Daytona 500 ~ 2009

Here are some pictures of us at the actual race. After the Nascar Experience we worked our way through to all of the trucks to check out some of their gear. Or, let me rephrase that, we went to Jeff Gordon and then Jimmie Johnson's trucks and got the boys a few things.

I don't think you realize how big the raceway is until you are actually there. It was a lot of walking and Dakota got tired pretty quick. They do not allow strollers of any sort in so I ended up putting him on my back and carrying him to our seats. Once we FINALLY got settled in the race began. Keith Urban performed before hand and then Tom Cruise started the race. (didn't get to see him, dangit) I didn't realize that Daytona Beach is where they filmed Days of Thunder. We rented the headsets for the boys. They were able to listen to the drivers and pit crews communicating back and forth throughout the race.

There is NO way that we were going to get those off of Dakota. Bridger's lasted a couple of minutes then he was ready to head down and get some sort of a treat. He was sooo funny, he really was trying to be patient, but kept on asking when we were headed back to the beach. It was pretty funny. His has his mother's ADD. jk Well, with about 47 laps left, it started pouring and they called the race. Matt Kenseth ended up winning, which Dakota was alright with. He likes him too. It was quite an adventure to get back to the car in the pouring rain and a bunch of rednecks. :D It took us about 4 hours to get back to Orlando which should only be about an hour. We were all wore out and ready to hit the sack. We had planned on going to Universal Studios the following day, but the boys begged us to go back to Cocoa Beach instead. So we did. Dakota's legs were pretty sore and blistered a bit from walking anyway and I think we all just wanted a relaxing day before we headed back home.

We just want to thank everybody so much for the support you have given to Dakota to make his "dream" come true!!! The Dream Factory is such a wonderful organization and I would encourage everybody to look and see what incredible things that they do for these kids! We will never forget this experience and yes, DAKOTA'S DREAM CAME TRUE!!!