Honoring the memory of Grandma Blanche

If you knew Grandma Blanch, you know she loved horse racing. She followed what horses and jockeys did by reading the stats in the Star Tribune. She when to Canterbury when she could. Yesterday would have been Grandma's 93rd birthday.  7 years ago she celebrated her 86th birthday with family trip to Canterbury Downs. I had to miss it. I was at a Twins game which would turn out to be the first date with my hubby.  I had Grandma's blessing to miss the celebration for a Twins game. (I'm not sure which she loved more, the races or the Twins.)  Unfortunately, that would be the last birthday celebration with her here. She passed away that November.

The last couple of years we have been celebrating her memory with a trip to Canterbury as a family.  We have even sponsored a race. The Blanche Moonen Memorial Race was race #4 this year.  We got to watch the race from the winners circle.  After the race and after the owner picture we got our family picture taken in the winners circle. How fitting that the winner was #7 (lucky #7) Speakfromyourheart. What a fun day with awesome family.

My New Ride

We finally took the plunge and bought a "new" car.  It is a 2010 Ford Focus. It has more bells and whistles than we were looking for, but they are pretty fun to have.  I have to admit, I don't really know what makes a moon-roof a moon-roof, but it sure is fun to have and drive with it open on these very unseasonably 60 degree days. Even better than getting a good car for a good deal was the deal they gave us on our trade in.  Honestly, I would have handed them the keys to the Cavalier and said "here, it's yours."  Instead they gave us a decent amount of money for it. WOO HOO!

I've never had such a "normal" color of vehicle before. (I don't count the Cav since that wasn't really by choice.) It is still a little bit weird in parking lots trying to remember what I am looking for and having it be a black car, but I like it.

I was trying to find a picture of my previously acquired vehicles, but realized that those were in the pre-digital picture days (yikes! I am THAT old) so I found a random pis from the internet. This are NOT my actual vehicle. We still have the 2001 gold Focus. Nick gets the privilege of driving it. The 1998 Ranger was on lease and traded in to get the Focus. My dad had it for several years and now it is no longer around - I will see about finding a pic for that.