Keeneland

During the last couple months, I've discovered something new about Kentucky - we get tornados here! That's right, you heard me, tornados. I had no idea and apparently there were a few tornado warnings that we didn't even know about, so as we slept soundly in our beds, our neighbors were taking cover. A few years ago there was a tornado that came through our neighborhood and destroyed some houses, so I guess the possibility of one touching down near us isn't that far fetched. Luckily, I've now been taught in proper tornado preparation and we've identified our shelter in the house (the inside bathroom since we don't have a basement). We even bought an emergency radio, all in the name of preparedness (Thanks Julie P).

For about a month we got storm after storm after storm. There were many nights that Nate and I would be watching TV and the tornado warning or watch information would be scrolling across the screen and we'd be ready to grab the girls to head for the shelter. In fact, it was during one of these storms that my brother and his family drove into town from New York. While we didn't see any tornados during their visit, they saw some pretty intense rain and lightning.

In addition to tornados, spring brings another Kentucky tradition - Keeneland! Keeneland is one of the oldest, most respected horse racing tracks in horse country. It holds races for 3 weeks in Spring and 3 weeks in Fall, and it is quintessentially Kentucky. If you want a taste of Kentucky, Keeneland is the place to be. With all the wicked weather, we were wondering if the horses would still run, but it would take more than a little bit of rain to stop the races.

On Saturday during race season, there is a breakfast buffet and kids activities in the morning before general admission starts. Wanting to experience Keeneland for everything it is, we decided to head down there and check it out - rain or shine. That morning though, it was mostly rain. (Sorry about the fuzzy pics - when it rains I only use my camera phone!! Ha ha.)



Luckily the girls had an umbrella - or maybe better said, luckily the girls are all so little that 3 of them could fit under one umbrella!



We tried on Derby hats and jockey silks. Bella looks like a natural, don't you think?



After scoring some sweet Keeneland coloring books, we headed home to enjoy them! Talk about a day full of horses - Keeneland for breakfast, Keeneland coloring books at home, and then back to Keeneland for the races after lunch!





Striking a pose. All within a day's work for Bella.



Baby Addison! Took these cute pics while Bryan and Julie were visiting. Isn't she precious? I just love baby pics when the baby is so cute and so cooperative.







Amazingly by 1:00, the weather cleared just in time for the races. On any given day, they'll run 8-10 races, with about 30-40 minutes between each race. We got there just in time for the second race to begin. It was crazy how many people were there and how loud it would get as the horses began running.



The winner of the first race we saw.



One of the race officials - he was nice enough to bring his horse over for the girls to pet. I was impressed that they both were brave enough to reach right out and start petting him.



After realizing how hard it was going to be for the girls to see what was going on from where we were standing in the middle of the crowd, we worked our way up to the front where the girls to stand on the fence to watch. We even scored a bench that moved up to about 15 feet from the fence. Talk about awesome seats!



The kids cheering for their horses - they had fun choosing a color and/or number to cheer for every time. While this may come as a complete surprise to you, but one of them chose the pink horse everytime. Shocker, I know.



Bella's horse won.



Sophie's horse didn't.



Cute rainboots - an absolute must for those wet Kentucky days. The girls absolutely love them.



Each race would follow this sequence.
1) The horses were walked to the starting gate (or post) by another horse. These race horses are very spirited and would sometimes break away, but all the racers would eventually get to the gate.



2) The horn would sound, the gates would open and the race would begin. We were lucky enough to be sitting very near the finish line.



3) After finishing, the jockeys would all take the horses back to Winner's Circle, where the winner would then be paraded.



4) The horses would then be immediately walked off the track to cool down.



5) In would come the tractors to prepare the track for the next race and then it would all happen again.



Bella loves babies. She had so much fun having Addison around. She's been telling us she wants a baby - what do you say to that? Hahahaha...