Run Zach, Run!!

Last weekend I went home to Sylvania to visit my family and celebrate one of my best friend's 30th birthday. When we first got there we wanted to go and watch my brother Zach run in his last Cross Country race of the season. This was the first time I have been able to make it to a meet. It was hilarious! Not because of the runners or anything, but because of how intense my dad gets trying to watch my brother run. As soon as I parked the car my dad scooped Max up and started running to the starting line. Poor Max was just looking back at my Mom and I with wide eyes as he bounced along in Papa's arms. Nana and I could not stop laughing.

Once the race started, the five of us ran from spot to spot to get a good view of Zach while he ran. It was really neat watching him run. He looks so grown up- I can't believe he is already 16.

What are we doing, Papa? 

Zach is number 51.

This is a little less crazy... ;) 

Zach at the end of the race. Brought back memories. Great job Zach!!

Hilger's Pumpkin Farm 2011

Clint and I started a family tradition several years ago of going to a local pumpkin farm, called Hilger's. It is a cute, family farm that has a small corn maze for kids, homemade fall decorations, a hayride, and a bunch of pumpkins. We've taken Max there the past couple of years and he always enjoys it. This year it was really hard to get pictures of him because he has a new found aversion to cameras, lol. Leo was so cute! He still loves the camera :)

Max is very serious about his pumpkin collecting. 

He wanted his pumpkins to have a seat as well. 

My strong boys-- well, Max didn't cooperate for the picture--but it is still cute! 

Me and my boys. 

Smiley Leo :) 

A few days before this we went to a really big corn maze, hay mountain, and corn box in Waterloo, Indiana with Clint's mom (Ma). It was such a fun place, but I didn't get any pictures. Max especially loved the corn box- just like his cousin Johanna! It was a neat place, but I found something similar even closer that we will have to try next year. This time of year is so much fun. I love the weather, changing colors, and all of the fun things we get to do. It is even more special now that we have our boys.

Mini Motoring

Once again, since the weather has been so amazing, we have also taken the mini out for a few drives. On Monday we decided to take the boys on a drive up to Pokagon Park for a hike. We had a fantastic time! The drive was beautiful- lots of things to look at on the route we took. It was mainly through the country and past some lakes, so everything was really pretty.

When we got to Pokagon I had to feed Leo, then we put him into the baby carrier and took off. We've done this hike a couple of times, but this was the first time Max would try and hike it on his own. He did awesome! He ran and walked almost the whole way- only needing a piggy-back-ride from me and then a shoulder ride from Dad towards the very end. We saw a couple of deer and lots of chipmunks, birds, and squirrels. It was a great day!

After our hike we drove around Lake James and saw the cottage Clint rented one year for school. It was right on the water. Clint enjoyed living there for a year while he was going to Tri-State. On the way home we stopped at Mad Anthony's in Auburn for dinner. It is cool that they opened one up in Auburn because it is actually closer to us than the FW location, and Clint won't have to see any of the "mopes" he's arrested, lol. After dinner Clint took us down this really windy road he found one afternoon with Max. It was freaky to drive on it (well, to have Clint driving really fast on it) in the Cooper. That car can take corners really quickly. I never knew we had roads like that around here-- it was neat. Reminded me of an area in Maryland where my Aunt and  Uncle live. We are looking forward to another trip soon!

Apple Festival

The weather here in Fort Wayne has been beautiful this last week. We've tried to take advantage of it by doing things outside as much as possible. Last Sunday Karan and I decided to take Leo to the Kendalville Apple Festival while the guys watched football. We had a great day! It was nice waking around the many craft booths and vendors. Karan bought some hilariously named candles and we tried lots of tasty goodies. Leo loved looking around at all of the people, it was crowded!! A wonderful day with my mom-in-law-- hopefully we will get a chance to go again next year. No freaking me out next time though, Karan-- haha.

While we finished a snack, we sat down to watch this couple perform. All of the workers were dressed in pioneer clothing and these people were playing instruments and singing old time songs. This song was "Mama's Little Baby loves Short'n Bread" and the lady was playing the spoons. Pretty neat to watch. 

