Theo’s vacation with his family turned out to be a bigger deal than he thought. It wasn't just his family, but his extended family along with the Pangborns.
Ben and Jacob decided to close the shop for two weeks and called it a company holiday. They even paid for everything so it could be written off on taxes. Cause apparently that was a thing you could do.
For the trip itself they rented a large passenger van and drove everyone down to the place with it. As for the hotel arrangements, everyone was placed on the same floor. The four rooms, one for each group of adults were all next to each other and at the end of a hallway, away from the main elevators.
As for the place itself and entertainment, Daniel was right. The entertainment resort complex had almost endless things to do. They went to the amusement parks, the zoo, the water park and everything else in between at least once. After the first week of exploring everything, they broke off into smaller groups to do different things.
Daniel, May, Mary, Richard, Milly and the smaller kids went to the Zoo and smaller amusement park again. While Jacob, Ben, John, Sara, Peter and Theo went to the go-kart tracks. The main reason being both Theo and Peter were just tall enough to ride the go-karts alone.
After the two groups separated, May glanced back and looked at the other group as she said, “You know they are going to let the boys ride the bigger karts.”
Daniel smiled slightly as she said, “I know. But it's fine, we'll let the boys have fun and think that they're clever. Plus it's not like they’ll be able to get on the pro gas karts.”
Daniel looked down at Milly as she asked, “You want to eat cotton candy and go to the petting zoo?”
“I can pet the bunnies again?!” Milly excitedly said as she bounced on her feet.
Daniel smiled brightly as she asked, “You really liked the bunnies, didn't you?”
Milly nodded as she said, “They're so soft and cute.”
vvvvv
As they passed through the entrance Theo’s father glanced down at him and asked, “Think you can beat me in a race today?”
“If not you, I can at least win against Uncle Ben.”
Ben chuckled before he reached down and rubbed Theo’s head as he said, “In your dreams kid. Just wait for me and your dad to lap you.”
Sara glanced over as she said, “I don't know about that. With his weight compared to yours, he'll have an advantage in acceleration and possibly top speed. I doubt you'll be able to fully lap him.”
Theo nodded his head as he said, “Aunt Sara’s right.”
“We'll see. There are a lot more factors that go into racing than just a person's weight. Skill is a factor. Along with practice and finding the best lines.” Ben said.
Jacob smiled as he said, “Well it looks like we'll have a lot of practice today. It's pretty empty so far and we paid for the unlimited kart racing pass.”
Jacob pointed to the mid range karts and said, “Let's start with those, so the kids can get used to the speed.”
Ben shook his head as he said, “Didn't Daniel say to only let them use the kid karts?”
“Those are the kid karts.” Jacob said as they walked past a sign board that read. ‘Electric Kid Karts’ and pointed to a different area.
Jacob glanced down at Theo as he asked, “Son, what did we ride on today?”
Theo smirked and said, “You know my price for silence.”
Jacob stopped to look at Theo as he asked, “Pancakes?”
“May's pancakes.”
Ben laughed before he said, “I think we created a pancake monster.”
Jacob nodded as he started to walk again and said, “I'll see what I can do, after we get back home.”
“In that case we used the kid karts today like we did last time.”
Peter pointed back at the other area they just walked past and said, “But the kid karts we used are over there.”
Jacob smiled and said, “You have to remember Peter, all of the karts here are designed for kids. Why do you think they're so small?”
Jacob pointed to the sign they were approaching and said, “It's just some of them are faster than others.” The sign he pointed at read, ‘Electric Karts recommended for kids ten and up.”
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Peter slowly nodded his head as Jacob said, “Just make sure if your mom or aunts asks, you tell them you rode the kid karts today.”
Theo placed his arm over Peter's shoulder as he said, “Don’t worry, Peter understands. But I think he would understand better if he also ate some of May's pancakes.”
Peter nodded his head with a smile as Ben said, “I think Theo is a bad influence for Peter.”
“I learned from my dad.” Theo said with a smirk.
“I never… Okay, maybe he got that from me…” Jacob said as Ben and the others gave him a look.
It didn't take long after that to get karts and get out on the first track. They spent the next few hours racing around while getting Peter and Theo used to the faster karts. After each race they would jump back into line and explain simple concepts to the boys about racing.
Some stuff they picked up easily like following them the next race to see the best line. But more advanced advice like quickly breaking before a turn to front load the kart and then initiating the turn. Which would help quickly rotate the kart into the turn was somewhat lost on Peter.
He did figure it out after a few races, but he still needed practice with it. Theo on the other hand picked it up right away and was in the process of trying to make it more consistent.
