Interview Trail part 1

We started off our trip early in the morning and headed for Hattiesburg Mississippi to visit the Mississippi Packs for a couple nights before heading to New Orleans for our first interview. We had a blast with the Packs as usual. The night before we left, Jeff was playing football with the kids and stepped in a hole and injured his ankle. After a couple hours in the ER we got some crutches and a prescription for some pain killers and we set out to find an all night drug store. We finally found one and Jeff stayed in the car while I went in to get the medicine. Jeff was rocking out and playing around with the Garmin and when I came out our battery was totally dead. So then we had to call AAA and wait 30 min. for the tow truck to come give us a jump. It was a long night. The next day we had lunch with the Packs and then we headed out for New Orleans. We got there are checked into our hotel the Jeff had to go meet his group for dinner and the boys and I just hung out in the hotel. We thought the Brent house was a little Ghetto, but it kind of matched the areas we had driven through to get there. There was water leaking from the bathroom ceiling and everything was a little dirty, but you can't complain about a free hotel. When Jeff was at the dinner everyone was talking about how nice the hotel was and how luxurious the rooms were. Jeff and one other interviewee were like "WHAT?". It turns out they are in the middle of remodeling after Katrina and they started at the top and worked their way down. Apparently the first floor where we were had not been remodeled. The next day Jeff interviewed and we sat in the hotel. He was done about 1 and we went to the children's museum.

At the children's museum in New Orleans. It was super small, but the kids were so glad to be out of the car and hotel and at a kid friendly place, they didn't care.

The boys love to play restaurant and had such a good time finding food and bringing Jeff and I plates full of random food.

Austin must be the busboy.

We played with this forever. You stand in the middle and then try to get inside the bubble tube without popping it. Ethan did way better at big bubbles then Jeff or I, but we had a lot of fun.

This is a screen that flashes light then when you move, your shadow stays. OH-IO! It took us 10 min. to get this picture because we would have to pose then run and take the picture before it disappeared.

After the museum we went to Hammond Louisiana to visit Beth, Ronnie and Becca. They were so sweet and took us to dinner and let us spend the night with them. Thanks Becca for sleeping on the floor. We got to see their remodeling which was beautiful and we can't wait to see the finished product. After Hammond we made the 5 hour trek to Houston.

Outside the Armadillo bar where we met residents from Texas and learned more about their program. We got to Houston, dropped the boys off with our friends Mark and Stacy at Marks parents house and took off to make it to dinner on time. Thanks Stevens for helping us out and letting us stay with you! Jeff and Mark flew in and out of Houston all week to interview. Jeff went to Lubbock Texas, had 2 interviews in Houston and a test. Such a busy week.

We thought Ethan would love to see the huge Armadillo.

The Stevens live on a beautiful little lake with a nice jogging path around it. We were all out for a nice walk and Ethan tripped and fell. Unfortunately Ethan had just discovered his pockets and had both hands in them so when he fell he hit face first. He was so sad and there was blood everywhere on both of us. Poor Ethan!

By evening his bottom lip was so swollen he could hardly talk. It was so sad!

At the Houston zoo. We got a discount with our Columbus zoo pass.

These cattle had the biggest horns I have ever seen. Everything is bigger in Texas.

Playing in the Eagle nest. Austin stood up just as I snapped the picture so his head isn't in the picture, but still cute.

Ethan and Austin love hermit crabs and thought it was way funny to pretend to be one.

Don't mind the shirtless boy in a nice museum. Ethan's reflux was acting up and he threw up all over himself and Jeff just as we got to the museum. It took about a half hour to get to the museum so we decided to wipe off his pants and take off his shirt and continue on.

Austin thought we were at the zoo with all the life size animals. He was fascinated by the Zebra.

Some of the cute homemade ornaments at the natural history museum. These would be super easy to make and the tree looked super cute.

MIC-KEY MOUSE

Paper towel rolls with tops of frozen juice containers as wheels.

