Club Racing

We spent a lovely weekend at the track for Chloe's club race. It seems Chloe has some kids gunning for her. There has been lots of practicing and tweaking of karts on the part of Chloe's competitors. We thought Chloe would be in for some serious competition at Sunday's club race, but it didn't turn out that way. Chloe won handily.

Chloe carries the checkered flag as the kid kart winner.

Chloe also found out this weekend that we were buying her two more karts, a micro and a cadet. Yes, we have officially gone off the deep end. The karts won't be ready for a couple of weeks, but that didn't stop Chloe from taking some practice runs in a micro and competiting in the micro feature race.

Chloe made her debut in micro this weekend.

Chloe standing in front of her new CRG kart chassis. The kart on the right, a CRG Big Al 900 will be her micro
and the kart of the left, a CRG Hero 950 will be her cadet.

Like I alluded to at the start of this post, Chloe has become well-known at the track for winning and standing at first place for the kid kart podium. We're really proud of her and how she continues to improve her lap times, but we know just because she comes in first in kid kart each club race that doesn't mean that she is going into the much more competitive micro-kart level and going to win. So, I found it amusing at the awards ceremony for kid karts that two boys who compete in micro were discussing that Chloe made her "debut" in micro that day and high-fiving each other that they passed her during the race--the way they were discussing it, you would have thought Chloe was equivalent to Michael Schumacher. They were quite pleased with themselves on their overtaking of Chloe.

Chloe taking her first place podium finish for kid karts.

Everyone at the track is a big Chloe fan, but we are also realizing that she kind of has a target on her back now. Matt and I laughed when Chloe complained that a competitor tried to block her from passing on the track. She was really offended he didn't just let her lap him. Matt had to explain that was racing and the other kid wanted to win just as much as she did.

Chloe trying to overtake.

We laugh because Chloe always makes sure her competitors know exactly where to line up for the start of the race.

I love the goofy Go-Pro sticking out of Chloe's helmet. Chloe loves to watch the video as soon as we get home.

Chloe also made a fan of a professional photographer that came to the track a couple of weekends ago. He took some photos of Chloe racing that were really fantastic.

The professional photo of Chloe taken after a rainstorm at the track.

I also found it funny that this weekend I was asked no less than four times when Oliver would begin karting. Someone even asked if we would see him in a kart this season. I tried my best not to pull a face at them when I explained he just turned three, wasn't potty trained and pretty much had a mind of his own. I think it will be several more seasons of kart racing before anyone sees the little dude in a kart.

He's cute, but he's not getting into a kart anytime soon.

Reasons 1, 2, & 3--He still needs a nap, he still wears a diaper and drinks from a sippy cup. Does this look like someone capable of driving a kart around a track at 35 mph? Really? He's three.

A group shot of the competitors was taken for a track ad. I think from the range of ages in this photo and my two kids in the front of the photo, you can see its really laughable that someone would ask if Oliver were getting in a kart this season. But, perhaps its not that crazy when you know that all those little boys to the right of Chloe drive karts at 60 mph. I want to note that Oliver is making a face and has my iPad that he insisted he hold for the photo--he was playing a dirt bike racing game and just couldn't give it up to smile.

Uncle John

Uncle John came to visit this week on his way back to Arizona from seeing his family in NY. Oliver and Uncle John are buddies and Oliver especially thought Uncle John's motorcycle was cool.

Gift Certificates

The kids got several gift certificates to Toys 'r Us for their birthdays. We learned Oliver is decisive while Chloe can be a little less so.

Oliver quickly picked out a car.


 And another one....

He then found something he liked better, putting the cars back and opting for this toy instead.

 Meanwhile, someone else was perusing the entire store, searching. Hmmmm....I don't know what I want.

Chloe finally did make some decisions and we were able to make it out in an hour. Oliver had so much fun and was skipping and dancing with excitement.

Last Day of 2nd Grade

Its a hot one here today...

 The temperatures have climbed for the first full day of summer and for the last day of school. I was class mom this year so I spent a lot of time at school today (and this week for that matter) presenting end of year gifts and helping celebrate.

At the end of the day, I brought ice pops for the kids.

Oliver sat right next to Chloe. All of Chloe's classmates love Oliver. They are trying to convince him to sing "Baby, Baby" by Justin Beiber.

