Dancer Dress Up

Ally had a great time playing in my box of old baton/dance costumes. There were many to choose from but she really only liked the ones that were pink and included a skirt. Most of the ones I have in my collection are from more recent years but there were a few that were close to fitting! She can't wait to have her own collection.

Derby Day

For our anniversary this year, we decided to cross an item off our Bucket List and get grandstand seats at the Kentucky Derby. Neither of us had been before and living so close made it too hard to pass up this year. With work schedules and child care we weren't able to make it to the Kentucky Oaks on Friday but we were able to leave for Louisville Friday evening and take our time getting to our hotel. Everything fills up far in advance and is very expensive for the weekend so we ended up staying on the Indiana side just over the bridge into Kentucky.

We sort of slept in a little on race day and headed to the track by 10am. We received lots of tips from friends to park in the University of Louisville football stadium parking lot and walk over so that is what we did. It was full of tailgaters and party buses and was just a short 10 minute walk over a bridge to Churchill Downs. It was everything I expected and more! So many people from the fanciest of the fancy to the very casual. The weather was perfect, even maybe a little hot by the afternoon. I borrowed an awesome hat from my moms Derby party collection and we fit right in with the crowd.

Our seats were along the straight part of the track, about 10 rows from the front so we were able to walk around, see all of the areas of the track and watch a lot of the races. Once it was time for the actual Derby race it filled up quickly and everyone was standing on the bleachers so it was near impossible to see other than on the giant video screen. We placed a few winning bets early in the day to test our luck but my picks for the big race were terrible. Karl ended up about even but it was amazing to see how much people would win and lose with each race. We weren't playing with big money but there were a lot of people that were. We could not have asked for a better day and while we went just the two of us we did meet up with a few friends that were there. We are definitely making plans to do this again and gathering up a bigger group for next time!

Ally was having her own Derby Party before we left!