When Theo was trying to first learn how the skill worked, he watched his father and Ben a lot. He quickly came to a conclusion, both of them were masters of the skill and could even make the karts drift slightly by doing the technique. John and Sara could also do it, but they were nowhere near as proficient with it.
After practicing a while longer they went to go meet up with everyone else and eat lunch together. Theo and his father couldn't help smiling when they saw Milly. She was dressed up in a purple princess costume and was holding a stuffed bunny to her chest.
Jacob picked her up as he asked, “How is my little princess doing?”
“Great! Mom let me pet the bunnies again and then we went to a princess tea party!”
She held up her bunny as she said, “Mom also won me this bunny! I named him Bun-bun.”
Jacob kissed her on the cheek and then looked at the bunny as he said, “It’s nice to meet you Bun-bun. I hope you and Milly become good friends.”
Daniel and the others smiled at Jacob interacting with Milly and her bunny. Then she turned to look down at Theo and asked, “Did you have fun racing?”
Theo nodded as he said, “Ya. Dad and Ben even taught us how to drive better. Hopefully after lunch I can beat one of them in a race.”
Daniel smiled and placed her hand on Theo’s shoulder as she said, “I'm sure you can do it sweetie.”
“Thanks mom.” Theo said with a smile.
They continued to chat with each other over lunch before they split up again. With plans to meet back up again later for dinner. As Theo’s group made it back to the go-kart tracks, they moved towards a new area. The sign read, ‘Gas powered karts. Recommended for ages fourteen and up.’
Theo thought there might be an issue, since both Peter and him were so young. But Jacob and the others said it was fine as their legal guardians. So the staff let them ride the karts after checking with management and making sure they could operate the karts properly.
The new karts were night and day different from the electric karts. Besides the sound from the fifty CC engine, the new karts were almost twice as fast. They topped out around thirty-five miles per hour. When compared to the pro model karts, these karts were super slow.
As for the pro karts, you needed to be at least sixteen years old to drive them. They were one hundred and twenty-five CC engines and topped out at eighty miles per hour. They also had a roll cage and required the users to wear a fireproof jumpsuit, neck brace and helmet while in use.
Peter and Theo didn’t get to drive those karts, but were able to watch Jacob and the others do one race in them. Jacob and Ben fought for the lead the whole race, but in the end Jacob won. Jacob was just more skilled when it came to racing and would always pull slightly ahead on the turns. While Ben being shorter and weighing about thirty pounds less than Jacob would catch up on the straights. If the track didn’t have so many turns, Ben might have won because his kart could get to top speed faster than Jacob's.
The rest of their day was spent driving the fifty CC karts and having a blast. Theo even beat Ben in one race. His dad on the other hand was another story. He could get close, but was never able to pass him.
Actually his win against Ben only happened because Ben was trying to beat Jacob. He became distracted and missed Theo who came up on the inside of a turn and took the better line. Which forced Ben to the outside and he couldn't catch back up before the finish line two turns away.
The rest of the vacation was spent doing group stuff one day and then smaller groups going off to do stuff the following day. When the last day for their vacation arrived, Peter and Theo were pretty much hooked on racing go-karts.
Peter and Theo even talked about making their own go-karts when they went back home, which Jacob, Richard, Ben, John and Sara encouraged.
Daniel, Mary and May weren’t too happy with the idea, but knew it might happen sooner or later. They married a bunch of gearheads after all. The only thing that threw them off was Milly also wanted a go-kart… But it was mostly because she didn’t want to be left out. But when Jacob said she would have to build her own go-kart, she decided she would just use Peter’s or Theo’s if she wanted to drive one.
Theo and the others were allowed to make go-karts, but they had to follow certain rules. The first being they had to build it themselves. Second, someone would be watching them to make sure they were being safe. Third, they had to build it from scrap.
The last one wasn't an issue because there was a scrapyard a few blocks away from the family business. The kids would be allowed to go in and with the help of the adults collect stuff to make their go-karts. Then Jacob and the others would help the boys with their kart builds. They would be doing most of the work, but any welding grinding or the more dangerous stuff would be done by adults. The kids would still be doing everything else, including measuring stuff that needed to be cut.
The last rule was they had to wait till next year to start building. Daniel insisted the kids needed to be a little older before she would let them have their own go-karts.
vvvvv
A couple days after they came home from vacation Theo, still caught up on having fun racing go-karts, came up with a crazy idea. An idea that could only really be done in a world with magic. It wouldn't be practical at all and it had no real value outside of entertainment. But Theo couldn't help himself at the thought of making something like a real life Mario-Kart track using magic.