Gentlemen Start Your Engines!!!

The talk of taking Hayden to a NASCAR race really got serious when we went to Las Vegas and toured the track.  We had never seen Hayden so excited about anything.  From the minute we pulled into the track from the moment we left he had a huge grin.  We could just feel his excitement.  That was when Mike and I really started wondering how we could make this happen for him.  We knew the noise and the crowd would be our biggest issues.  Hayden hates loud noises and big crowds. We knew the only way that he could enjoy a race would be in a suite.  Then we started discussing  the cost of making that happen.  We knew there would be no other way so we made the commitment and started praying he would enjoy himself.  That he would make it through the whole race and that we would not regret it.  We knew we had to try at least once and if he didn't enjoy himself well then we didn't have to do it again.  So on the weekend of April 13th we took off on the 5 hour drive to Dallas.  Because of traffic we basically had to head straight to the track on Friday.  He Because of one amazing grandma and ton of awesome family, friends and strangers Hayden was going to meet his favorite driver Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM).  So we waited about a half hour for him to ride up on a golf cart and then I said a little prayer "lord, please let Hayden recognize and be excited to see him".  He knew who he was from a distance and the amazement on Hayden's face was worth more than we paid for our entire weekend.   JPM got on his knees and said hello and talked with Hayden for a few minutes, we took pictures and then JPM presented Hayden with a bag of goodies.  At about this time a crowd began to gather so Hayden got very hyperaroused and panicked.  JPM looked at the crowd and said "You need to all back up and wait until I am done with this little boy".  He at that moment in my eyes became the most amazing sports guy ever!!!  I have to say the crowd was awesome too.  They all backed up and one guy even offered to take the stuff Mike was holding so that Mike could take care of Hayden.  Really says a lot about NASCAR drivers and fans.

Hayden Meeting his favorite Driver

This was JPM telling the other fans to back up!

Now I know you are all wondering if Hayden enjoyed his first NASCAR race.  Well I will let you be the judge of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&feature=mhee&v=EmxY7beX5oI&nomobile=1

In case this video was not enough to convince you and you have a little more time watch this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyDKSG_KoYk&feature=relmfu

Mike said Hayden was like this for three hours straight!  Didn't even want to get out of his seat to eat!  When he walked into the hotel room after the race he still had a huge smile on his face. He started telling me all about the race and the pits.  So Yep it was WORTH EVERY PENNY.  The boys are already trying to figure out what track they will be visiting next year.

Again I send you all a heartfelt thank you for sharing the Facebook page or saying a pray.  We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends in our lives.  To those of you who had never heard of Hayden or Fragile X, I am so thankful that you took the time to find out and help us out.  There is so much negative in the world it is so nice to know that there are people who still care.  People who have no idea who my little boy is stopped to take a minute and help him meet his favorite driver.  That is just amazing to me.  Because of all of you, Hayden got to meet his favorite driver and Mike and I were able witness our little boys dream come true.  To think I wasn't even going to go.  Geesh what was I thinking. 

Not sure if he will ever see this but, Juan Pablo Montoya you are a class act.  From the bottom of our hearts thank you for taking time out your schedule and for being such a nice guy.  To Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Shayna Keller I cannot thank you enough for everything.  I know that there are so many more people to thank and we will never truly know how many people had a hand in this, please know that we will forever be grateful. 

Love,

Tina 

Try and keep up

Well a lot has happened since Hayden's birthday...try and keep up:

Hayden: The drug trial is going really well. They are seeing some big changes at school. We are seeing some changes at home. He is able to answer almost any question you ask him with an appropriate answer...HUGE!! Sometimes he needs a little prompting but for the most part he answers me. He. answers. me. Yay!!! We are holding steady at a pretty low dose. We tried to up the dose and that was not fun. My fun loving, easy going little man was anything but. So back down we went. One more exciting piece of information I think I can safely say Hayden will be meeting Juan Pablo Montoya!! Thank you to his Nannie for getting the ball rolling. Thank you to all of you who liked and shared the page. I really, really hope he gets to see the car!! Our people (daddy) got a call from his people (the PR department) saying that we are to meet them at the tunnel friday night. We really have no idea what is going to happen but we are hoping for something big. I cannot wait to see Hayden's face light up when we get to the track. If it's anything like it was in Vegas with no actual race cars we are going to need some tissues. Mike and I have already decided we are going to have to wear our sunglasses the whole time so nobody knows we are crying like babies.

This would be my favorite Nascar Driver

We have a new cupcake - a pink one!! Wow is a pink cupcake different from a blue one. She is two and half and girlie, girlie, girlie. She likes dresses, and purses and her hair done and shoes. This little cupcake comes with a lot less risk than our last cupcake. There is still a small chance we won't get to keep her but it is a pretty small chance and we should find out sometime this summer. She has been through a pretty rough few years so we really hope we can keep her and make her feel safe and loved forever. She is so easy going and loveable. She fits right in!! She has a lot of sleeping issues that we need to work through right now. Please say a prayer for her that all of these go away and she can have peaceful nights.

Have you ever seen a two year old do this? She is drinking the milk from her cereal

So tomorrow we pack up and head out on another road trip. Thank goodness this one is only 5 hours. Meeting Juan Pablo Montoya on Friday, Hayden and Mike go to the race on Saturday while cupcake and I try to amuse ourselves in the hotel room. Then back home on Sunday. Hoping to get a little Greek Easter celebrating in. Since I did not go shopping for the proper Greek Easter dinner we will more than likely be eating take out. Maybe we can hit a Greek restaurant on the way home. "What do you mean you don't eat meat?" "Don't worry I make lamb". That was one of the only lines from My big fat Greek wedding I remember.

Oh one more piece of info.....I did it...we are now officially Texans. I took the kids pictures in the bluebonnets. I really wish I could post a picture of both of them because they came out so cute. This one of just Hayden will have to do. By the way he did not think posing in bluebonnets was manly at all! He had the "are you kidding me" look on his face the whole time.

Ok, so those of you who read my blog know how crazy this is to me. How people pull off to the side of the road and walk through who know what to get pictures in the bluebonnets. I totally cheated. Yep cause it would be my luck for one of my children to get attacked by fire ants or bit by a rattle snake. So yes I completely cheated. This particular patch of bluebonnets is in the parking lot at Hayden's school. Yep all nicely mowed around it. I completely searched the area for bugs and put down a blanket for the kids to sit on. Yep I am a yankee and my children were not harmed in taking of these pictures.

She still found a bug

Stay tuned for updates from this weekend!

Love,
Tina