see spot?

The date was Saturday, July 4th.   Turtle Derby Day.   Spot had been training for this.  The kids were excited and nervous about the race.  Even Diamonte (2), woke up screaming out, "Durtle Race Day...Durtle Race Day!"

Matt and I loaded up the kids and our hopeful winner, Spot, into the minivan.

Our destination:  Shamrock Park.

We arrived to find ourselves among a huge crowd of proud turtle owners - over a hundred actually.  After officially registering Spot, we waited for his number to be called:  56C.  Stephen felt pressured to win, as if he had some control over what our speedy friend might do.  Abbie was just full of smiles and living in the moment.

Friends and family gathered around ring 3 with anticipation, as the circular metal gate was lifted and a bunch of turtles started moving to the outside of the circle to claim victory.  I admit that it was impossible to see which turtle was Spot, but one thing did stand out:  there was one turtle that decided to mount another turtle as opposed to racing.  I actually felt sorry for the owner of that creature.

I was screaming "Go Spot...Go Spot" and once it was clear that a small box turtle was the winner, I looked to see where the kids went to pick up Spot, figuring that he had to be pretty close to the finish line.  Turns out that our beloved Spot was the turtle that mounted another turtle!   As my friend Allyson commented, "Clearly Spot had higher priorities than winning a race."

I had hoped to entitle this blog entry, "See Spot Run" or "See Spot Go" or even "See Spot Win".  Oh well...I guess I need to settle with "See Spot?"