#43

We spent the weekend at the track. All four of us in a little RV with two large dogs. It was lots of fun! Matt woke up on Saturday morning and Chloe and Oliver were playing and he said, "See, kids don't need to stay at the Ritz Carlton to have fun!".

It certainly isn't the Ritz, but it's good family fun and bonding. We grilled out both nights with other families/friends and the kids ran around during an off-weekend at the track (no racing until Sunday for a motocross).

In other exciting racing news, the nationwide ranking for Micro came out this past week. Chloe is rated #43 in the country. She is so pleased, as she should be. It's pretty impressive and we are so proud of her. Right now she is the 2nd rated female micro driver in the country.

It totally made her week. She Face*timed one of her best friends when the results came out to tell her the news. Her friend was so excited for her too but we laughed when heard her ask, "Is that #43 in the county or the state?" Chloe responded with "neither!!! That's in the COUNTRY!!".

We have always wondered a bit whether this was all fun and games for Chloe--like a BIG playdate where in between she drives racing karts---uh, hello, what kid wouldn't like to do that? But, Saturday afternoon Matt and another Dad scheduled an impromptu race between Chloe and her Micro race pal ranked above her nationally. It was a 5-lap race and it started to rain causing the track to become slippery. Chloe likes driving in the wet. She thought she had it in the bag. BUT...

Chloe spun out. And spun out again and again. She was trying so hard. Too hard.

SHE WAS SO MAD!

Like ANIMATED mad.

TEARS.

STOMPING OFF.

MAD.

It was hard to watch her so upset. She really thought she had it won and wanted to beat the other kid and show him what she had. But, she spun and got frustrated and lost her temper and spun again.

BUT, now we know it's not all fun and games to her. She really wants to win. And her national ranking has made her driven--literally.

She went back to the RV, calmed down, hugged it out with Dad. I think it was a life-lesson for her and an awakening for us that she really wants to win. We just need to work on channeling it correctly. She doesn't need to drive mad and frustrated.

In a week and a half we will be taking our first BIG family road trip for a regional race in eastern Pennsylvania. RV, karts and all. We're a road-tripping race family.

Looking forward to it. It's going to be a little bit fun and games and a lot of racing.