Cute animals with fun animal print ribbons and bows.

Cute snowman decorations.

Interview Trail part 2

This is the huge children's museum in Houston. Austin trying to pull himself up, he couldn't do it.

When we realized Jeff had an interview in Albuquerque the morning after his Step 2 exam in Houston (which is a 17 hour drive) we knew I would have to drive the kids by myself and Jeff would have to fly to Albuquerque and we would meet him there. When my mom heard this she said she would fly to Houston and drive with me. Thanks mom! As we were preparing to leave we realized that Austin was still under 2 and could fly for free with Jeff and he wouldn't have to drive the 17 hours. So our good friend Stacy and her husbands mother Linda babysat Austin while we were driving and Jeff was testing, then they picked up Jeff and dropped them both off at airport. They were a couple hours early and the flight attendants let them on an earlier flight so they arrived in Albuquerque just as We drove into the city. It was perfect timing. Thanks everyone for making our traveling so much smoother. PS if I ever have to drive across Texas again it will be too soon.

But he doesn't seem to mind.

Driving an old car.

It doesn't look very safe.

Ethan riding a scooter and thinking he is a big boy.

Helping mommy sweep up the "cottage".

Petting the dragon head. He thought it was super cool.

Playing a Vietnamese instrument.

More instruments, Austin loved the gong and Ethan was more than willing to oblige him.

Making gingerbread guys to hang on the christmas tree.

Hanging them up with all the other kid's gingerbreads. Ethan was a little upset that we left his artwork at the museum.

Eating pretend food from Vietnam. He did pretty well with the chopsticks.

Putting some on a plate for Mamma to eat.

Riding a mini scooter like they do in Vietnam.

Playing at one of the stations that described how different religions/cultures celebrate the holidays. You went in to different houses and it showed you how they celebrate and then had an activity for you to celebrate too.

They had a huge climbing area with these weirdly shaped circles to play around in. It was for 6 year olds and up, but ethan insisted on playing in there. I followed to make sure he was okay, but he loved it and climbed all the way to the top which was 3 stories up.

Coming back up from climbing.

They had a really fun area that we got to make lego cars and then race them down the track. All of our cars weren't high quality and broke before they got to the bottom.

Daddy and Ethan's cars went further then mine before they broke. This area also had a place to build paper rockets and then a demo area to launch them. We were in there for hours.

Sliding down the metal slide. He had such a fun time.

Building Ethan a house of bricks so he would be safe from the big bad wolf.

It's getting taller.

Ready and waiting for the big bad wolf.

Such a big boy.

He loved the grown-up things that were just his size.

Choo-choo

Playing blocks with Daddy!

Racing superheros to save the city. Ethan said Batman won.

The zoo in Albuquerque. This is the super cute baby Orangutan. It was so stinking cute.

So cute.

The baby Zebra is almost the same size as it mom.

The Chimpanze family.

The ugliest dog/coyote things ever.

Playing on the lioness and lion cubs.

They love playing on the sculptures.

I think these were called naked mole rats. They were totally disgusting.

They were mean and would bite each other.

They had a ton of Giraffes at the zoo, which is Austin's very favorite animal.

Ethan really liked the cactus. I can't wait to live in New Mexico!

By noon we had all shed our coats and I knew this was somewhere we could live.

Mamma stopped to clean off some duck poop from her shoe. Ethan thought it was a good idea, even though he had no poop on his shoe.

Since he didn't have any poop, he thought he would help Mamma clean off her shoes.

They have a baby elephant too. The boys loved to watch it play.

Looking at the seals and sea lions. They have a fun show, but we missed it.

The tiger was really active and swimming and playing with his ball. It was really fun.

The polar bears were beautiful and Austin loves them.

Austin fell out of the stroller onto his face just so he could match his brother. What a good sport.

