Youth Lake Day at the Wien's

The Wien's so graciously invited the Youth at church to come for a day at their house on High Rock Lake. They have an awesome game room (words of Dustin) and a great dock and pontoon boat that they let us use. The Youth had a great time and the weather and water were perfect that day. Don Juan's (yummy!) catered with all you can eat tacos and we had more than enough banana pudding and brownies...lets just say it will probably be AWHILE if ever that I make banana pudding again.

Not only did the youth have fun, but the adults were right there with them. We were all quite impressed by Ben's hoop jumping skills whether held still or thrown in the air...and I think Kevin made a nice Vanna.

I rode along with Jenny Beth, Becca, Jake, Anna, Savannah and Valerie while they took their turns on the tube. From what I hear it is not as exciting to just sit and ride so they experimented with moving around and jumping up and down. However if you slip it is really hard to get back on and Valerie fell in the hole one time and all I could see was hands and feet...needless to say it scared me half to death thinking her head was underwater. Thank goodness it wasn't and she was ok. We have a really great group and Dustin and I are excited to continue to volunteer with them and get to know them better.

A Day at the NC Zoo

Dustin had a day off during the week so we decided to venture out to Asheboro, NC to go the the North Carolina Zoo. We got an annual pass which later we found out will get us in for free to a lot of other Zoos & Aquariums throughout the states. We are hoping to be able to visit some of those within the next year and use our membership to its fullest. If anyone else has an annual pass we would love to go for the day so let us know (only if it's cooler weather though haha). We had a great time and it really is a neat zoo...but a warning for those who haven't been - it's A LOT OF WALKING! We were warn out after walking the whole park and were all trying to convince Abby to let us sit in the stroller for a bit.

ARCA Race in Newton, Iowa

For those who aren't aware of exactly what Dustin does in racing...here's a brief bio. Dustin started becoming involved in Dirt Racing during his Junior year in High School - he continued to race and worked for World of Outlaws stars such as Timmy McCreadie and Rick Eckert. He then moved down to Georgia for a bit and then on to North Carolina to join Team Dillon Racing. Dustin was on the crew from the beginning when Austin Dillon (grandson of Richard Childress) and his younger brother, Ty started racing dirt late models. As the boys progressed, Dustin continued to move with them and was given the opportunity last December to move to Richard Childress Racing (around the corner in the complex) & into asphalt racing. He currently works in the Nationwide Shop with a multitude of shop duties during the week and on the weekends he is the tire specialist and goes over the wall as the catch-can man. Austin has been racing in the East, ARCA and Nationwide Series' this year. Over the past few years Dustin & Austin have formed a close friendship and it's neat to see that grow and them get to continue to work together. Austin was actually the first to see our little Abigail in the hospital shortly after she was born.

On to the weekly update...Newton, Iowa! Dustin left early on Thursday morning to fly out for the ARCA race. Since the track wasn't opening until Friday morning, they drove to Knoxville, Iowa to tour the Sprint Car Hall of Fame Museum. Dustin grew up watching Sprint Cars with his Dad, so that was a treat for him. Friday they practiced and Austin set quick time in the 31 car. Saturday came qualifying and Austin scraped the wall leaving him with some front-end damage. Because of the damage they decided to go to the back-up car which meant they had to start last (which for this particular race was 37th). Having tested at Iowa before Austin knew the track pretty well and raced up to finish 2nd. Still waiting for that first ARCA & Nationwide win, the guys have worked so hard & we're praying it comes soon.

Happy 4th of July!

We weren't really sure what we were going to do for the 4th this year and just coming off vacation we knew it definitely wasn't going to be something that involved a lot of traveling.

Earlier in the day we went over to Jason & Jen's House (friend of Dustin's at the shop) and hung out by the pool. Abby got to use her crab floaty that I bought on clearance at Target at the end of last season for $3 (I love when I get great bargains like that!). She is definitely a water baby and loves anything to do with it.

After that we went back home and packed the car to go to Tanglewood's Firework show. We didn't know what to expect or how far we were going to have to park from where we could picnic so we packed "fairly" light (and if any of you know me you know that entire back of the Tahoe was full hehe :)) We got there about 6pm and it wasn't too crowded yet. We were amazed though that people had huge tents and were grilling out and playing games. That's when Dustin decided that we're going to do it BIG next year (this is an invitation for any of you that want to join us in 2010). He even started making a list of what he's bringing next year; grill, steaks, bocce ball, ladder golf (that he's in the process of building), glow sticks, etc. We had a great time and Chip & Katie and Ryan & Jamie met up with us too. We had an exciting game of Uno Attack and watched the folks across from us launch some homemade hot air balloons. The firework show was neat although the 3D glasses they passed out made my head hurt so I gave mine to Abby to munch on. It was good times with family & friends and we hope we have a larger group to enjoy spending time with next year.

Winston-Salem Dash Baseball Game

We went to the Winston-Salem Dash baseball game last night for a family night out and had a great time. Mom brought padded seats to sit on which was great because all the benches at the top were taken to park the stroller next to - so Dustin and I just sat on the ground and Mom sat in the last row of the bleachers in front of us. Surprisingly Abby had a good time as well and wasn't cranky all night. But of course when we got in the car she was immediately asleep. I think her favorite part was the constant flow of snacks during the game and the occasional lick of ice cream from Daddy. Although, she did enjoy dancing to the music between plays and yelling and heckling the players (see video).

The Dash beat Lynchburg 11-10 in the bottom of the 9th with a homerun. Then they had a spectacular fireworks show which was Abby's first time seeing fireworks. She loved them and was trying to sing along with the patriotic music being played. Thankfully the traffic getting out of the park wasn't too bad which was a nice end to a fun-filled night.