The little Pack family blog, GO BUCKS!: 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.