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On Saturday afternoon, we went to our first NASCAR race! But let’s back up a bit and start from the beginning.
Saturday
On Saturday morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. because Chase made some noise in his crib and I couldn’t get back to sleep. One of these days I will be able to turn my mind off when that happens but that day wasn’t Saturday, so I got out of bed and headed downstairs for breakfast and some quiet work time on the computer. Ryan got up not long after me, and since our day began earlier than usual, I was able to make it to the early Burn Boot Camp class for a cardio sweat session.
I’m so glad I made it to the early class because everyone had a blast working alongside one of our favorite trainers on her birthday. Beth’s training style is my favorite. She combines humor with encouragement but definitely does not shy away from pushing you when you need it or when she can see you aren’t laying it all out there. (Plus, she plays a lot of throwback rap that seriously motivates me during a workout.)
We concluded the workout with 29 birthday burpees, one for each year of Beth’s life (birthday burpees are a BBC tradition) and I arrived home feeling sweaty and great. I love kicking off the weekend with a great workout!
Ryan and Chase were playing together when I walked through the door and after we fed Chase breakfast and I ate a bowl of overnight oats for breakfast number two, we headed out on a short walk with Sadie. It was beautiful outside and there were already a lot of people out and about enjoying the holiday weekend.
Our First NASCAR Race
Once we arrived home from our walk, Chase went down for his morning nap while we showered, ate lunch and got ready for the day. We had plans to drive to the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord for our first NASCAR race. To say I know nothing about NASCAR is an understatement, but we were all excited to see what all of the excitement is about because Charlotte is definitely a NASCAR-lovin’ city.
Ryan entered a drawing for tickets to the Hisense 4K TV 300 (part of the XFINITY Series) at work and since the original winner could not go and Ryan was the alternate, we were able to attend and ended up having a blast!
Though the big race of the weekend, the Coca-Cola 600, occurred the following day, there was still a lot of excitement surrounding Saturday’s smaller race and I was surprised just how much I enjoyed watching the race. There is an undeniable energy and a certain level of adrenaline you feel at a NASCAR race that’s electric.
We had earplugs for Chase but fortunately the suite we were in muffled a lot of the sound. I was still shocked by how incredibly LOUD the cars were, even though everyone warned us that it would be very noisy.
We weren’t sure how Chase was going to do at the race, but he was such a trooper! I think it helped that the suite had a lot of food available, so we busted out Chase’s bandana bib and spent a lot of the race distracting him with pieces of chicken.
Whatever works, right!?
(Blurry picture courtesy of greasy baby chicken fingers. Thanks, buddy!)
We left the race a little early because Chase started to get fussy and we knew we were pushing our luck, so his earplugs went in as we made our way back outside to our car.
Since Chase powered through his usual afternoon nap, he ended up falling asleep in his crib right when we got home and only woke up briefly a couple hours later to nurse before immediately falling back asleep. NASCAR definitely took it out of him and we gave him a bunch of baby high fives for doing so well at the race.
We spent the rest of our Saturday night at home with a sleeping baby and I used a lot of the time to prep some dishes for a barbeque with friends we had on the agenda for Sunday. I’ll be back with a recap of Sunday’s fun soon!
Hope you guys are enjoying the holiday weekend!
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Major props to Chase for doing so well at the race! I always love a good workout to kick off the weekend as well. It’s usually spin, but your classes always look like a lot of fun!
fun! i’ve never been to any type of car race – doesn’t really appeal to me but maybe i would be surprised like you!
Love this dress! Where did you get it?!
Thank you! I got it a couple of years ago, but I think it was from RueLaLa? The brand is Sugarlips. 🙂
Love your hair! What do you use to curl it?
Thank you! I just wrap it around the outside of the curling iron (away from my face), hairspray the heck out of it and then brush it out. 🙂
Julie can you do another post or an update on how you got your hair to be so long??? It looks amazing
Thank you!! You are so sweet! I honestly think pregnancy helped a lot with the growth/thickness, but I should do an update! I still swear by Lee Stafford’s hair growth treatment! I use it 2x a week or so!
I’m like you and know nothing about Nascar! I also love your hair! My hair is shorter now, but even when it was longer I could never get it to look like that.
Yay for going to a your first Nascar race! I have never been, but would love to go. 🙂 I liked watching your snaps.
Sounds like the perfect Saturday! And your hair is so amazing btw xx
I know nothing about nascar, I had to ask my husband why the cars looked different and what race it was, lol. But what a fun way to spend a Saturday!
I’d recommend over the ear sound cancelling headphones for the future. The in the ear ones are not that effective. Glad it wasn’t too loud for you guys though!
Agreed – and I wouldn’t have known this on my own. My father-in-law gave us all pairs of massive noise-reducing headphones for our first NASCAR trip. We use them for all kinds of stuff now – going on the ride-on mower with the kiddos, going to Monster Trucks (never in my life did I think I’d be a NASCAR and Monster Truck attendee but here we are…), and we loaned them out to friends last night when they went to an air show with loud jets. They’re surprisingly comfortable for kids and adults, and do a great job of blocking the noise. And my three year old just loves walking around the house wearing his 😉
Looks like a lot of fun. So good to try new things. Enjoy Memorial Day.
That sounds like an awesome weekend! I love the idea of birthday burpees 🙂 Whenever I program a workout, burpees always sneak in so it seems like a good way to make them even more fun!
Thats awesome that Chase did so well for the race! I thought I wouldnt enjoy going to a race but my dad growing up watched and still watched Nascar races every weekend on tv. So, i went with him and actually had such a good time!
Hope your bbq went well!
That’s so fantastic that he did so well at the race! I’ve only been to a NASCAR race once when I was a kid and I swear my ears were ringing for a week after! You don’t get any idea on tv just how loud those cars are!
Whoa! Chase really is a trooper! Those cars sure are NOT quiet. 😉
It looks like you guys had a really great start to your weekend!
The race was on at our home all day. My brother is a huge NASCAR fan… so much so that we literally have full sides of cars (like the body of a race car) in our house. He collects them- it’s crazy, but I kind of love it.
Haaa! Glad you loved the NASCAR race. Did you remember I used to work for Roush Fenway Racing in college? I commuted to Concord MWF and worked for Matt Kenneth’s PR account!
So much fun! We go to the Indy 500 each year (thus my ode to how amazing the race is on my blog today, ha) and it’s really such an amazing experience. Impressive that Chase stuck around for most of it though! Heck, I had trouble even in high school and our family is involved in racing, ha!
Glad you guys enjoyed!
XO, Jessica
http://www.semisweettooth.com
So awesome! I’ve been to a handful of NASCAR races in the past and you’re right, the excitement is ALWAYS contagious. My fiance actually used to race a stock car himself (in a smaller New York State series) for years and we loved it. We’ve met some pretty awesome people in our travels about the state. Glad you had a great time!
Chase is so adorable!
We live in Indianapolis, so the Indy500 was a big deal in our city this past Sunday.
Question: How do you do your hair? It always looks so nice with the waves. You should do a tutorial!