Wii Night @ Dean and Beck's ~ 2010

Saturday night, we went over to our cousin Dean and Becky's house. Every once in a while the folks have a get-together, which involves playing Wii, and eating pizza, fries and onion wings. Maybe it's just a North American thing to have pizza and "wings"? Anyway, it was all delicious.

Becky & Dean Olivia, their little girlWilliam, the babyWill-Wills!Kat, Neil and Olivia enjoying the action

Becky showing us how it's done.The Smith look of concentration... Dean trying to beat Becky's record.

Aunt Jean power walking her Wii session. Lol. Don't get in the way of those fists! Uncle Mike and Dean get more than one laugh out of the performance.Olivia, Kat and Neil
Aunt Lynda prepping for flight while Uncle Mike snickers.Neil making a "photoblock" while Uncle Mike and Dean watch Grandma flap her 'ittle wings.Grandma sitting on the couch with Lisa, while she plays with Aunt Lynda's hair.Jenn trying her stride at Wii. Dean trying to think of something smart to say while Lisa observes.Dean and Neil, the terrible two.Grandma and Aunt Lynda watching the spectacle.

Sarah attempting to fly to the next island. (It didn't work; the chicken ended up flying into the side of a building. Stunned, but staggering bravely...) Will, Kat, Neil, Olivia, Lisa and Grandma watching. Wish my videos would upload; they were so self-explanatory! ...and great for blackmail! Lol.

Motorcycle Race

Last October, Uncle Rob took us to this really great motorcyle race at Cadwell Park, in Louth, Lincolnshire. It took an hour to get there, but was well worth the trip.

I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but I think this was the classic bike race.

You can see what a beautiful area the Park was set in, and a rough idea of how much ground it covered. We moved around some, so we could see the race from different angles, including the varying turns and climbs.
Hot pursuit
Popping a wheel on the rise

For some reason, I'm unable to get Blogger to upload any of my own videos, so I went to Youtube and found several to give you an idea of what it was like. This one is interesting, because you get to see what the track is like from aboard a bike. And yes, the numbers are miles per hour. :)
A blur of speed
Leaning into the turn
Older and newer bikes
Many different styles

Good footage-this clip shows the entire race
Looking around the grounds produced tents of the racers and their bikes.
Nice English Flag :)

Flame 'em

Fueling up after the race; we guessed Baked Beans.

Spectator watching the race

A certain uncle inspecting a bike. Didn't realise he was being documented...

The truth sets in... hiding from the press.

(His feet give him away. It's hard to find an equal to those! Heh, heh.)

Now comes the best part, the sidecar race! I told Jenn that if she'd drive, I'd be the passenger. Whoohoo! (For those of you who have never seen a sidecar race, the idea is for the passenger to move his/her weight over the particular wheel and keep the bike from tipping. A very basic definition, I know, but I'm not up on all the terms.) This was the winning team, and yes, the passenger was a girl and the employee of the driver. ;)

Leaning right over the edge

View of a sidecar race; couldn't find any better videos.

Not much selection.

Rival in close pursuit

Getting ready to go waay over. That leather isn't just for looks.

A look from aboard a sidecar. There's quite a bit of unneeded footage at the end when they forget to turn the camera off, but the perspective is interesting. We had a great time.