Fun Family Night

I realized something this evening. I mentioned in my Christmas post that the kids got tickets to a Monster Truck show for Christmas. We went last Saturday night. It was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it, too. I couldn't help but get tickled at J., though. He is so serious sometimes, and then so doggone goofy other times. We were sitting there watching the show, and I kept asking him if he was having fun, because he looked SOOOO serious. Every time I asked him he just kind of nodded his head and kept watching. A. was pretty giggly the whole time.

They did a couple of freestyle rounds where each truck had 15 seconds to do stunts and crush the cars on the field. That was pretty fun. Then they did qualifying for the race and chose the fastest Monster Truck. The kids had their favorite. It was called Reptoid. It was customized to look like a dragon of sorts. It was pretty cool. My favorite, though, was Bigfoot. After all...that was the original Monster Truck.

Then as a surprise treat (I didn't know about this part when I bought the tickets), they had a small motocross dirtbike team there that came out to do some stunts before intermission. They did two rounds of freestyle stunts, one before intermission and the other after. I have to say...I was pretty impressed with the portable equipment they used. They used two portable ramps for their stunts. I was scared to death they were going to roll away right as one of them was in the air and then he'd have nowhere to land. We were all really impressed with their skills. Then for the finale, the trucks did the final race and a final round of freestyle.

I have to share this with you all though. My friends and readers who are or were associated with the military in any way will appreciate this. The emcee announced that he was going to open the show the only way he knew how and then introduced the County Sheriff's Department Color Guard. As soon as they entered the field with the American Flag (and the State flag), we of course stood up. So did everybody else in the arena! I was pleasantly surprised at that. I hear stories all the time about people not showing respect to the Flag anymore. They started playing Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." while the emcee is still talking, saying that he dedicated the event to those who fight for our freedom, and the freedom of others. I can't express here how touching it was, because it was one of those situations where you just had to be there. Then he asked anyone who was still seated (I didn't see anybody who wasn't standing) to please stand for the National Anthem, and a young lady came out to sing. As she was singing, there were some kids in the same row as us who sang along. I was SO PROUD! They weren't yet teenagers. I remember being very pleased when the music teacher at my kids' school in Germany announced that he was ensuring that his students (mostly the 4th graders and older I think) learned the Anthem because there are too many Americans who don't know it. Anyway, I was in tears by the time we sat back down after the Color Guard left the field. Even the hubby's eyes looked a little moist from my point of view.

I tried to add pictures but keep getting an error page. Maybe later. Anyway, it was a nice night. I just love that my kids are getting old enough to where we can do things that everybody enjoys. We all went to a Trace Adkins concert back in the beginning of November, and we all enjoyed that too.

The weather's supposed to be nice this weekend. J. has a basketball game tomorrow at noon. After that we thought we'd try to do some riding. Now that the kids have helmets and P.'s bike is ready, that's something else we can start enjoying as a family. I talked to my mom, and she and her boyfriend were already talking about taking the bikes out this weekend. So we might all try to go together. Hopefully it won't rain.