monster truck rally

Our boys love monster trucks, so we thought it would be really fun to keep our kids up super late so we could all attend our first ever Monster Truck Rally. Matt and Micah drove down and joined us (although we didn't get to sit near them for most of it).

The first picture I took, with the flash, showed all the dust and dirt particles in the air.

Turning the flash off proved much better.

A nice lady gave us some earplugs for our kids, and I'm forever grateful because it was extremely loud.

Once they turned the lights up, it was easier to take pictures. Here you can see all the monster trucks lined up.

A lot of the show was two trucks racing at a time.

And here's a video to show it.

And sometimes one truck would go out there and just show off.

This truck lost almost its entire shell before the night was through.

And this was Graham's favorite truck because it looked like a dinosaur.

This black car was trying to make it all the way across the jump.

This video shows how it got where it did.

And this is that car getting pulled out of the bus.

At halftime there were two monster trucks giving rides to audience members.

Graham was hoping to catch some shuteye, but it was so loud in there that he never fell asleep.

This is another shot of the truck who kept losing pieces of his body.

This is "Bigfoot", one of the more famous trucks.

They also had a part where anyone who wanted to could pay a fee and race their own vehicle around the track in an attempt to get the best time and win some prize money. The superman truck didn't win, but we know the driver's parents.

Check out this front right tire. Fortunately for the driver, he was the fastest, so at least he's got some money to go towards fixing his truck.

The last event was the Demolition Derby.

Basically you try to smash into as many other cars as you can while still being able to drive your own.

The last car still driving wins.

Drake enjoyed it quite a bit. Shad took Graham and Avery out to the quiet of the car before it ended so they could fall asleep.

Unfortunately, neither Graham nor Avery fell asleep, despite the late hour.

Drake just loved looking at all the trucks, especially up close.

And the crushed cars were pretty cool too.

Even when we were outside, Drake wanted to catch whatever else he could of the monster truck experience.

I don't know if we would do it again with kids this young, but it was definitely fun to do. And it only took a few days before we could hear each other again...