REACH ‘25

REACH… what McKaila has looked forward to every summer. 

She gets 3 straight weeks of doing what she loves

ART

And this year, she got to add to her accomplishments in the visual arts program. She won the t-shirt logo design contest. Not only did she get the most likes/loves on Facebook, all the students in the REACH program voted on her art. With that, for the showcase, the students and instructors wear her logo on their shirt. I must say, it was pretty cool seeing McKaila’s art on everyone’s shirt. Proud parent moment right there!

Not only did McKaila win the REACH logo contest, she also received the Emerging Artist Award. McKaila was shocked when she heard her name called for the award. It’s pretty dang awesome that throughout every grade in the visual arts program, her teacher saw how amazing her art has gotten. 

Not only is McKaila’s teacher proud of all her work this year, but Courtney and I are too. She has grown so much in her art and we couldn’t be any prouder for her. 

Savannah Bananas

As a family we have watched countless videos of the Savannah Bananas and have always mentioned how awesome it would be to watch the Bananas in person. 

If you don’t already know, to receive tickets to go to one of their game, you have to enter your name into the lottery. Which I did as soon as it became available. Unfortunately, as soon as our time became available for the game we wanted to go to, the tickets were already sold out. 

Then, I got an email from the Savannah Bananas reaching out that they had made a huge mistake in the amount of people they reached out to be part of the final lottery. In return they were giving us tickets to any of the NFL stadiums that they were traveling to. Lucky for us, they were going to the Carolina Panthers stadium and we booked a hotel the moment we knew we got the tickets! 

 We’re going to watch the Bananas in person, not just on TikTok or YouTube.

We’re finally here!! 

And we can’t believe it!!

Nothing can prepare yourself for the Banana energy that we walked into. It was crazy! 

Savannah Bananas know how to get fans excited for their games. They had parades, a DJ on stage with the Bananas Nanas and the Man-nanas. Of course the players from the Bananas and the Party Animals were on stage too and they were also walking through the crowds waiting, signing autographs. It was such a surreal experience and we weren’t even in the stadium yet. 

Once we got into the stadium, we still had a couple hours until game time. We truly didn’t know what to expect once getting into the stadium, but we were entertained even before the game. Watching the players warming up, doing TikTok’s, and interacting with fans was just as fun as watching the game. 

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Loved being able to see the dancing umpire. I do wish we were able to watch more of his dancing, but we we were right on the 1st base line, so we got to see plenty of the ninja umpire, which was pretty awesome to watch. 

What an experience!!!!!

We can never thank the Savannah Bananas enough for a night we will never forget. We had a blast and our smiles never left our faces!!

Coca-Cola 600

This is now our 4th Coca-Cola 600 that we’ve attended and the excitement for the longest race of the year, never gets old! 

Since the 600 is a night race, we were able to go hang out at the Hendrick shop for a while before heading to the track! 

It never gets old going to the Hendrick shop. When we lived in NC, we would go there all the time, but the kids were so small, that they don’t remember those times. I love that now that they are older, we can head back to Hendrick and now will have these amazing memories. 

We explored the Hendrick shop and garages for a while, but now time to head to the track for all the excitement. We decided to roam around the fan zone outside the track before heading to our seats. 

McKenna was very excited when she saw that there was an E.L.F. Tent. Katherine Legge races sometimes in the cup series and lucky for us, she was driving this weekend. While the other 3 went on to see what else was going on, McKenna and I went to the E.L.F. Tent. McKenna was in her element. Watching people do makeup, selfie stations and also an area to say good luck to Katherine in the race via video. But, McKenna’s favorite part was all the free goodies we received. It was a pretty cool surprise to get some free makeup!

Prerace ceremony’s never disappoint in NASCAR, especially during the 600. There is military everywhere. Helicopters are flying around, dropping off soldiers, even the drivers were getting introduced by military members! It was pretty cool!

We had some amazing weather this year for the 600. Usually, it is so hot, but this year, it was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, just perfect. It even got chilly as the sun went down. Never would I have thought I would be wearing sweatshirts at a NASCAR race during the 600. 

It was a great race, as always, but none of our favorite drivers won the race.

But, it was pretty sweet being able to watch the ‘watermelon man’ Ross Chastain win. His family are watermelon farmers, so when he wins, he always smashes a watermelon from the top of his car. 

It was cool seeing that in person.

It was a late night, we didn’t get back to our hotel until 1 am, but even with it being so late and all of us being so tired, it was so worth it.

I love making all these memories at NASCAR races with our family. Hopefully there will be plenty more to come!