Summertime Fun!

July 2013

 

Summertime is HOT in Texas, but the Mhire family found some ways to beat the summer heat.  After over 11 years and 170 thousand miles, Tommy decided it was time to let go of his beloved BMW last December, but only to upgrade to the latest model.  After he bought the new car, he joined the local BMW club and started participating in their Autocross races.  I wasn't really familiar with Autocross, but they set up cones in a large open lot, individually race around the cones as fast as possible and try to beat other racers' times.  He loved it so much, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and join him in doing something he enjoyed, so I accompanied him out to a race one Saturday while Nana and Papa watched the kids.  Yes, I actually raced!  Everyone was a little nervous after my first drive around the cones at a less than speedy rate.  Thanks to Tommy's advice and the help of another racer who joined me in the car to teach, I rapidly improved.  By the end of the tenth run, I most definitely earned the title of most improved racer for the day!  Here I am before starting my first race: 

And here's Tommy.  Of course, he won the novice class for the day, and would go on to win the class for the whole season.  Way to go!

Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what its like.  Here are a few cars lined up at the starting line:

And Tommy's car on the course:

He even took a video of me on one of my turns around the course:

While I don't think Autocross is my passion, it was really fun to be able to spend the day with Tommy and experience something that he loves so much.

On July 9th, I turned 35 years old.  Yikes!  No longer in my "early thirties," I guess.  My wonderful husband with a chocolate allergy made me the most chocolatey cake I've ever seen - Chococate cake, chocolate icing topped with chocolate chips!  Even though he couldn't taste it as he was making it, the cake was delicious and enjoyed tremendously by the other three members of the Mhire family!

As you might imagine, we spent plenty of time at the neighborhood pool.  Jack liked to jump off the side of the pool and swim to Mommy or Daddy about 15 feet away.

He also learned to swim with his head under water and come up for breath.  Fortunately, Mommy's new camera also knew how to go underwater:

Olivia wasn't a very big fan of the float.  We got these photos right after we put her in it, and I'm sure in another minute, she was ready to be out:

 

 She much preferred to be held by Mommy or Daddy and kick around in the water:

 

Or her very favorite, stand up on the shallow ledge and run as fast as she could until the shelf ended and the water got deeper - with Mommy or Daddy there to catch her, of course:

Back home in the wagon after a fun day!