Muddy Buddy Ride & Run

Team Muddy Mueggs (that's my cousin Halie and me) completed our first Muddy Buddy and we are hooked. It was hands-down the hardest 5.7 miles of my life, with narrow dirt roads, tough hills (including one nicknamed: "the hill of death"), rocky hazards, and 5 obstacles throughout. The race works like this: teams of 2 take off from the start, one running and one biking. After about a mile, the first teammate (the biker) encounters an obstacle. The biker, drops the bike, completes the obstacle and then takes off running. The runner completes the same obstacle, grabs the bike and rides the next leg. So, the teams leapfrog each other, switching off at each obstacle. The final obstacle is a giant mud pit, that you army-crawl through together and then race to the finish line. Costumes are encouraged and each teammate receives 2 Redhook beers at the finish line.

We completed the race in 54:46, which put us in 9th place out of the 60 competitors in our age bracket. Not bad for a couple of rookies on a rickety old bike with bad gears!

All fresh and sparkly at 5am.

Beginning our crawl through the pit.

Emerging from the pit, victorious!

Still excited!

Enjoying our refreshments.

A few funny things that I heard during the race: "Biker on your left! And I'm out of control!" From Halie, while buzzing past me on our bike, "The first partner across the finish line gets to drink her partner's beers!" "If you trip and fall in the woods, but nobody sees it, does it count?" "Only if you fall in the mud. Because then there is evidence." "My partner is a drill sargent... in a tutu."

Omar the Octopus

This week was "O" week at pre-school. The buddies learned about oceans and oysters and otters and ocean life. And the octopus. "O" yes, the octopus. Their fabulous teacher "went fishing" (ie. she went to the Asian fish market) and caught a real one and brought it to class. He was very real, though thankfully, no longer alive. When we arrived, she pulled me aside and asked if we would like to take Omar home with us at the end of the day. Of course we wanted to!









I spread the word among our neighbors and invited them all to come over this afternoon. We had 9 takers show up at our door and marvel at our sea creature. They explored his tentacles and suction cups. Ace and Ben pointed out his mouth and his eyes. And, luckily for us, our final visitor took Omar home. It is "bring something from the ocean" day at her preschool tomorrow and we all agreed that Omar would like that. (And, to be honest, I'd rather Omar spend time in her freezer, rather than ours, before the next trash pick-up.)

Cousins

We enjoyed a lovely visit from some special family members this afternoon. Two of my dad's cousins (including one double cousin, actually) made a special excursion just to visit us. The buddies loved showing off for them.

Ace really likes Ginny, because she's good at puzzles.

Ben enjoyed chatting about Nascar with Orlene. She told him he needs to check out demolition derby.

It was a lovely visit that ended just a little too soon.

Happy Mother's Day

We enjoyed a lovely Mother's Day brunch with our neighbors at the University of Texas Club (sorry Pop).


Then, spent the early evening in our backyard with a few of our favorite families. Our new zip line, which was a birthday present for the buddies, was the MVP of the party.


Happy, happy Mother's Day to all the moms in our life!

5 year stats

Ace:
height: 45 1/2" (97th percentile)
weight: 44 pounds (75th percentile)

Ben:
height: 43" (50th percentile)
weight: 40 pounds (50th percentile)

We have two happy, healthy boys who are ready for Kindergarten!

Mother's Tea

Ace and Ben's pre-school class treated all the moms to a Mother's Tea this morning. The buddies served up strawberries (which they then ate off my plate), grapes (which they also ate), powdered donuts (yep, they ate them), and banana cake (I actually got to eat this!) and raspberry tea.

There were also a few songs, a story, and gifts for all the moms. But the best part was guessing which of the two portraits were me and hearing what the kids all had to say about their moms.

My Mother
by Ben

My Mother has brown eyes and black hair. She is 35 years old. My mother is prettiest when she wears pink. When Mom has free time she likes to work. Mom is really funny when she says silly things. I love when she cooks chicken marsala, but I don't like chewy meat. She likes me to help her build with legos. I love her very much.

My Mother

by Ace

My Mother has brown eyes and black hair. She is 16 years old. My mother is prettiest when she's cleaning. When Mom has free time she likes to sweep. Mom is really funny when she makes silly faces. I love when she cooks spaghetti and meatballs, but I don't like chicken marsala. She likes me to help her cook. I love her very much.

I love my boys!

All three of them! They brought me this (plus a cup of coffee) in bed this morning:

Big Top Candy Shop

A morning errand took us to South Congress Avenue (or SoCo, if you are a hip Austinite), so the buddies and I decided to check out Big Top Candy Shop. Since we've lived here, I've heard many people talk about this old-fashioned gem and was surprised to learn this morning that it has been an Austin fixture for less than 3 years. You sure wouldn't know that by the looks of the place.


Walking inside is like stepping back in time. Old-time poster prints and antique instruments adorn the walls above row after row of nostalgic candy. Treats are displayed inside pretty urns or rusty old wagons beside a real old-fashioned soda shop.

I told each buddy they could pick out one treat - anything they wanted. Ace immediately went for a giant lollipop. Ben wandered the by-the-pound candies, changing his mind with every new candy he spied. He finally settled on gummy chicken feet. I ate one, because he offered, even though its grotesque shape made me gag a little.

After we paid for our treats, we window shopped with our sugary stash. Ace delighted in showing his giant lolly to the diners at all the restaurants we passed. And, this evening, when Ben's chicken feet were long gone and Ace's giant lolly barely had a dent in it, Ace asked Ben, "Don't you wish you'd picked this one instead?" Ben said, "No. I just should have scooped more gummy chicken feet into my bag."

