Meeting Lightning McQueen

As you may remember from Ryan's potty party, he is a fan of Lightning McQueen and anything Cars related.  Except the movie.  We actually tried, but Lightning got lost and tangled up in the fence and he was done.  Even in his (many) Cars books, whenever he sees a picture of Lightning tangled up he covers his eyes and turns the page.  But he knows every character (even the new characters of Cars 2), and has many Cars books that he loves to read, and has several Lightning McQueen toy cars that he sleeps with every night.  Well, we live not too far away from the Michigan International Speedway, and every time we drive by he yells, "There is where Lightning McQueen races!  My car races there!"  So, Lucas and I have been planning for a while to head over there one of the days during a race weekend this summer.

We finally made it.  As you will see in the pictures, it was a challenging environment for my noise-sensitive little man (and to think he had to go for special testing after he was released from the hospital because they were worried about his hearing...).  But we went prepared (earplugs and earmuffs...one pair...but we figured Ryan was the only one who would need the extra layer).

For the first little while we were there we just walked around and got the lay of the land.

 We discovered that Allie will kiss any fish - not just the ones she catches...

 They had a kids' zone where you paid for a wrist band and they could come and go and bounce on the many bounce houses all day.  We were totally in - which was great because it was the biggest hit of the day.

 They both got some pretty good air...

 ...and Allie consistently amazed her brother with her acrobatics!

 They were doing practice laps, so we headed into the Grand Stand to watch.  We discovered, on the way in, that Allie needed something around her head to help hold her earplugs (designed for much bigger ears) in. I improvised with what I could find in the bag.  We went in, found seats, and watched the trucks do laps (the cars were practicing later).

 He hated the noise, but didn't want to look away.

 I tried to get a picture of the cars as they went by, but they were too fast for my camera.  The pictures below were taken in sequence...and cars passed by in each of the spaces...

 I had to get the pictures from far off to make sure I actually caught them.

 Success!  Sort of...

We didn't stay in the Grand Stand for long.  First they had to go to the bathroom.  Then Ryan begged to go back, but Allie didn't like it and left to bounce.  Ryan was determined to stay - especially until he saw Lightning McQueen - but the siren call of the bounce houses drew him away.  He told me that he had so much fun, but he was sad that he didn't get to see Lightning McQueen or bring any of the race cars home.  I think he was planning on inviting them to live with us...

Next year, little guy.  We'll take better, noise-cancelling headphones, and stay to see Lightning.