They were feeding the vulture mice and Ethan was amazed! He loved it. The other kids were grossed out and parents were leading their small children away, but ethan thought it was the coolest thing ever. He is now obsessed with what animals eat.

After the dinner in Albuquerque, Mamma took the boys back to the hotel while Jeff and I visited a little longer. She wasn't quite sure how to get all the food and the boys so she got creative.

Helping mamma push the buttons.

WEE!

What good boys.

After leaving Albuquerque, we drove to Utah to spend Christmas with our families. On the way through New Mexico it was beautiful sunshine and clear roads. We were greatful for the beautiful weather. Then we crossed into Colorado and instantly hit a major blizzard with snow covered roads. So here we are on a two lane highway with semis passing us going both directions and we slow way down. The boys had just fallen asleep and I was starting to doze when I hear Jeff say very calmly and kind of like Mario "here we go". We started spinning out of control and it was like slow motion and pretend all at the same time. The next thing I knew we were driving 50 miles an hour backwards on the highway. Luckily Jeff has amazing skills and was able to get us stopped and turned around and we just continued on our way. We are so greatful we didn't hit a snowbank or drive off the road and that there were no other cars coming either direction. I bet the cars behind us were terrified when they saw our tire tracks.

I will put the Christmas pictures in a seperate post.

A blizzard that hit us just before we got to Iowa. We left the main freeway and the road was unplowed and we couldn't see anything. We only stayed on the road by listening to the loud noise from the tires hitting the edge of the lane. We said a prayer and found the closest hotel on the garmin and stopped. This is the snow after about 20 min. of falling and it kept up all night. we were glad we stopped because the next morning when we were driving home we saw at least 50 cars off the road waiting for tow trucks to come rescue them.

Right after Jeff parked the car it looked like this.

Even Brutus was worn out after all the traveling we did. Pure exhaustion.

Waiting for Daddy to finish his interview at Michigan so we could meet up with the Tolberts.

They were super excited to see familiar TV shows after no satelite at grandma's house for 3 weeks. I couldn't get them to look at me.

It must be an advertisment.

We had a blast visiting the Tolberts and then we went to Detriot to visit Andrea before returning home.

Their sleeping arrangments at the Heiners. Thanks John and melanie for letting us crash at your house for the weekend! We had so much fun. Hailey, Kate, Ethan, austin and Bella the dog.

Sweet, loving brothers.

Getting ready for movie night so the adults could have some quiet time.

The Heiners took us to an indoor play area for some funtimes.

Austin loved the doggie. He really wanted to ride it, but it would tip over when he go on it.

Driving the police car. He loved the toddler area.

Racing the bigger kids to the slide. For being an unsteady surface, he was really fast and I could hardly catch him in the pictures.

Austin trying to keep up with Ethan.

Ethan thinks he is a big kid, he often forgets he is still 2. I could not convince him to play in the toddler area. I was sure he was going to be trampled by all the big kids.

I guess at some point you have to let go and let your kids fend for themselves. Good luck Ethan.

Ethan and his best friend Sam. Such good pirates. (Ethan is giving you the pirate arr face, he is being tough).

One of our few days home we wanted to see our friends so we had a big playdate here while Daddy was at work and invited all our friends over for lunch and playtime.

Enjoying movie night with Mom and Dad. We get popcorn, treats and cream soda. Happy boys.

Out in the backyard making a snowman. The boys loved it and even though they were freezing and soaking wet, they didn't want to come in. Mommy stayed inside and had hot chocolate waiting when they were done.

The snow after one crazy storm.

Baby lion cub at the zoo. The other two were smart and stayed inside.

I am not sure if we are looking at all Austin's teeth or if there is something in his mouth that Jeff is trying to check on, but a funny picture either way.

BatMan. Both boys love to dress up as batman. Thanks grandma for the outfits.

The boys helping Daddy get in shape. They are doing P90X workouts. Ethan is awsome with his push-ups he is crazy strong.

Our broken bush after the heavy snowstorm.