Off to the races...

As I said it has been a busy summer, and I cant believe it is already August. I could have sworn summer only started a week ago! After Landis' wedding I flew into Seattle, from Charlotte, just in time to celebrate my 31st birthday and the 4th of July! Since Jim had to drive to seattle to pick me up we decided to extend my vacation by another day or two and spend some time celebrating with our friends.

My birthday, is a tough one to get people together for since its the day before the 4th so I wanted to do something simple like an M's game and get drinks for whoever could make it. Instead we decided to expand our horizon's a bit and try something new. So off to the races we went!

Stone and I got to Emerald Downs a little earlier than Jim, Matt and Jenah so we got a basic betting tutorial and placed our bets while we waited for the others. Even after the lesson I was a little unsure of myself so I just went with my gut, the colors the horse was wearing and its name. And it worked...I won on my first ever bet (Must have been my lucky day)!

Jim and Matt and Jenah showed up shortly after the first race and when they did out went my luck. I think I may have gotten a little overconfident and tried to get too crazy with my bets. If I would have stuck to my simple bets I think I could have broke even. 

I still think Jim missed his calling as a horse race announcer :)

Love the bugle player!

And down the stretch they come!

And They're OFF!

My best shot out of the chutes. Matt didn't think I got it in time, but I would say I did pretty well :)

It was SO much fun and I will definitely be back! Thanks for such a great Birthday Jim, Stone, Matt and Jenah! What do you say we make it a yearly tradition :)