Spring Break in A Town

Saturday was Mimi's birthday.  We had originally planned to head to Austin Monday morning for a little post celebration since Chance had weekend baseball obligations, but earlier in the week Chance came up to me in a desperate panic..........Mom, we HAVE to be there for Mimi's birthday, and we HAVE to arrive at her door unannounced, WITH BALLOONS.  So we scratched the baseball practices, loaded the car and headed to Austin Saturday morning to arrive at Mimi's house WITH BALLOONS, "unannounced"

Mimi's a bit like me: Doesn't really like surprises, and likes to have her house clean for guests. 

Next thought in that mind of yours is "Stacey?  Clean house for guests? Have you been to her house lately?"

Let's just say I WISH I could have a clean house for guests. 

But back to the story.  So, to spare Mimi the stress of us seeing how messy her bathroom really gets, and to selfishly ensure us clean sheets, I spilled the beans and we arrived at her door "unannounced" with her pretending not to know we were coming.  Mimi can put on such a fake act, I have to wonder if she often does it to me.  Chance believed the whole thing.  And somehow Ryan never clued in cause a couple days later he was asking me if Mimi was surprised to see us at her door step.  He's been working way too many hours to get anything straight, so we'll give that one to him.

Saturday we had Mimi birthday celebrations over at Uncle Drew and Aunt Andrea's house, with some mandatory tree climbing and walking in this great nature preserve behind their house.

Sunday my cold worsened and took my voice with it, Brooks was struck with a 102.5 fever and basically the rest of the week was down hill from there with regards to our health, putting a blow to any chance of us seeing my grandparents or doing anything worthwhile.  I do have to say it was nice to be in the care of the Mims!

We did get to see Umpa, Lisa and Matthew which is always nice.  The boys enjoyed some good game playing on the balcony:

And later some wrestling on the bed which enabled me for a good shot:

Later in the week, I finally said enough was enough with the darn sickness and so we loaded the boys in the car and checked out the Austin Zoo.  It was so reminiscent of our beloved Knies Kinderzoo at the other side of Lake Zurich.  So small, so manageable in several hours.  Only thing different was that you'd never see this in Switzerland, and these guys weren't playing dress up.  I was chasing them about like a crazy paparazzi, trying to get a shot of these creatures I'm still trying to get used to.  Yee ha.

Other interesting creatures at the zoo included a pair of turkeys:

Another pair of turkeys:

Some giant turtles that actually moved way faster than expecting.  One stuck it's head all the way thru the fence and immediately thought that was a lost finger waiting to happen. 

Clearly my thinking didn't carry me over to the pigpen, where Brooks proceeds to stick his fingers thru the fence and almost gets his hand taken off.  I should have seen the sign.

We went for a little spin on the Zoo train.  Anti-climatic for the boy who went to school on REAL trains for the last 4 years, but pretty darn exciting for the little man who loves CHOO CHOO's.

 

Back at Hotel Mimi, we soaked up the sun and hunted bugs

Chance was so excited to have Drew and Andrea come over that he spent several hours arranging the backyard in to a perfect game haven.

He even created a sign to attract his guests:

The "Pity"

You see this small gray dome with a flat dot on top of the roof?  This is the best pic I could get of it but ironically enough this is about it's true size as you are driving down the highway at full speeds scanning the horizon and it pops up in the distance.

This is the Bell County Expo Center, otherwise known as the TITTY.  The Titty competition started way back when in 1998, on our first trip up to Dallas from Austin.  Ryan and I had just met that summer and we were heading up to Dallas so I could meet his family for the first time.   And as you come upon the Belton horizon you see it, and if you are really lucky you see it FIRST.  Ryan introduced me to this competition as we were driving and he yells out TITTY and starts pointing all crazy like in the direction of something.  And then I see it, and then I know why it is called the Titty. 

So car rides with us to and fro Dallas are pretty normal and light until you reach the unmarked "zone".  We each have our own well memorized markers, and probably they are in very close proximity to each other, cause as soon as we come in range, the car gets very quiet as we are each scanning the horizon.  First to see it must yell TITTY. 

Basically, I am the winner.  I've been winning since the beginning.  I see it more often than Ryan and REALLY I have the most points. 

Ryan would say otherwise.  He thinks he has the most points.  But I know the truth and that's all that matters.

