2015 HAMB Weekend

It may be Wednesday, but it's never too late for a weekend recap!

Last weekend was the 2015 HAMB Drag Nationals!

Friday night was date night and Saturday was a family day at the drag strip. On the Newman family calendar this is pretty much the biggest event of the year outside of the girls' birthdays and Christmas. It is marked, counted down and anticipated for weeks and months.

The event always falls around our anniversary so we often use it to celebrate the occasion.

Friday night was set to be our date night so I got ready with a touch of vintage flare.

I never feel more me than when I fix my hair and make up like this. I feel fairly positive that I MUST have been born in the wrong decade. If only it didn't take so much time (meaning more than 5 minutes) I would rock this look all the time. 

We headed to the hotel parking lot where we walked around, listened to motors, talked to random travelers and I snapped some (several) photos.

Next we had dinner with Phil and Anna then walked around some more. Sadly after dinner it was dark and taking photos was almost pointless.
After a late night we headed to bed and woke up to this. 


It rained and poured for hours. The streets were flooding and my husbands heart was sunk. 
Finally after raining all morning it stopped and things started to turn around. Our morning and plans may not have gone like we hoped and expected them to but we made the best of the situation and ended up at the drag strip almost 3 hours later than planned.


We picked out our newest car (we wish).

Walked around the soggy fields.

I would hang this tail gate on our wall.

Not even kidding. Random Beth fact: I would LOVE to learn how to do old school hand pin-striping like this someday.

I thought this reflection shot was pretty cool.

The girls (and their friend Oliver) were SO good. 

Drag strip cuties.

The drags finally began hours after they were scheduled to start. I went to get a closer look and shoot some video by the start line. After all hearing is so overrated. 

The weekend may not have gone exactly like I planned or hoped it would, but it was still good and so much fun. Date night, awesome cars, taking the girls to the drag strip and friends. It doesn't get much better than that and leaves me a bit sad that we have to wait a whole year before it all happens again.
But something tells me we'll definitely be going to more car events before then...

2014 H.A.M.B. Drags, My Inner Pinup Girl

Friday night was my favorite car show of the entire year,  hands down. The 2014 H.A.M.B Drags. People come from all over the U.S. to Joplin, Missouri. Why Joplin? Well, it is pretty centrally located and has a pretty sweet drag strip about 20 minutes outside of town.
Friday night really kicks the weekend off with a huge car show in a nearby hotel parking lot. My favorite part of the H.A.M.B drags is that I get to embrace a part of me that often doesn't get much attention.

My inner pin-up girl. 

Guys, I swear I was born in the wrong era. If I had enough time, and hair spray, I would sport this look on a daily basis.

Since I was all dolled up and it was our anniversary weekend this guy took me out before we headed to the show. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of our local favorites Red Onion Espressoria. Toasted ravioli and a side salad with the best salad dressing ever, yes please!

After dinner I tried to take a selfie  of us in the Model A. However I may just be the worst selfie taker ever. Every single one was blurry. So I picked the best of the worst.

Pitiful. 
Sadly by the time we got to the hotel we were arriving around sunset. I didn't take many pictures but I did manage to snap a few before dark.
There she is our 1930 Model A. We are pretty convinced that she needs a friend so we may just have to do something about that in the near future ;).

The evening consisted of walking around, telling lies, drinking beer and a bunch of guys revving up their motors. Not the typical girls idea of a great date night but it is a winner in my books.

And if you want a glimpse of some of the ear drum bursting motors we were listening to, watch this. This short video is only a small fraction of the noise we heard.

My ears were still ringing and hurting the next day.
Best H.A.M.B. Drags ever.

Model A

We happen to be the proud owners of a 1930 Ford Model A Ratrod. 

Ratrod is just a "fancy" way of saying a rusty, primered old car that hasn't been restored to its original condition. 

I love this car.

 "We" started building it right after we got married and it was magically finished a little shy of 2 years later, right before Marissa turned one. 

Back in 2011 the tornado took the entire garage, but the car was still there. It did have a few dents but nothing that wasn't fixable.

Before

After

Now it has a roof to, woo hoo!

Sunday night we finally took the car out to a car show. I honestly can't remember the last time we have done this. We used to live at car shows.

Of course now that Marissa is big enough to ride along she is always BEGGING Dad to take her with him in the car. And he is always happy to have a pretty little girl in the passenger seat. 

 Sadly Emily and I  have to follow along. 

The Prettiest little car girls I have ever seen, Daddy's car has never looked so good.

 We walked around and looked at cars

Chilled out

And even won a door prize!

It was a great night that left me wondering why we don't do this more often.

Maybe we will.