sit in the aisle seat… see?

So the flight was less than 2 hours so there wasn’t supposed to be any food or anything, but in our seats we got mixed nuts that were hot! I guess they put them in the oven or something.  THEN… after we had the nuts we were offered FRESH chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven and to make it even better, they had milk for us too!  It was so crazy.  I had a good flight though.  Grampa met us at the airport and we got our car... well, actually it was a minivan because they were out of cars... we got the car, went to the hotel and checked in and then we had to go to dinner cuz grampa was hungry.  I already told you that though so not much else there.  Just wanted you to know that I got to fly in first class and it was rockin'! Peace out!

So annoying

OK... so we're off on another road trip only this time we are going with Grampa... and we're flying.  It's supposed to be great but guess what?  She TOTALLY forgot about me!  Well, I guess not TOTALLY because I got to come but sheesh!  She's SO unorganized.... she got home like, two hours before her flight left and was packing all her stuff right up until about an hour before her flight left.  She's SO lucky that El Paso has a teensy airport and you can show up 40 minutes before a flight and still get on the plane... but I digress.  She TOTALLY forgot to bring me any clothes!  My  bathing suit was lying RIGHT THERE on the studio floor... did she pick it up? NO!  She pulled clothes for her from a suitcase that is STILL PACKED from coming back to Texas 2 weeks ago and my clothes were RIGHT THERE but she didn't grab ANYTHING for me!  I am so tempted to call Turtle Welfare and tell them of this horrible abuse that I am receiving.  What kind of a mom packs clothes for herself and not for her kid!  Grampa is going to save me though... when mom told him how mad I was he said we could go fix it.  I think he's going to buy me a racing shirt... I hope they have them at the track though cuz we all know that there is no way that we're going to get Grampa inside the mall!

So I have to go... we are off to the track... I'll write tonight and tell you all about flying here and how Grampa's tummy thought it was 9pm even though it was midnight here so we went to dinner at 1 in the morning... so funny! Ok, peace out friends... wish me luck on finding some clean threads, you can't catch flies in clothes that smell like vinegar!

I'm BAAAACCCKKK

AJ here... mom and I went to Washington... well, actually we went to Washington, got there at like, 0300 on Friday morning and left for Idaho about, oh, I don't know... 5 hours later? It was crazy!  We went to RMC to do camp... I love it there, that's where I became a mascot and they treat me very well there... i have a LOT of friends!  I love my Idaho friends.  Then we went back to Washington, and spent a couple weeks hanging with the kids, doing TLC work and just getting the house in a little bit of order... mom's picky about stuff like that... then we went to PNW camp... we really like it there too... mom has SO many friends there... this is her 10th year there... SO CRAZY!  I've only been there twice.  I'm a mascot there also, and i think that people like me there too, they always want to babysit.  Mom gave out my blog address to a couple of the kids there so I need to be better about writing... I'll post some pics this week.  I think I get to keep the blog.  Mom is going to be doing her last semester of school so she is going to be VERY busy and I'm sure she won't be able to write.  Yea me!  Ok, check back here for a couple of pics from camp and stuff... I got new clothes again... so fun... but I'm not spoiled, I deserve ALL my stuff!!