Today, grandson, Henry, participated in the Mites On Ice program sponsored by AAA and the Philadelphia Flyers. Henry and his Valley Forge Colonials teammates took part in a short demonstration game played on the Wells Fargo Center ice between periods of the Philadelphia Flyers - Chicago Blackhawks game. Unfortunately, Henry's team lost a close one 1-0 with the winning goal coming in the last minute. I managed to shoot a video from the 200 level at the Center. The video was necessarily taken with a small, pocket camera as the Wells Fargo Center restricts the use of "professional" type cameras (i.e. any camera with an interchangeable lens). It was fun time. Enjoy the video.
2016 Lisa's Birthday
Well, on a beautiful fall day, we celebrated Lisa's 54th birthday at the Gwynedd Nursing Home so that her dad, Joe Taylor, Sr. could attend. Many family members also attended and feasted on Italian Delight pizza (white, plain, pepperoni), mac and cheese, soft drinks and munchies. We all sang to Lisa who mastered the candle thing. A good time was had by all. A few pics are in the Photo section.
2016 Ocean City Night in Venice
Well, this year's Night in Venice boat parade was somewhat better than last year when we had only 50 or so boats. There were more boats this year, some with very amusing themes. Of course, there were the normal "party" boats, the commercial/advertising boats and the "we just want to be in the parade" boats.
Part of the weekend is house decorating which also is judged and receives awards. There were some good decorations. Many were politically oriented with Trump leading the pack.
We took the boat out for a quick tour of the houses nearby before the parade. My pics of some of the houses and the boats are here on a new gallery.
Didn't get to see the parade? Watch the entire parade in just a few minutes.
Here's another short video shot by one of our bayside neighbors. Note: I did not choose the cover thumbnail for this video :-).
Daddy's Birthday but someone was the focus of attention.
While it was Daddy's birthday, Lily stole the show, as usual. Here's short video of Lily just learning to play with her toys. Also a few pictures.
The 2016 Indianapolis 500
Carburetion Day
Our 2016 trip to the Indy 500. Starting with packing the Nav, getting our alternate navigation system installed.
At the track, Friday is Carburetion Day. Historically, it was the last time that teams could adjust their fuel systems to the latest environmental conditions (humidity, temperature, etc). Nowadays, with computerized injection systems, that isn't needed but Carb Day was kept for Indy Car practice, an Indy Lights race, a Pit Stop competition between the Indy Car teams and, later in the day, a concert (today's was Journey but it was too hot for us to hang around for that).
The parking lot was the most crowded that we have ever seen on Carb Day. The track set a record for attendance, and, for the first time in history, the Indy 500 is officially sold out. No general admission tickets will be sold on race day.
The pics in this set include our view watching the Indy Lights race and the Pit Stop Challenge, then a walk through the garage area (with our special badge). Kathleen said "follow the Photo guy!". Well that worked. Got a few good pics of one driver and a couple less so great pics of others (see if you can spot them). Many of the garages were already closed by the time we arrived but I managed to get a few shots of the technology of the race cars as their crews worked on them. Of course, there is the mandatory selfie. and a pic of "beer can" art on the Yard of Bricks in the Plaza.
The pics are under the Photos tab, 2016 Indy 500 Carburetion Day. Enjoy.
Tomorrow is the driver's meeting, running of historic race cars, autograph sessions for the Indy Legends (former champions) and the Indy 500 Festival Parade downtown. There will also be another concert. We'll do the driver's meeting and watch the old cars, maybe visit the garages again, but we'll skip the other festivities. We have to get ready for Sunday, a very early day for us.
Drivers' Meeting
Today was the "Drivers' Meeting". In reality, it's a show for the fans (nice going Indy). All of the drivers attend. The champion's and owner's rings from last year's Indy 500 are presented alone with a few other awards. Then, the field of 33 are called out individually to receive their Starter's Ring, emblematic of their success in making the field for the 500. Following that the chief steward of Indycar gives the drivers their "instructions" (they instructions are actually given in a private meeting with the drivers). Then, the drivers board vans for a quick trip into center city Indianapolis to participate in the Indy 500 Festival Parade with bands, floats and all the trimmings.
We didn't attend the parade this year. Instead we went into the infield and toured the very large Chevrolet exhibit. Boy, those Corvette Z06's are something else. I've included a few pics in the gallery. There are long range pics of a few drivers moving to the vans, the Borg-Warner trophy being prepped for transport to the parade, many of the cars in the Chevrolet display, including many former pace cars.