The Demolition Derby

As some of you may remember from Maddi's fourth birthday post a few years back, fourth birthdays at our home are somewhat of a special occasion. Whereas my children get a full-on birthday party for their first, second, and third birthdays, fourth birthdays represent a transition away from traditional birthday parties into more personalized celebrating. Beginning with their fifth birthday, the kids can invite a friend or two to go on a special outing; however, fourth birthdays are an all-out family affair. For Maddi's fourth birthday, we took her to the American Girl Store in New York City. We ate lunch at the Cafe, got her dolls' hair done at the doll salon, and then even got her tickets to see the world famous Rockets! It was a fabulous outing that Maddi (and her mommy) just loved! It was an outing that I had wanted to go on for years.

After planning and executing such a wonderful celebration for Maddi, it wasn't long before I started to wonder what we would do for Spencer's fourth extravaganza. Initially, I thought I would turn the day over to Nicholas and let him plan the agenda. After brainstorming ideas with him; however, I realized he needed a little more imagination and we decided to plan the outing together. Some of our initial ideas included going to sporting events, or participating in sporting events. Then, after considering how "sporty" our little Spence is, we moved on to bigger and better ideas. Since Spencer loves farming equipment, we contemplated renting a John Deere tractor for the day, or contracting a farmer to let him ride on all of the equipment. This proved rather impractical. Plus, we wanted the outing to be meaningful, to be something that Nick could relate to from his own childhood. This lead us eventually into the world of cars. At first we looked into car races, or as Nick used to attend, the drag races. Then we thought of going to a monster truck show. This was our favorite idea of all, but after weeks of searching we finally gave up quite satisfied that there wasn't a monster truck show within a month of his birthday or a thousand mile radius. I was so disappointed. And I didn't know what we would do. Desperate for something, I happened upon the website of a nearby county fair one day. It had an advertisement for their "world-class" Demolition Derby. "What's a Demolition Derby?" I asked Nick that night. "What's a Demolition Derby!" he cried. "It's perfect, that's what!" And so Spencer's fourth birthday outing was born. We would go to the Cannon Falls, MN Demolition Derby to be held on Saturday July 3rd, only two days after his fourth birthday.

Once the outing was determined, next came initiating the proper enthusiasm on the part of our three year old. In order to achieve this, Nick pulled up a You-tube video of some random demolition derby and with one sitting, Spence was hooked. "Can I watch some more crashing cars?" he would ask--every single day. And of course, my red neck husband was quick to oblige. Soon we had it marked on the calender and every day Spencer would ask to count how many days until the Crashing Cars Show. It was so cute!

With the proper enthusiasm in place, the next priority was to make sure we obtained tickets to the show. After searching and searching, we couldn't seem to find any information on how to get tickets. So, there was only one thing to do: drive to Cannon Falls and see if we could locate the fairgrounds. It was an easy 45 minute drive, and even easier getting the scoop on the tickets. We stopped at the first gas station in town to ask for directions to the fairgrounds, and at the very mention of the words "demolition derby" everybody in the whole place turned around. Then the commotion began. Apparently the Demolition Derby is the highlight of the Cannon Falls summer. This should have been our first clue that we were in for a real treat. The second clue should have been the arm wrestling match we had to win to get a hold of the tickets! Well, not really, but that would have made for a good story. As it turned out, you didn't need to get tickets in advance. All we had to do was show up at the Cannon Falls County Fair, and the rest would simply follow.

With the tickets taken care of, now all we had to do was wait for the big day. And soon enough, it did arrive. After celebrating Spencer's birthday, first with the Hoskins in mid June (he got his golf clubs and got to go on a special golfing trip with Daddy and Grandpa), and then again on his real birthday, it was finally time for his big 4th birthday extravaganza. We spent the morning and afternoon of the third at our ward 4th of July party, and then at last, loaded into the car to drive up to Cannon Falls. The drive stretched on and on, except for the two minutes when we thought we were going to get pulled over, and finally we got to the county fairgrounds. We picked up our derby tickets, and then spent a little time pursuing the fair before the show began. First we went over to the animal barns and the children's petting zoo.

Here are Daddy and the boys checking out the cows,



and then of course, the girls petting the cows.



After that, we couldn't resist letting our little piggy get a piece of their little piggy,



and giving the kids a good old fashioned pony ride!






After the petting zoo and the pony rides (we saved the donuts and carnival rides for after dark) it was finally time to head over to the Demolition Derby. (aka the crashing cars!) Not without picking up some quality "fair food" first though.

Here are the kids in the bleachers. (And did I mention we talked another family into going to this with us! They had never been before either, and what good sports they were. Thanks Ercanbrach family!)



And here are Spencer and Nick scoping out the contestants as they entered the arena.



Once all of the cars were in position, and the gun fired for the start of the derby, all heck broke loose. Cars started banging and crashing everywhere, and oh what a racket it was! Their engines roared, their bumpers crashed. There were firemen to put out the fires, and paramedics to help the injured. After only a few minutes I was practically speechless. The only thing that kept coming into my mind was, "Now this is quality entertainment!" The look on Maddi's face as the cars crashed around said it all. It was a far cry from her recent dance recital! "They are not even racing!" she declared after a few minutes of utter confusion. "I know Maddi," I replied. "I know." But there was no hint of regret in either of my boys' faces. They watched in sheer delight with Nick shouting out words of encouragement to his chosen driver every few moments. It was something only the boys could really appreciate. Well, the boys, and Emma that is. She didn't seem to mind the red-neckishness of it all either.

Here is a shot of some of the action. (Nick couldn't resist capturing the moment.)



And here is Spencer who eventually moved down to the stroller to get a closer look at the action.



While this little guy got tuckered out about half-way through the derby,



the rest of the kids stuck it out until the last imperial bit the dust! (Almost two and a half hours later!) It was a once in a lifetime experience (and I mean ONCE) that I hope Spencer will remember for years to come. Actually, what I hope he'll remember is the fun he had spending time with Dad and the good feeling he gets from being the center of attention rather then the crashing cars part. Especially since he asked Nick if they could drive in the derby next year!