At the Races

Since I showed you N2's horse races yesterday, I figured I should show you when we went to Arlington Park to see the horse races.  We were supposed to do this my birthday weekend but it was raining so we chose not to go.  We went the following weekend over Labor Day.  It was a little crowded!  But at least it wasn't too hot.

Arlington Park has family days every Sunday.  Over Labor Day they had family day Sat-Mon! They open earlier than when the races start and have pony rides, a petting zoo, face painting, and other events hosted by local businesses (sometimes they have Shedd Aquarium come out and bring animals, they've had Santa's Village bring their animals, they've had Radio Disney's performers come out, so they have a variety).  The Sunday of Labor Day they had Radio Disney performers and Santa's Village animals.  They also had various activities hosted by Nibbles Cafe.  So there was lots to do before the races.  You do have to wait in line forever for the pony rides!

 Here is Natalie showing off her race track finery.  Too bad I didn't have a hat for her!

N2 got their arms painted because they didn't want their face painted.  This was a smart way to do it-airbrush the paint over a stencil.  Much faster!  The line moved so quickly!

We waited in line for at least 45 minutes for the pony ride.  During that time N2 fed the animals, listened to a story, got their arms painted, played in rice, and watched one of the races.  They only do races every 30 minutes so this was the first race.  We were done with the pony ride by the second race.

I didn't get pictures of it this year but you can go around the back of the grandstands and see where the horses are getting ready and watch the jockeys and horses parade out of the track.  You get a much closer view of the horses that way!  N2 have been saying that they want to be jockeys for Halloween!  Here is a picture of Noah watching the race with Grandma and Natalie with Brian.