The last day of school is always exciting because the kids find out who their teacher for the next year will be and who will be in their class. I really think the parents are more nervous about this than the kids. Chloe's kindergarten teacher and her first grade teacher both moved to teach third grade next year. Chloe was convinced that she and her two pals were going to get her kindergarten teacher, whom she loved. It didn't work out that way. Chloe's best pal, Isa,  is going to be in Chloe's 1st grade teacher's class for third grade and Chloe got a different teacher, one she has never had. She was not disappointed though, as she got in class with her other favorite pal, Grace.

Oliver's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Oliver's 3rd birthday on Sunday since Chloe had a kart race on Saturday. Oliver got to open presents and then we went out to eat to celebrate both kids birthdays and father's day.

Taken Saturday, Oliver's actual 3rd birthday.

Oliver's presents.

Oliver got a child's digital camera and he enjoyed taking photos of his favorite gifts.

Oliver loved his Cars racer and crew chief set.

Once they finally opened the box, the build & take apart car toy was a huge hit with both kids.

Oliver also loved the Toy Story 3 landfill playset.

The cake.

Having a happy birthday.

Matt and the kids outside Mt. Fuji, where we ate dinner.

Mom, the kids and I at Mt. Fuji.

Chloe Wins Again

Chloe had a kid kart race on Saturday (Oliver's birthday). She came in first and BeBe got to see her drive. 

Oliver was a trooper on his third birthday. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday so he could have full attention. He loves the awards ceremony and he was practicing for when he drives karts in a couple of years.

Oliver's Cake Fail

I had big plans for Oliver's cake. Oliver had requested a chocolate cake with candy and I had a cute one in mind but the cake was a epic fail. For all my success with Chloe's cake, Oliver's ended up being a huge failure.

The plan was to make two chocolate bundt cakes and cut it into the shape of a 3, glaze it and decorate the whole thing with rainbow candies. That was the plan....

I am fairly certain I know where the plan went wrong. I used a recipe for a chocolate cake I had never used before (mistake #1) and after I mixed the batter for cake #1, I opened a new bag of flour, a brand I don't usually use (mistake #2). Long story short, my first cake (with the flour I usually use) came out just fine, after I switched flour, the cake would rise, spill over the pan and then collapse. My second cake came out about 1 inch tall. The third cake came out looking fine and crumbled and collapsed after it was cooled off and released from the pan.



The cake batter.

The third attempt collapsed.

 I wasn't going to attempt a fourth cake, so I resorted to the boxed variety.

It was a white cake, its all I had, but I knew it would work.

The first cake. The only chocolate cake that was a success.

So, I improvised, one half of the cake was chocolate, the other half was a boxed white cake. I used a chocolate glaze to cover the cake, but it was too runny and the candy pieces wouldn't stick and stay.

The glaze.

My separated, colored candy pieces.

 The whole cake was to be covered in candy, but I had to improvise. It was also 1:30 a.m. by this time and I was beat.

The finished cake. No where close to what I had planned.

Oliver's Pre-School Performance

The end of the year performance at Oliver's pre-school....

Chloe's 8th Birthday

Today marks Chloe's 8th birthday. BeBe flew in from Dallas and I picked her up while Chloe was at school. Chloe was very excited to wear the birthday sash in class today, but her teacher was out sick today and Chloe said the class was wild and kind of ruined her celebration.

After school we took Chloe to the hobby shop and BeBe bought her a RC car she can run on the dirt track at OVRP. Chloe was super-excited.

I made Chloe's favorite meal, spaghetti, and then we had cake and opened presents. After presents, Chloe and Matt took the RC car outside and put on a stunt show for everyone.

Matt lights the candles on Chloe's cake. She really thought the cake was cool and loved the little toy go-kart I topped the cake with.

Blowing out the candles.

Oliver didn't quite understand the concept that it was Chloe's BIRTHDAY and not his. He will get his chance in two days for his third birthday.

He did enjoy the cake though.

Chloe only wanted a small piece and only ate cake, no fondant.

Stick on nails--an 8 year olds dream.

Chloe loved her shirt from Grandad and Marie.

Oliver gave Chloe Fijits.

The birthday celebration ended with a stunt show.

Happy 8th Birthday Chloe!!!