Ace and Ben's Camp Out

The buddies decided on a camp-out birthday party this year and each invited 5 friends to our backyard.

And told their grown-ups to drop them off and go home.


We began with a scavenger hunt. The kids hunted for snakes and geckos and crayons and pencils and bubble gum.

Next up, was a water bucket relay race. Ace's team won, and they were very excited about it.

Then, it was time for a snipe hunt with Super-Grandpa. He took the kids on a hike in the woods behind our house and taught them his classic snipe call. It goes something like this, "WAH! WAH! KEE-KEE-KEE-KEE-KEE!" The kids called and waited excitedly to catch the snipes in their paper bags, but alas, the snipes escaped them. Luckily for the kids, they managed to scare the snipes into our backyard, where they scattered candy and then escaped before their return.

After the snipe hunt, everyone was hungry and thirsty, so we had a snack.

And then roasted marshmallows for s'mores (highly supervised, of course).

Then, there was singing and cake.

Twice...
And some camp-out favors for our little friends.


After two hours of fun, the parents returned to pick up their kiddos. And the four responsible adult chaperones collapsed. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for helping us host the party today!

Team Picture Day

Today was team picture day. Not many of the kiddos smiled for the photographer. But, they all smiled for our impromptu "hats on backward" photo.

Five!!

Guess "how many" the buddies are today!?

That's right...five! We started the day with chocolate chip pancakes. Some of us were so excited that we felt the need to protect our heads while eating.


Then, there were cupcakes and special ribbons at school, followed by an early pick-up and picnic with Mom, some playground time, and a quick trip to our gym where our much-loved kid's zone staffers doted on the buddies even more than normal.

But the best part was a night out at a "real" restaurant.

Ben did a happy dance at the front door.

And Dad pulled himself away from work to meet us!


Happy, happy birthday Ace and Ben!!

A Little History Lesson During Today's Bike Ride

It's always good to stop and read the "hysterical markers" (as my Pop calls them). Especially when they involve trains. This is a cool one and if you are inclined to read more about it, you can do so here.

You Know Your Kid is Hard Core When...

Ten minutes into a bike ride, he takes a header into the creek (bike and all). I fished him and his bike out, wrung out his shirt, picked the algae out of his spokes and asked him if he wanted to ride the 1/2 mile back to the car and go home.


"No Mom. I want to ride some more." And so we did. For two more hours.

Luckenbach, Texas

Luckenbach, Texas
Where Everybody's Somebody

Today's adventure took us to Luckenbach, Texas, a tiny town made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The little town, population 3, is nothing more than a general store, an outdoor stage, and a dance hall. Blink, and you'll miss it. And don't rely on road signs to direct you there - they are stolen all the time by ornery tourists.

The buddies and their cousins enjoyed exploring the wide open spaces, throwing rocks in the river, climbing trees, and our picnic lunch. We ended the day with front row seats to Thomas Michael Riley and Mike Blakely's Cowboy Sunday. The music was great and we listened and clapped and danced until our little folks lost interest and ran off to chase a rooster.

More pictures here.

Canoeing

Today was free paddle-boat day at our local YMCA. I surprised the buddies with a trip down to the pond to take one out for a spin. But, the nice camp leader filled us in on the scoop. Apparently, the ducks spent much of the winter season in the paddle boats and they didn't think to check them earlier in the week. Shoo-wee! So, they offered us a canoe instead. Even though it has been years since I've rowed anything, we decided to give it a go. Luckily, it was just like riding a bike. We paddled around the pond with ease. The buddies mainly used their paddles to splash me.

Strawberries are here!

After a long, unusually cold winter, we are officially declaring Spring's arrival. Because for us, it isn't really Spring until we had a chance to pick berries at our favorite farm.

Today, as usual, the buddies quickly became the filthiest children there. They were covered in dirt and strawberry juice as they raced from row to row, collecting the ripest, juiciest berries. Someone even managed to SIT on a strawberry, reaching new levels of griminess.


But, I received a friendly tip from a woman in the check-out line who marveled at our grubby clothing. Just dip the clothes in boiling water and the strawberry stains lift right off. It worked like magic!

More pictures here.

The Capitol 10,000

12 weeks of training. 135.5 miles logged. All to be ready to race a fun 10K in a tutu with one of my favorite cousins. The results? 58:42 for me and 57:56 for my faster cousin, who left me in her dust at mile marker 5. The best part? High-fiving our five kids a few yards short of the finish line.

Bluebonnets

Thanks to heavy Fall rains, the wildflowers in Central Texas are spectacular this year! After 2 amateur photo shoots and 137 photo attempts, these are the best. We may try one more time...

Happy Easter!

We've been up since well before dawn. The ten eggs that the Easter Bunny hid in the playroom to buy some extra sleep time for the parents didn't last long. And we've already had a bloody nose all over one of the fancy new Easter shirts so dressed up pics will come later. Until then, here's the one photo I snapped of the buddies before they pulled everything out of their baskets.


And the baskets, minus one chocolate bunny:

Anotther Sea World Adventure

We spent the day with some good friends at Sea World, celebrating the buddies' friend's 5th birthday. Along with the entire San Antonio population on this beautiful Saturday of a holiday weekend. Woo-wee, it was crowded!

We hit our usual line-up of shows and rides and also cooled off with the penguins.


Next trip, we're wearing our bathing suits. Spring is on the way out and we're ready for summer.