Mama and Leo. 

Amazing Race Fort Wayne

We have been so busy this week I am just now able to post about what we've been up to! Last Saturday, me, Clint, and our good friends, Jill and Tyler participated in an event called the Amazing Race Fort Wayne. We had an AWESOME time!! We felt so competitive racing from place to place, figuring out clues, and competing in 12 different challenges.  

The race started at 9:00 and our first clue was inside of a medicine capsule, surrounded in several yards of duck tape. They gave each leader the item and told us our clue was in the middle. We had chose Clint as Team Franks and Beans official leader, so he ran to get our first task and we all raced back to the car. Being his ever-prepared self, Clint had a pocket knife with him and began sawing through the tape. His fingers started to get really tired, so Tyler took over. Eventually, we got it open-- and I think we were one of the first teams. Inside was a clue describing a specific area of Fort Wayne. We looked through our backpack of information to find some more clues and hints to figure out where we were supposed to go next. It took us a few minutes, but we soon realized we needed to head to a cemetery on the Northwest part of town. When we got there our 1st physical challenge awaited. The object was to choose a teammate to sit in a wagon while another teammate pulled you around a pond. While you are being pulled, the person in the wagon had to toss newspapers into hula hoops positioned around the pond. Of course we had our strong men pull us- Clint first and then Tyler. They didn't realize what they were in for! lol-- definitely harder than it sounded. We accomplished this first task in about 7 and a half minutes. We got out next clue and we were off. 

The next challenge was back at Shoaff Park and it was definitely our favorite. We were only one of four teams to actually complete this entire challenge in the allotted time. First, the volunteers handed us an envelope with five pictures of different places in the park. Our job was to find these places and take a picture of our team holding the picture next to the place It was so hard!! Such a challenge- we were running around like crazy trying to finish it in time. Here are some pictures of the area in the park we had to find. 

The next several challenges took us to nursing homes, park lodges, ice rinks, and a laser tag place. Figuring out the clues and finding the next destination were exciting. The hardest challenge was called, Holy Water. We were given a 3 foot PVC pipe full of holes. One teammate was in charge of running back and forth to a baby pool full of water, filling up a cup, and then dumping it into the pipe. The rest of us had to find  a way to plug all of the holes so that the water couldn't get out. The object was to fill the entire pipe up with water until a bouncy ball floated to the top and fell out. This took FOREVER! We were all soaked and feeling frustrated. Finally, the guy said that any amount of "wind" could get the ball out-- which meant we could try and blow it out. Would have been nice to know at the beginning! We could have been done in a minute or less, lol. Instead, it took us 15 freezing minutes to accomplish. Even though that one was somewhat annoying, it was still cool working together to accomplish it. 

In this challenge we each had a different job. The guys had to create a Tony the Tiger Replica as fast as possible. 

Jill had to put this puzzle together. 

I had to use a straw to move 25 frosted flakes from one bowl to another and then eat the entire bowl of cereal. 

After this, we all wanted Tony to die! haha

Another challenge that we all thought was crazy involved a nursing home resident and three songs.
Unfortuantely, we got the blank lung resident who was coughing and hacking the entire time she hummed and sang the songs. Plus, other groups had Jingle Bells, Happy Birthday, and Amazing Grace. We ended up with, Hello Young Lovers, and Whip Crack Away????? What the heck? None of us had ever heard of those, lol. Challenge Fail.

Here are a few more pictures of the day. We had a blast! We ended up coming in 12th out of 30, but we were the first team back and one of 4 teams that completed all 12 challenges. We thought the scoring system was messed up for sure. It was a a great time and we look forward to doing similar things again. Not sure about this Race because the scoring system is so annoying, but other team competitions. You forget how much fun it is to be on a team after awhile! 

This was HILARIOUS!! Clint and Tyler had to try and eat these dangling marshmallows with no hands. Jill and I had a great time watching them-- so funny. 

This was actually a lot harder than it looked. It was a revolving rock wall and halfway through the climb it would start to tilt. Clint was one of a few who stayed on for the entire 3 minutes. 

Team Franks and Beans! We were awesome.