Thursday, September 9, 2010

Busy with Racing

I've been away from blogging for a little while. Life is busy. The times that I normally blog I'm doing laundry, packing, or other things. Racing is back in our lives and with racing comes more work. I've found a way to make it less work. I just don't bother to unpack fully. I do laundry, fold it, put it in order in baskets and most of those clothes go right back in the suitcase. 

 While Daddy worked on the car in our garage the kids find things to do. Above they got out some tools and decided to build things with wood pieces. They got markers to colour the wood and I went and got them paint and brushes.

Sometimes while he worked on the engine we stayed up later than usual. The kids liked to go outside while he was in the garage and look for bugs or build things with sticks. 

While we were waiting for the engine to come back to us our fellow race drivers have had great weather. We've seen a bit of rain. For us that usually means being inside the trailer more. There is always a good supply of books, crafts and toys for the kids to play with when this happens.

They play with clay from the dollar store sometimes. This is one of Zoe's creations.

This is Austyn's creation.

At the races we sometimes notice something cool. This is a Praying Mantis. A week later we saw a brown one not far from this one.

Sometimes when we go it's not as busy as other weekends. The kids find it hard to watch racing and do nothing else. Here they are playing in the dirt while we wait for Daddy to race. 

Zoe is making dirt angels.

One thing they find fun is running around and playing on the stands when they are almost empty. 

I am finding that as the kids get older I'm able to do a bit more with my hubby racing. With a faster car he actually could use more help. I am enjoying it more as I feel more involved. I hope to keep getting more involved as the kids grow. I now can check the tire pressure. I may eventually check the track and tire temperatures.

One new thing I do, when I can, is help him "get in the groove". The grove is the dark tire marks on the track. When a race car is in the grove the tires stick well. When they aren't in the grove it can actually get dangerous. This is especially the case for faster cars. If they can't grip the track the car could lose control. With a different hood (made for racing) it's more difficult to see and be able to put the car in the groove without some assistance. 

One thing I can tell you about that that dark part (the grove) is that it's very sticky. I have to stand right in it to show him where it is and I almost lost my shoes the last time. The track officials were laughing at me. LOL!