Buddy decided to finally attend a Derby and invited his coworkers to attend as well. Several of them did. Paul, Jenn, and company once again woke up super early to be among the first through the gate. They secured a great spot near last year's spot. Our goal was to arrive at 10:30 but we were late getting out the door. It takes a long time to get everybody ready so we didn't leave until 11. It didn't take long to find parking and we loaded up the stroller. Bringing the stroller was a genius idea on Buddy's part. It carried Cora, two bags of ice, a lot of food and four chairs. Buddy carried a cooler and neither Bohdin nor Nyla carried anything. The line to get through security was long and it moved so so slowly. We were in line for about an hour. It was so hot already. As the person in front of us reached the security line they called off all security. Prior to that they were checking for weapons, glass bottles, and alcohol. People love sneaking alcohol in so that was probably the biggest thing they were looking for. At one point the line was held up while some people were chugging their alcohol before throwing it out. They were caught with it and tried to drink as much as they could as quickly as they could.
Once they called off security there was a mad dash for the entrance. We were on the opposite side of where we needed to be. The giant stroller made it difficult to cut across the crowds so I was separated from Buddy and Bohdin. People were really mad that it was taking so long to get through. They had a new system this year with cheaper admission if you bought early and printed out a ticket at home. People were so frustrated with the long ticket line that they just paid admission again so they could get through the much faster cash gate. Eventually we did make it through with the assistance of some people around me who kindly separated the masses. I couldn't find Buddy on the other side of the gates so we just headed out to where Paul was. Buddy had beaten us there by a lot.
There were record crowds out there yesterday and it did seem more crowded than the year prior. It was also really really hot. Everybody was sweaty. I forced the kids to hydrate but nobody had to pee for many hours despite all the fluids. Bohdin read almost the entire time. He brought five books and finished all but one before we left. He started the last book but finished it when we came home. Nyla was her usual social self. She interacted with everybody. Some stranger gave her a blow up horse which she loved and played with for a long time. Somebody also gave her a small foam horse that she enjoyed for some time. Cora was more social than usual and allowed several people to handle her. She loved seeing the horses parade by and pointed them out excitedly at first. Her interest waned by the end of the day after seeing so many horses.
Cora had to take her clothes off after spilling water on them. She doesn't usually like to wear wet clothes. Somebody gave a shirtless Cora some beads.
We did a horrible job picking horses and so we did not win. If there had been a prize for picking the horses that came in last we would have done awesome. Bohdin had picked one of the top horses in a previous race so we wasn't upset. Nyla cried because her horse lost. We stuck around for the next race and she won that one.
The heat made this Derby less enjoyable than previous times. Since we were on the fence we saw the people who were carted off the field. There were a few crying girls. The last one we saw was a middle aged man having chest compressions done on him. I don't know if he made it. Between the heat and the alcohol, it's surprising that there weren't more heat casualties. We don't know if that guy was a heat casualty or something else. My favorite moment as on the way out. Buddy and I became separated again because moving the stroller through the crowd is slower than moving an individual. When we were in the tunnel a guy started playing the national anthem on the saxophone. A lot of people starting singing. At the end of the song people cheered and chanted "USA, USA". The spontaneity of it was fun. Buddy and Bohdin missed it because they were too far ahead but Nyla, Cora and I were right in the middle of it.
We didn't leave Churchill Down until well after 7pm. Cora never took a nap. She behaved quite well with such little sleep. All of the kids did well. Cora fell asleep at some point in the tunnel. She was awake at the top when I had Nyla climb in as well. There was such a crush of people it was safer for Nyla in the stroller. I didn't want to lose her. For a while there was a guy next to her that was trying to watch out for her to make sure she would be okay but once the crowd thickened the stroller was the best option.
As we were walking to the car Bohdin said that the Derby was boring. He said we just spent the morning rushing to get ready, waited in line forever, and then sat around waiting for races. While that was technically true he would have been less bored with the races if he took interest in them instead of his books. He didn't even stand up for most of them. Part of the Derby experience is hanging out with people and he didn't interact with people much.
Nyla loves having visitors and was so sad to see them go. She loved spending time with all of them especially Jenn. She cried as they left.
No comments:
Post a Comment