A Day at the Races

About once a week (usually Tuesdays) I have to put the kids down to bed by myself.  I am not good at this. So... my secret is that the kids and I climb into my bed, snuggle, and watch the movie Secretariat.  They love it.  Both of them can sit and watch the whole thing if they need to, but they really love the races.  Selah will ask "Where's Terry? (Secretariat)" and Ephraim knows which horse is Secretariat and which is Sham.

To fuel their love for the movie - in mid September we took the kids to Emerald Downs.  It was really overcast, but a lot of fun.

If you look closely - you can see that the track conditions says - sloppy.  Pure mud.

There is a lot of down time in horse racing - something I didn't know.  The kids enjoyed running around the open areas and playing on the benches.

They started with the shorter distance races (which start at the opposite side of the track), but we were seated right at the finish line.

I wish I had placed a bet on this horse.  I might have won a few bucks.

Playing on the fence.

The starting gate.

Off they go!

These guys work the starting gate and after it is moved to the side they were filling in the mud tracks with their boots.

At the end of each race 3 of these tractors would circle the track smoothing it out.

We checked out the bouncy house.

Shaped like a horse - fitting.

It started to rain while we were in the bouncy house - so we watched one last race and then went home.  Can you see the horses on the far side of the track?

It was a lot of fun to see in person what the kids and I enjoy watching once a week.  Maybe we will go next season too.