00107. Family vacation.

00107. Family vacation. AnnouncementHey everyone, here is the new chapter for the week. Just a head up, I tossed a poll up on patreon and it's public. Its for the other story I am starting, go check it out if you want and vote.

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 Pangborn's.

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?”

“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 then Jacobs.

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 wouldn’t be allowed to do 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.