Florida Trip - "Go Faster Daddy!"
When Brock told me that he booked Daytona for the 2009 One Lap, I instantly knew I was gonna wanna go there! It's been 5 years since I had attended any One Lap event and I had been itchin' to get back out to South Bend to see some friends I hadn't seen in quite some time. But a 9 hour car ride by myself with a 4 year old (or an 1 year old, 2 year old or 3 year old) wasn't what I thought would be an "awesome" road trip! Love my kid, but 9 hours in a car all alone with her was probably just the ticket to throw me over the edge of insanity!
So, I contacted my Mom who lives 1 1/2 hours from the track and planned a week long trip with Leda - two-fold, Leda got to spend a week with her Grandma and Granddaddy and we all got to spend a day at Daytona hanging out with the One Lap. Oh, yeah, and maybe there might be a ride around the track thrown in there somewhere!
That was the plan, and it executed perfectly. Leda and I flew down to Florida on Saturday, the start of the One Lap and we had a wonderful couple of days hanging out with the 'rents (or the g-rents!) and going to the beach, and shopping, and playing in the hot tub! I had to work most of the week, one of the 'perks' of working remotely, I can work anywhere there is wifi. So, to save some vacation time, and having lots to do for work, I worked. But Leda got to spend time with her grandparents and that was most important.
On Wednesday morning, we got up, packed up the van and headed to Daytona. We got there just as the first session was winding down, so Brock could spend a little time with us. He mostly scooted off on the motorized bar stool with my child!
Believe me, the look in the picture is because she doesn't want her picture taken. She LOVED riding around on that thing with him!
Between sessions, Brock was going to do some hot laps with the MotorTrend guys - they covered the One Lap this year. Anyway, he told Larry to hop in back of the BMW and off they went! Larry got a hot lap of the full 24 hour course - top speed was 152. Larry was totally psyched! He loved it! He got a great picture from the backseat:
The MotorTrend guys took a great video of it as well!
After all that, Brock loaded us all into the BMW - Larry in the front, Me, Leda and Mom in the backseat (after we loaded Leda's car seat into the car!). And we lined up all the cars participating and took several parade laps around the NASCAR track. It wasn't near as fast as Larry's trip around the track, but we hit 100 a few times. The track was amazing. You don't realize how steep the banking in the turns is until you are on it! The slower we went, the more I had the sensation that we were going to roll down the hill, side to side! It was enough for me to join in Leda's chants of "Go faster Daddy, Go faster Daddy" just so that sensation went away!
We loved it! It was the most fun I've had at a track in quite some time!
We walked around and visited with several of the One Lap competitors, friends we hadn't seen in some time, some who hadn't yet met Leda! And we got to see Granddad and Fay and Uncle Wayne! They had fun on One Lap once again - my father's 20th! What glutton's for punishment! ;-)
We headed home after a while, Leda was complaining and wanted to go play in the hot tub some more! We had a great (HOT) day at Daytona. Hopefully we can do that again - or even better, Brock can some how convince Indianapolis to rent One Lap the track next year! ;-)
We had a great couple more days with Granddaddy and Grandma...Leda spent some more time in the hot tub, the Grandparents took her to the zoo and they had lots of fun feeding birds and the giraffes. And then we took Grandma and Granddaddy out to dinner for Mother's day on Friday before we left. I finally got them to take me to Whitey's Fish Camp. Awesome dinner!
Before we headed home on Saturday, we stopped by Uncle Tony and Aunt Diane's house and visited with them and Lisa and Randy and Brad and Kate joined us for lunch. Randy and Kate then took Leda and I on a Gator Ride around the farm. It was lots of fun! I think Leda and I are trying to come up with ways to talk Daddy into buying a big ole farm so we can get a Gator and ride around on it! ;-) We were so lucky to get to see some family, even if for a few hours, before we headed home!
Home we came on Saturday night and on Sunday night, Daddy came home and we had a great dinner of Thai takeout. It was good to be home and all together after a busy week!
More pictures from Daytona and our fun in Florida here. Courtesy of Granddaddy (Larry) Sweat and Grandma (Maureen) Sweat!
So, I contacted my Mom who lives 1 1/2 hours from the track and planned a week long trip with Leda - two-fold, Leda got to spend a week with her Grandma and Granddaddy and we all got to spend a day at Daytona hanging out with the One Lap. Oh, yeah, and maybe there might be a ride around the track thrown in there somewhere!
That was the plan, and it executed perfectly. Leda and I flew down to Florida on Saturday, the start of the One Lap and we had a wonderful couple of days hanging out with the 'rents (or the g-rents!) and going to the beach, and shopping, and playing in the hot tub! I had to work most of the week, one of the 'perks' of working remotely, I can work anywhere there is wifi. So, to save some vacation time, and having lots to do for work, I worked. But Leda got to spend time with her grandparents and that was most important.
On Wednesday morning, we got up, packed up the van and headed to Daytona. We got there just as the first session was winding down, so Brock could spend a little time with us. He mostly scooted off on the motorized bar stool with my child!
Believe me, the look in the picture is because she doesn't want her picture taken. She LOVED riding around on that thing with him!
Between sessions, Brock was going to do some hot laps with the MotorTrend guys - they covered the One Lap this year. Anyway, he told Larry to hop in back of the BMW and off they went! Larry got a hot lap of the full 24 hour course - top speed was 152. Larry was totally psyched! He loved it! He got a great picture from the backseat:
The MotorTrend guys took a great video of it as well!
After all that, Brock loaded us all into the BMW - Larry in the front, Me, Leda and Mom in the backseat (after we loaded Leda's car seat into the car!). And we lined up all the cars participating and took several parade laps around the NASCAR track. It wasn't near as fast as Larry's trip around the track, but we hit 100 a few times. The track was amazing. You don't realize how steep the banking in the turns is until you are on it! The slower we went, the more I had the sensation that we were going to roll down the hill, side to side! It was enough for me to join in Leda's chants of "Go faster Daddy, Go faster Daddy" just so that sensation went away!
We loved it! It was the most fun I've had at a track in quite some time!
We walked around and visited with several of the One Lap competitors, friends we hadn't seen in some time, some who hadn't yet met Leda! And we got to see Granddad and Fay and Uncle Wayne! They had fun on One Lap once again - my father's 20th! What glutton's for punishment! ;-)
We headed home after a while, Leda was complaining and wanted to go play in the hot tub some more! We had a great (HOT) day at Daytona. Hopefully we can do that again - or even better, Brock can some how convince Indianapolis to rent One Lap the track next year! ;-)
We had a great couple more days with Granddaddy and Grandma...Leda spent some more time in the hot tub, the Grandparents took her to the zoo and they had lots of fun feeding birds and the giraffes. And then we took Grandma and Granddaddy out to dinner for Mother's day on Friday before we left. I finally got them to take me to Whitey's Fish Camp. Awesome dinner!
Before we headed home on Saturday, we stopped by Uncle Tony and Aunt Diane's house and visited with them and Lisa and Randy and Brad and Kate joined us for lunch. Randy and Kate then took Leda and I on a Gator Ride around the farm. It was lots of fun! I think Leda and I are trying to come up with ways to talk Daddy into buying a big ole farm so we can get a Gator and ride around on it! ;-) We were so lucky to get to see some family, even if for a few hours, before we headed home!
Home we came on Saturday night and on Sunday night, Daddy came home and we had a great dinner of Thai takeout. It was good to be home and all together after a busy week!
More pictures from Daytona and our fun in Florida here. Courtesy of Granddaddy (Larry) Sweat and Grandma (Maureen) Sweat!
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