Canada Day... Redneck style

Friday, July 1st, was Canada Day (just a little FYI for my American friends and family!) and we did our best to make our red and white day memorable!

We had a lazy morning with a breakfast of waffles, white sauce, and strawberries (one of my very first "Canadian" meals!) and went to a free kids carnival after nap time. But the HIGHLIGHT of the day was heading to a small little town (about an hour away) for their annual lawn tractor race and Canada Day celebrations!

**Jon originally started with a hood, but coming into the fourth corner of the FIRST race both a hard bounce and gravity helped shed some extra weight to speed up lap times! :) **

Jon was competing for the 2nd time, along with his seasoned buddy, Josh... and the girls, Nana Barb, and I just couldn't resist the free entertainment, cause without a doubt ya'll know it's going to be EN-TER-TAIN-ING indeed! The races started at 8:30 pm... and since that's the girls bedtime, I was a little concerned about how they would fare. |Needless to say... they did fantastic! They were, by far, the loudest and more adoring fans there!

The stash of M & M's sure helped keep the troops rallied...

... as did the oyster crackers, sunflower seeds, and apples! :)

There were several events... regular ole' racing, weaving between cones, etc. etc. But this particular event was a relay race to see which team could get done first. The object was to push this barrel down to the other end of the track, and then a team mate would push it back, and so forth and so on.

My hubby... taking time to give me "love you eyes" before his turn! *sigh*

And now, back to business!

Jon did so well, ya would have thought he practices this little maneuver at home... which he doesn't, I assure you. At least I don't think so. I'll have to watch closer next time he mows the lawn! :)

For such a small (SMALL!) town the crowd was pretty impressive!

We managed to find a spot, tucked in among some trees... better to hide the fact that we brought enough food for a thanksgiving dinner, I guess!

So...  THIS event is the most comical of all.

The driver of the tractor is blind folded... and his buddy has to tell him where to steer, turn, etc. to make their way SAFELY through an obstacle course.

The guys were just about to go, when they had a wee little break down. So basically EVERY male I knew at the race ran out there to give them a hand!

Judges and all!

Though Josh was of little help... being still blind folded and what not!!

After a push start / test run they were ready to give her another go... and since Jon was tethered to the tractor, he took the opportunity to go for a short jog!

A double check to make sure Josh can't see... and...

OH, wait! Did I mention that another team is running along side of them? Well that there makes it EVEN funnier!

Josh and Jon's competitor's looked like they knew what they were doing. They had made a handy dandy little tapper unit and everything.

No, no... not Josh and Jon. They had no such fang dangled equipment. They were relying on old fashioned shoulder and head smacks!

I have no pictures of the actual race (cause I was video taping it for extra laughs at a later time!) but I can assure you of three things.

1. They won the race by a long shot

2. This turned out way WAY better than the year when "their tractor malfunctioned" and they ended up in the crowd (wish I could have been there to video tape THAT one!)

and

3. There was a LOT of helmet hitting to get Josh to stop.

Thankfully he still had a whole TWO feet to go before he blindly ran smack dap into the back of this tractor and scraper!!

The last race of the evening was just a see-how-fast-you-can-go-around-the-barrels one.

Josh (yellow helmet) and Jon were going "brother against brother" on this one...

But due to some tractor trouble (anyone surprised?!?!) our star competitor didn't quite take the gold!

But our little cheering squad did our best to let him know we were still his # 1 fans!

Now ain't this just the motliest crew ya ever did see? :) My husband is the one with the super duper wet rear end. No, no... he didn't wet himself from all the excitement, it just happened to have rained the night before, and this tractor DOES NOT even come close to having garage privileges!

Our "star of the evening" may not have won the whole shi-bang, but the winnings he brought home were 4 times the investment of the tractor. So maybe teaching will be a career of the past!! :) 

Lawn tractor racing here we come... 

It was a late night (we didn't roll into until around midnight) but the girls managed to stay awake for most of the ride home! We chose to head out before the the towns fireworks event but Alia had an exciting job of spotting any "fire lights" that she saw in the distance. From here on out every twinkling light is considered a "fire light" in her books... so Canada Day will live on for MANY trips to come!!