Derby and Baseball

So the other day I posted a pic of all the cars, but here are some more pictures from the Derby. (Some of the photos were taken by me, others by Mel or Dan.)

Xavier putting his car on the track. He had a speedy little car, thanks to Daddy.

Mel's and my illegal cars. We just couldn't get the cow or Sox down to legal weight.


Ground view of the end of the track. Dan was poised to get a picture of his and Mel's cars as they came to the finish line.

Mel vs. Flower Power. Yay, Mel's car won some races this year! (Last year she had the slowest car.)





My pink car vs. Trout's car. We made the mistake of originally racing Trout in the legal category. Trout had whittled too much of his car away to use the axels (nails) provided in the kit. As a result we gave him a solid brass axle which made him super speedy.

The finish line. This picture of a bare track is something that Mel and I took many pictures of. It's hard to time the picture correctly to get cars in the frame. As a result we have empty tracks or just a corner of a car in the picture.

And then after the normal races they put a ramp on the end of the track, piled up some cars, and started jumping other cars. As a result of this, my cow lost a horn. :(









So, now on to Wednesday night. Chris and I took my mom to a Lowell Spinners game. My mom is a big baseball fan and listens to the Red Sox games on the radio. Some of you may not know, but my mom has MS (Multiple Sclerosis) which has left her legally blind as well as affected her energy, balance, walking abilities, etc. She uses a walker to get around.

Anyway, a few years ago I had taken her to a Red Sox game. I had taken her in a wheelchair since I knew there would be too much walking. Unfortunately the handicapped seats are all in the backs of the stadiums- no stairs. This meant that she couldn't see a thing. I'm lacking in baseball knowledge, so me trying to explain what was happening didn't go so well.

Well this year Chris and I thought maybe she would like to try a Spinners game. Tickets are $7, so no big deal if it didn't work out so well. We got there as the gates opened so that we could more easily get into our seats without crawling over people or blocking the stairs. It was hot when we arrived which always zaps my mom's energy. Plus, going down stairs is always harder than going up, so getting her into her seat was a challenge.

As to visibility, we were in the 6th row, just past 1st base. She said she could see that there were people there, but couldn't see what was going on. Luckily Chris was there to explain what was going on- to both her and to me.

And here are some pictures...