Richmond Staycation

After being apart for the majority of last week and handling some issues with my grandmother at the end of the week, we had an unintentional Richmond staycation. My sweet friend Erin was in town visiting her mom so on Friday afternoon Erin, Jenny, Lizzy and I made the drive out to New Kent County to the New Kent Winery for some wine tasting and a picnic on the porch. When we all get together, we get really loud, have hilarious conversations and laugh A LOT! It was SUCH a fun and needed afternoon with the girls.

Wine Tasting

Surprise! Chocolate Rods!

On Friday evening, I visited my grandmother and made it home right when Jeff did. We quickly changed and drove across the street to Steve's apartment where he and Danielle had prepared appetizers and drinks. We hung out with them for a bit and then drove out to Colonial Downs for some horse race watching and gambling. We had been to Colonial Downs once before for the Strawberry Hill races but unfortunately that day was cold and dreary and betting was not allowed. This time we made a couple of $2 bets and several $0.50 bets but unfortunately we didn't win. Danielle and Steve had much better luck. We had so much fun despite our losses and definitely plan to return soon.

After Colonial Downs, we drove to Jenny and Doug's house to spend the rest of the evening hanging out with Jenny, Doug, Erin and Wyndi. Again, we were loud and laughed hysterically and didn't stop until after 2am (except I took a little nap on the couch in the middle of it all-oops).

On Saturday morning, Jenny and I made huevos rancheros, hashbrowns and watermelon for everyone and we hung out and chatted for the rest of the day until Erin had to leave for the airport. We are always SO sad to see her go, especially when we don't know when we will see her again. Miss you smed!

When we got home, Jeff took a little nap while I cleaned up a bit around the house then we got showered up and headed over to Richmond International Raceway for the Indy race. We met up with Danielle, Steve and his friend Chris at the race and we tailgated in the parking lot before the race started at 8:30. While we have been fans of NASCAR for many years, this is the first Indy race we have been to. The atmosphere is much the same although on a smaller scale. It has been a long time since we have been to a race and I had forgotten how much fun they are. I was cheering on Dario Franchitti (Ashley Judd's husband) but unfortunately he was not victorious.

Just after the race was over we witnessed a huge fistfight four rows below us. It is amazing what alcohol and testosterone can make men do. The fight ended with a preppy boy getting his face bashed in by a much older man. Yikes.

This morning, we woke up and finally relaxed. We sat on the deck with coffee and the Sunday paper. Ahhh. This afternoon, we decided to head over to the Science Museum to see the iMAX film on Sharks and ended up spending 3 hours in the museum itself petting a shark and checking out the rest of the exhibits. We had so much fun we plan to go back on the next rainy weekend day.

It was so fun to visit some new places right here in our own hometown: Colonial Downs, Indy Race and the Science Museum. Definitely a weekend of firsts.