You Say Ketchup, I Say Catch-Up...Nebraska Trip

Hi everyone. The second post of our "catch-up" series is about the kids' great-grandpa, Pius "Papa" Selenke's induction into the BCRA (Big Car Racing Association) Hall of Fame. As some of you know Papa was a regional legend on the dirt-track racing circuit. He was a car owner for many years, and he was inducted into his 2nd hall of fame last month. The hall of fame is actually in Colorado, but the ceremony was in Lincoln, Nebraska.....or "stinkin' Lincoln" as SOME would refer to it as! Bucko, Uncle Jim, Aunt Paula, Moni, Laine (yes, just Laine) and I went to represent the Selenke family.

Laine had been being quite the terror for the couple weeks leading up to the event, and while Aunt Lainie wanted to take on the challenge of all four of them, Moni and I decided to take our little butthead with us to lessen the work for her. We also thought that some special two-on-one time would benefit our little man. On the ride up, everything went pretty well and that night at the ceremony things were good. The place where the event was held, Bill Smith's Museum of American Speed, was an incredible location with lots of cars for Laine to look at.

Laine is obsessed with cars, and saying the word "CAH" every time we see one. That is another reason we took Laine with us. I am not kidding, he will sit and watch a NASCAR race for 30 minutes (which is a long time for a 20-month old). We have also taken the kids to the dirt-track races at 81 Speedway and Laine was so entertained. He thought it was so funny when the cars and the noise would pass by. He'd sport the biggest grin and start giggling with each lap.

Laine was very well behaved for the entire trip up, the ceremony, and the next day...until McPherson, KS on the way home. From McPherson to past Park City he SCREAMED. For those of you who don't know, that is 45 uninterrupted minutes of some of the loudest screaming I have heard from any of the Quad Squad. We learned that 5 hours straight in a car is too much time for them to handle. Valuable lesson to learn for future reference! For the trips that we have planned for the fall, we will either travel through the night or take a couple breaks during the trip (about every 3 hours would be ideal).

This was during the aforementioned 45 minutes of hell. Notice the disheveled hair, red face, and if the picture would have been more clear, you'd have seen the snot running down as well.


The calm before the storm.....he was giving us a false sense of security.


After the ceremony we stopped at a steakhouse for dinner. Laine decided to drink his dinner.

On the way to the ceremony.

Bucko holding Papa's plaque. Uncle Jim gave the speech and did a great job.

Looking at all the cars really wore us out.

But, boy was it fun before we were tired.

There he is with the Selenke tongue, looking for some more "CAHS" to see. He was also CRAZY-FASCINATED with the shiny, smooth brick floor. He kept bending over to touch it.

One of the cutest things he has ever done: When we first got to the place, he was so quiet and awestruck. I was holding him and he was looking all around and was just whispering "CAH, CAH" in my ear. It was so cute.

Laine really enjoyed having free reign in the hotel room, too. He finally grew accustomed to the idea that he didn't have to compete with anyone else for play time and attention. He seemed to be having fun climbing all over the furniture, jumping on the bed, sticking his hand in the Kleenex dispenser (you know, the really big things) and roaming around without worrying about who was gonna knock him over and take over his space. I think he could have assumed an "only child" role without even batting an eye!

Like I said, he REALLY enjoyed all of the roaming room.

REALLY!

Billy