So last weekend on our quick trip down to Austin to check on our rent house, Ryan had been complaining about his contacts drying out so he took them out and kept driving without them.  The sun was setting and SUPPOSEDLY he was having trouble seeing the cars in front of him.  His glasses were in his briefcase in the way back of the car....we were going to get in to Austin pretty late and had decided to try to push thru as fast was we could with as little stops as possible, so the glasses had to wait.  But the cars were getting blurrier and blurrier, so we had to pull over as quickly as possible to the side of the road to retrieve them.  Need I mention that we just happened to be pulling over IN RANGE of the ZONE......hummm.  Within 1 minute of the pull over, guess what comes up on the horizon? 

You see, this competition is steep.  One must go to all extremes to win, even if it puts you in to Austin really late at night.

We tied, in case you were wondering. 

After yelling Titty at the top of our lungs, the peanut gallery in the back questions WHAT DID YOU SAY? WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING?

"Daddy said PITY, Chance.  If you see that building over there you have to yell out PITY.  And if you see it first, then you will win."

Chance: Why do you call it Pity?

Ryan: "Cause that building is just such a pity"

And so it was in that moment that the PITY was born, and the competition gets passed down from one generation to another. 

But I'll always be the winner.

Out With A Bang

Saturday morning we set off for the airport with Siro, Ryan's coworker.  Cause there was just no way that we could handle our 7 monster bags, our 1 oversized 70 lb bag, our 2 back packs, the over flowing diaper bag, the plastic bag of diapers to last us a day, and the computer bag.  And our 2 kids, one of them in a stroller.  We were quite the scene.  The checkin line attendant even let us wheel our not-allowed push carts thru the line so that we could get it all checked in.  

Siro treated us to some Starbucks, and we chatted just a little too long.  I knew the signs always say that it's 30 minutes from the time you enter the restricted area.  We had about 45 minutes to spare, although we both were thinking that our plane left at 10:15, not 9:50.  Had we read the boarding pass.  The passport control line was long, and the customs officials must have had a team meeting that day to ra-ra about the importance of really checking each and every person.  The poor man 4 or so people up from us was getting hassled about not having had his passport stamped when he entered Germany.  So much fuss over letting people leave the country.  I think Switzerland is the only place in the world that would charge someone to deregister.....we had to pay 60 CHF to be allowed to leave.  So after passport check we were really pushing our luck.  20 minutes until the flight left and we still had security to get thru.  I was in such an emotional shock that morning that it didnt even really register with me.  20 MINUTES until push back and you are still in the security line.  We look up and some security man has met us there, asks us if we are the hooligans trying to make the Delta flight.  We should have known we were really late when he grabs Chance's backpack and starts running with it towards the gate.  Yip we were the last to board. 

Best part of boarding last, you dont have to wait.  Other best part was the whole plane got to take a look at the baby appropriately wearing his LUUSBUEB tshirt (translation: rascal), and they all now know who's making all that racket when they are peacefully trying to sleep.

Chance was fantastic as expected. I've gotta say, ole Brooks did pretty good so long as he was NOT in his car seat.  Back galley floor was pretty nice, mind the dirt, and the isle way was a close second.  Little man decided in very Brooks fashion that sleeping was highly overrated, who needs sleep when you can talk THE ENTIRE TIME on the way back to the US.

In front of us, across the isle was a grumpy old Swiss lady, and typically Swiss old ladies don't particularly light small Luusbuebs that make noise.  In the first drink service she downed 2 Glen Livets straight up.  Then under her beer can on the next round was the next $6 she had waiting.  I don't blame her.  Every so often she'd look back at the talker and I know she was saying to her self, DOES THIS CHILD EVER SHUT UP, how much longer do I have to wait for my cigarette.  And with every passing noise of Brooks I just knew that those cigarette cravings were getting stronger and stronger. 

So we made out with a boom.  Managed to rattle one last little Swiss lady as we flew back to our home land.  Too bad I'll actually miss those little old grumpy ladies in the land of cows and cheese.  Somehow they grew on me as did everything else, and Switzerland will always be held so dear to my heart!

We're Live

Here we are, we're live and kicking.  We're back from the land of cows and cheese, trying to adjust to life back in Texas.  Our adventure of a life time has ended, and we begin again.  If you'd like to read about those adventures, you can find them HERE.  We hope you'll stay with us on our new journey!