Sam in a Car

Last weekend we traveled to Branson, Missouri to catch up with Joy's family, especially her sister Shelly who's been overseas all summer. In thinking of fun things to do, we didn't yet know that Shoji Tabuchi had the best restrooms in the nation, so we were casting for fun distractions and landed on go-carting.

Noah and his cousin Ana were too little to go-cart and the womenfolk wanted to go shopping, so Joy's dad, our brother-in-law Adam, Sam, and I all loaded in our car and headed out by ourselves.

The place we picked had a large wooden track that spiraled up three times into the air adn then plunged back down through a small series of hills. It was bar none the best track I've ever seen. But because it was wooden, it was shaky and loud. As you can see, Sam's passenger seat had its own steering wheel and he held onto it with all his might on the first lap, unsure of the entire process. But by the second lap, he was banging the middle of the wheel and shouting "get out of the way!" to the other drivers, so he caught on quick.

Now Sam is a quiet processor so right after the rides, he was pretty quiet, taking the experience in. Joy's dad and Adam weren't sure Sam had enjoyed the ride, but I figured the excitement would come out that night.

It did with a vengence.

Back at the condo, Sam and I had to play go-cart where we got in a chair together and pretended to race around the room. At supper he talked of almost nothing else. And the next day he convinced his Granddad to take him back for some more runs.

If this weekend were any indication, we're in for it when he turns 16.