Gentlemen, start your engines!

An old friend of my husband’s works for a Nascar racing team.  Kyle Busch, to be exact.  He stopped by last weekend and this beast had been parked outside our house for several days.

I believe that Nos is the main sponsor for Kyle Busch and my husband’s friend basically said he gets paid to throw parties.  

Now, I’m not a Nascar fan but he offered us a chance to go to a race and be on the infield.  So, a “hell yes!” was in order. 

We drove to Dover, DE early on Saturday morning to get there by 7:30 AM.  After getting to the hotel and getting settled we headed back out with his friend and headed onto the speedway.  I can now say that I have driven (well, I was in the car…that counts, right?) on an actual racetrack.  It was pretty cool. 

The giant Nos bus/mansion on wheels was parked on the infield and we helped set it up for party.    The people who came mostly worked for Nos corporate or Sunoco, who is another sponsor I believe.

  

Since it was early, we entertained ourselves while we waited for others to arrive.

They had set out Scrabble and Yahtzee, but I don’t think anyone actually played.  They mostly indulged in the free food and booze.

Before the race (which I found out later wasn’t the actual race, but a minor league race or something to that effect…the big race was on Sunday) we got a chance to meet Kyle Busch.

You know…this guy?  Don’t worry, I had no idea who he was either. 

But, he was awfully cute and an overall nice guy.  At least, from what I saw in the 10 minutes he was there.  And since I’ve met him and he was so awfully cute, I now had to root for him to win.  Besides, I didn’t really know much (or anything) about any of the other drivers.

The race didn’t start until 3 so it was a LONG day of waiting.  We watched the time trials.  They had these handheld tv thingys with headphones so you could listen to what was going on.

   

After the time trials there was a whole lot of nothing going on.  I was beat from being up since 5 AM and all I wanted was a nap.  Unfortunately there was nowhere to do so.  I was surrounded by drunken idiots and your typical redneck butt cracks.

By about 2:30 I could hardly keep my eyes open so I threw in the towel and went back to the hotel to take a much needed nap.  I had intended to come back to catch at least some of the race but it was such a pain in the rear to get back to the hotel that there was no way I was up to doing it again to go back.

I got a ride on a golf cart to the crossover bridge from a very nice gentleman but first he took me (and Courtney went with me back to the hotel) through the driver’s buses/mansions on wheels.  I had no idea that they stayed on the infield.  I would have thought that they would be staying in a fancy hotel.  He pointed out various driver’s buses but only a few names rang a bell.

  This one belonged to Dale Earnhardt Jr.  I did recognize that name.

After being dropped off at the crossover bridge they began introducing the drivers and I think what I was taking pictures of was an exhibition before the race.  I’m not sure.

I think this was Tony Stewart.  I’m ashamed to admit that I know this because of those cheesy Burger King commercials.

After leaving the speedway, we had to walk back to the hotel and I think it was about a mile or so.  We were supposed to have another golf cart waiting on the other side of the crossover bridge but we couldn’t find it so we had to walk.

The long walk definitely solidified the fact that I wasn’t going back to the race.  I was beat.  I fell asleep and stayed asleep until they came back around 7:30.  And I could have slept longer.  I would have loved to catch some of the race but oh well.  Maybe we’ll have another opportunity again someday

Back home again

Although our vacation was much too short, it was just what I needed.  I needed to be out of this house.  Away from work.  Away from my life.

I actually had fun.  I enjoyed spending time alone with my husband.  I enjoyed just being. 

As soon as we got our stuff settled in our room we headed down to the beach.  Well, it was more than a room.  It was a suite!  It was really nice.  Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, dining room and a full kitchen.  We are so thankful for the gift.  I’m trying to come up with something nice to give back to her as a thank you.

The weather wasn’t great but it could’ve been worse.  It was overcast and in the 70’s on Friday and Saturday and finally on Sunday it was sunny and in the 80’s.  But we stayed inside to catch the Raven’s game (first win of the season!). 

 

We stayed in the building on the left on the second floor on the left side.  We could see the ocean from the balcony.

The water wasn’t too cold.  Not warm enough for swimming (not that I would be caught dead in a bathing suit anyway) but just right for getting my feet wet.  I usually go for deep reds but I thought that the turquoise would be a fun change.

Courtney tried so hard to get his kite to fly but he just wasn’t having much luck.  There was plenty of wind…until we got on the beach.

I think at this point his kite needed CPR.

He finally got it to fly after we got off the beach.

I have a confession to make.  I was born and raised in Maryland.  Just outside of Annapolis nonetheless.  And I have never eaten crabs before.  If you aren’t familiar with Maryland than it’s not such a shock but crabs are a Maryland staple.  I’m 30 years old and it’s high time I at least tried them.  Let me tell you….they are DELICIOUS!  I’ve had crab dip and crab soup before and I love them but I really liked eating just the crabs alone.  Our waitress was nice enough to show us how to “pick” them. 

Although they are a little pricey, they were so yummy.  We will definitely have them again.

After dinner we took a walk on the boardwalk.  We browsed the cheesy souvenir stores.  We got some boardwalk ice cream.  And we rode the ferris wheel.

