Exciting Times...

I realized today that I never posted about my exciting weekend. On Friday, Doug and I had a double date with our dear friends. We absolutely love hanging out with Chad & Lauren and are already looking forward to our next gathering. I love it because the gossip between Lauren & I doesn't change one bit, but the guys at least have a companion to roll their eyes at! (Lauren, I'm thinking since both of our men are now laid off~ Maybe they will cook dinner for us!! It's worth a try anyways.) We went to Lincoln and ate dinner at Guzzardo's. I LOVE THAT PLACE! Every time I go I say I am going to get JUST the soup & salad bar. The meals are way too big for my tummy to even attempt. BUT.... once I get to the delicious restaurant, I cave because the pasta smells amazing. Needless to say, I got a salad from the salad bar, a bowl of french onion soup, and a ginormous order of spaghetti & meatballs. YUM! I swear they use an entire box of spaghetti for each meal. I only ate a tiny portion of my main course, but had enough left over to eat lunch on Saturday and give Mark the rest of it for his lunch on Monday.

After Guzzardo's we headed to McLean to prepare for the big I.C.E. race. I was very nervous about attending the race on Saturday because I'm convienced that I am bad luck for Todd. The only race previous to Saturday's I have been to was in Casey... Todd crashed. We did not attend last year's I.C.E. race because Doug worked for Todd at Grady's Pizza. Todd was only an amateur last year... now he's a pro (he even signed a few autographs and had his picture taken with little kids during intermission!). The race had all different events. The races included amateur quads, pro quads, pro dirt bikes, mini bikes, and go karts.

I can not believe how intense those races are. I am so glad Todd does not race the bikes. I have included a picture of random pro. races to show how intense it really is.

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Todd's first qualifier went well. I was sitting by Patty who was a nervous wreck. Most of the guys who race preform every weekend in random locations. Todd is not a long distance traveler, in fact, his last ICE race was last year in Bloomington. He dirt races as often as he can, ice isn't much different...right? He was very excited but I think a little nervous. I wish I would have taken a picture of his tires with the 2,000 studs in place. They looked pretty cool!
First race, like I said, went well. I think Todd (#118) used it to get familiar with the ice and with the small track. The second race... well.... He was doing great! Going in to the third lap he was in second place... hooray! During the fourth lap he took a turn a little wide and then tried to nudge his way back in the pack when his quad flipped over (Told you I was bad luck!). I stood up I was so nervous! Todd was okay.... in fact.... he was so mad at himself that he flip the 4 wheeler back over like it weighed 2 pounds. I know he was disappointed in the way he finished, but we were very happy for him and glad he returned home with all four of his limbs!

I'm already looking forward to next year's race. I'm hoping I will be able to talk Alex in to going with us! After a night of high blood pressure and being loopy from all the exhaust, I can honestly say that my future children will not be following in Uncle Todd's footsteps!