The Great Urban Race

Andrew (Kim's brother) and Sarah came from Lubbock to visit us the last weekend in February. We competed in Austin's Great Urban Race (a scavenger hunt/road rally kind of like "The Amazing Race" TV show). We had a GREAT time together!

As soon as they arrived on Friday, we started making our costumes. Andrew and Sarah were "The Mighty Molars" and Matt, Kim, and Ian were "The Pearly Whites." But, we laughingly called ourselves "Team Oral Hygiene." Andrew was a box of floss, Sarah was a tube of Crest toothpaste, Kim was an Oral-B toothbrush, Matt was a tooth, and Ian was a white strip.




We had a great time making the costumes. Kim and Andrew laughed when remembering how they had dressed up as a toothbrush and floss and their sister, Amy, had dressed up like toothpaste for Halloween when they were young. Ah ... the memories!

On Saturday morning bright and early, we started the three hour drive to Austin. We were thrilled that the Texas Bluebonnets (Texas' state flower) was in bloom! We even had our family photographer, Sarah, along to capture the moment when we stuck Ian in a bluebonnet field!


Ian liked touching the bluebonnets!
We headed into Stubb's for the noon start of the Great Urban Race. Ian took his toothbrush as a good luck charm! :)
We got LOTS of smiles and giggles when we walked in all dressed up. We enjoyed looking at everyone else's costumes, too.

There were about 350 teams of two participating in the Great Urban Race, so there were LOTS of fun costumes! We liked the Where's Waldo? costumes. Andrew & Sarah's costumes were in the top five in the costume contest, but the couple who dressed as Marge and Homer Simpson ended up winning.


We opened our envelope of clues at 12:15 and started planning. Thankfully, we could phone some friends for help ... siblings Amy and Jason, and friends who used to live in Austin (Mike, Kati, and Jenn). We mapped everything out and then headed on our way ... The twelve clues took us all over Austin ... to Gold's Gym where we got a salsa dance lesson ...
... and met some fun people along the way,

including a UT student (that was a BIG help!) who randomly carries floss around with him.We had to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on recorder outside a pizza shop,
get our photo with someone wearing a cowboy hat (tougher to find than you might think!),

pose with a group making the Hook 'Em Horns sign in front of a fountain,
get our photos with some turtles,


get our picture in front of "RIAL STA" (part of Memorial Stadium's sign),

sample doughnuts,
lasso a metal steer,
shake a pick out of a guitar,

and see why Austin's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird."
We felt like we fit right in in our costumes. :) We just barely finished the race in the five-hour time limit, but we were excited to actually finish ... in a city that was brand-new to us all! We had a wonderful time and are completely in awe of the winners who finished in just over 1 1/2 hours!


Ian was a trooper the whole day, both in the car riding to Austin and back and during the race! We think he liked all the activity!




We finished up our day in Austin with some yummy pizza at Home Slice Pizza! What a fun day!

What's New With Ian??

Momma and Ian loved their time with Bernell (a friend from church) recently. Bernell took them on a tour of her farm, complete with lots of horses and multiple dogs. Ian especially loved the dogs. I think the horse in the foreground is about to eat Momma's hair!!
Ian loved spending time with Bernell and her dog, Ginger.




Ian has started playing "games" like this one. Ian's new nickname: turbo-pacifier-shaker-dude!



Ian has learned the word "hug" and especially loves to hug his stuffed animals.




Momma and Daddy were doing yard work a few weeks ago while Ian happily played on a blanket nearby. For a while, Ian seemed intimidated by the grass surrounding the blanket and didn't leave his blanket. Once he crawled off the blanket, Ian learned that a world of excitement (namely, DIRT) awaited him!


Dirty but delighted!

Spring Break in Michigan

We enjoyed a wonderful time in Michigan a few weeks ago during Concordia's Spring Break. Jessica and her husband Todd kept us the night before we flew back to TX (watch out...these pictures are in reverse chronological order). Our God-daughter is Hannah, and Ian is pretty interested in the rings Hannah has.

Kim and Jess taught together when we lived in Michigan--they are still good friends.
Caroline came over for brunch on the day that we had to leave to return to Houston. It looks like Hannah is now a bit camera shy.
Say cheese!
Matt's Aunt Mary and Uncle Doug met us at a mall in the Detroit area for a few hours on Friday. These two have a lot of experience with little kids: they have 7 grandchildren of their own.

Ian loved the St. Patrick's bib that Grandma made for him. If you look closely, you can see the evidence that confirms Ian had a great time playing with the red finger jello.
This star tastes good.
"Grandma...did you know that they are trying to take a picture of us as we are cutting shapes in the finger jello?" Ian
Grandma and Grandpa got Ian this nice outfit to wear on St. Patrick's Day.
Ian enjoyed swinging on the tree swing in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard.
Grandma took Momma, Daddy, and Ian to "Book Nibblers" story time at the Zeeland Library during the week. Ian especially enjoyed playing with the bubbles after the friendly librarian read a book and led the group in some action songs and chants.
Grandpa balanced work and relaxation well during our visit. We are pretty sure that Grandpa was quizzing both the monkey (in the yellow coat) and Ian regarding the best color to paint/dye Easter eggs when this picture was taken.
Both Grandma and Grandpa (pictured here) helped out with a few diaper changes and getting Ian dressed for the day.
We played some games as we were relaxing in Michigan. In one of our several games of Rook, Kim had the best possible hand you can get (click on the picture if you are familiar with the game and need a better look).
Our friend, Beth, came to visit during our first weekend in MI. Beth had made this bib for Ian shortly after he was born, and he was able to put it to good use during our time together.
Ian's Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth spent the first weekend with us--they made the trip all the way from Minnesota.
Ian is trying to explain to Aunt Beth that grabbing a lamp is sometimes more fun than looking at a cordless phone base.
Both Grandpa (above) and Grandma (below) enjoyed introducing Ian to some of the COS members after the Sunday worship service.
Uncle Andy and Ian share some "din-din" time together.
Ian loved it that Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth made the long drive to be with us for a few days.
Grandma reads very well, and Ian enjoyed learning about caterpillars with her.
The video below shows one of Ian's favorite toys from our time in Michigan: the dancing monkey.



The step was another fun "toy."