The next day we drove up to Rehobeth Beach, DE.  It’s not too much different than Ocean City but it was something to do.

 

We had breakfast (although it was probably close to 2:00) at a little diner.  Can you tell Courtney was getting annoyed with my picture taking?

They even had the syrup on the table a la Rain Man.  I didn’t get pancakes though.  I got french toast and it was yummy.

The rest of the evening was pretty low key.  We walked the boardwalk again and afterwards  we decided (well, it was my idea) to go back to our room and play a drinking game.  We watched Half Baked and every time Jim Breuer said “man” we took one drink.  Every time they smoked pot we took two drinks.  And any time Sir Smoke Alot was on you had to finish your beer.  We couldn’t even make it through the entire movie.  I had to throw in the towel first but Courtney didn’t last much longer than I did.  All in all, it was a fun night.

Again, we stayed in this afternoon to catch the game and left as soon as it was over.     

Now that we’re back I am trying so hard not to fall in my usual ruts.  I don’t want to mope around the house anymore.  I don’t want to feel depressed anymore.  With my due date coming up this Saturday it is going to be an extremely hard task but I am going to really try.

Vacation

Tonight I will be leaving for a short (tonight through Saturday or Sunday) vacation to Keene Valley, NY. It's waaaaaaaaay upstate New York, near Lake Placid. I've been going there since I was a kid. It's so peaceful and quiet there.

Anyway, while there is no internet access at the house I believe they finally have a wireless set up at the library so I will try to do some posting at some point. I have a few posts in my head, just haven't had the time to edit the photos. With at least 4 days and no television to distract me I will have PLENTY of time to do that.

Could this be it?

Courtney and I just got back from Mexico and it was so nice to have a week of relaxation. We really needed it. It was also good to see his parents and some friends of ours from California who we haven't seen since we moved. They had a son a little over a year ago so it was great to finally meet him. He's such a cutie. Courtney's parent's are going to retire in a small town called San Felipe which is fast becoming a retirement community for many Americans. It's a picturesque little town and I definitely look forward to visiting again! I was sad to leave but so happy to get back home to our doggies. They missed us so much!

Hot Springs in Puertocito

View of San Felipe from Courtney's parents' community

Sticking my feet in the not so warm water. (It was winter there...60 degrees...lol)

Derek, Amy and Jake, Me and Courtney, Rosalie and Chuck

Puertocito was so tiny this was their Post Office and Library. Seriously.

And these are the little angels we were missing!

So, according to my not very accurate calculations, I believe I ovulated while we were on vacation. Good thing, since we were able to sneak in a few "baby making" sessions. ;o) I'm hoping we timed everything right. I should know in the next few days as my period is due any day now. I plan to take a pregnancy test this Saturday if it doesn't show by then. I'm feeling like it's about to start but that could also be a sign of pregnancy. Grrrr...mother nature is a bitch!

Another year bites the dust....

Well, it's now 2008 and hopefully something fruitful will come out of this year. I received somewhat good news from the doctor. She said that I have an under active thyroid. Basically it means that my thyroid gland is under producing a hormone that is sent to my brain which in turn overproduces another hormone to compensate. This is the main reason I'm always tired and have gained some weight over the last year. She said it really shouldn't affect the chances of getting pregnant but that if I was to become pregnant it would be important to stay on the medicine she prescribed me so that the baby doesn't develop a thyroid problem. So I've been on the medicine for almost a month now and I have to go back for more blood work in a few weeks. I haven't' really noticed a difference in anything yet but she said it would take about a month for it to work it's way in to my system.

Courtney and I are going to Mexico to visit his parents in two weeks and I was hoping to drop 20 pounds by then, but no such luck. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? Oh well. We'll still have a great time. We haven't had a real vacation since our honeymoon over two years ago. This will be a much welcomed and needed week. We haven't seen his mom since we moved back to MD two years ago although we have seen his step dad a few times when he was in MD for work. It'll be nice to catch up with them. Plus our friends and their son will be there and we haven't seen them since she was pregnant so that will be an added bonus. I know Courtney misses his family and friends and the whole San Francisco scene but I think he's happy here in MD. I know how he feels though. I moved away from my friends and family when I moved to CA to be with him. Maybe one day we will move back but the reason he wanted to move us here was so that we would be close to my family when we started our own family. What a sweetheart. Hopefully we don't have to wait much longer for that.

As far as trying to get pregnant, we are taking this month off. I just signed up for Aflac at work and enrolled in their short term disability insurance so that I will still get 60% of my pay when I go on maternity leave. The only catch is that you have to have the insurance for 10 months before they will give maternity benefits. So we start trying again in February and if successful, hope for a full term pregnancy. I just don't know how I would afford to be off work for 6 weeks without pay. I like to plan ahead if I can.

Courtney got a bonus from work (finally!) so we treated ourselves to a new TV. We haven't had a new anything other than our bed and mattress set a few years back. We usually take hand me downs from family so this was really nice. We bought a 37 inch flat screen HDTV television and it is NICE! We watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3 on it last night and it was AWESOME! If we could just get a new couch.....