Lake Erie Speedway

We were at the Millcreek Mall in Erie and a new indoor soft playground was opening. We wandered over to the general area, and realized they were calling out random descriptions and giving away prizes. They called for a person in a striped shirt, and Nolan was the only one in the vicinity wearing a striped shirt. He ran up and claimed the prize - a 4-pack of tickets to the Lake Erie Speedway. On July 6, we headed down to the racetrack for the big event.

The boys were ecstatic. I, on the other hand, brought my Kindle to keep me company.

The boys were absolutely thrilled to run amok in the kid's fun zone, and I was glad they could run off some energy.

We bought some race-track food and settled on the bleachers to watch a few first heats.

Watching cars go around in circles is definitely not my thing, but the boys loved it. The race cars were fast, loud, and the boys were jumping up and down with excitement.

After a few rounds, I realized this wasn't the main race - just warm up races for the main event. Soon, everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegience and the Invocation. The American flag was pretty impressive in size.

As the flag was unfurled, raindrops started to fall. At first, they were sporadic. Then the skies darkened and the sprinkles increased. A tense feeling settled over the crowd as the race was delayed to see if the skies would clear. The boys donned their hearing protection* and waited patiently.

The wind started to pick up and it quickly became evident the race was going to be canceled. Soon, it was pouring and the trees were whipping in the wind - we ran for the car and snagged "rain day" tickets on the way out. The boys were a little disappointed, but took it in stride.

Unfortunately, the rain date race was also rained out. And so was the one after that. The boys never did get to see the race, but we'll try again next summer. Maybe the weather will be drier next July and August!



*Nolan can't really hear the race cars without his hearing aids and doesn't need the hearing protection, but he likes to have what his brother has... so we indulged him and bought two sets of headphones!