Carsten 16 months - 20 months

A few pics from recent months. We have been busy and not busy at the same time. Nothing much to report on the home front. We are watching our garden grow, attempting to keep in shape, and letting Carsten keep us as busy as possible.

A few trips here and there and a few visitors which has been delightful. We have a busy summer ahead of us and are looking forward to all of our trips. We are excited to see family and friends along the way the next few months!

A few

Triathlon Experience

One our training buddy, Aimee, wrote a small summary of her triathlon experience, so thought I would do the same.  First of all a big Thank You to Andrea King our tri trainer and to all those in our group who pushed and encouraged us throughout the 8 weeks of training.  We had a blast meeting new people and thoroughly enjoyed it all.

The Capital of Texas Triathlon is a qualifying event, so the number of athletes participating was pretty awesome, 361 women, 933 total.  Sunday afternoon we checked in our bikes and picked up our race packets.  Our awesome neighbors let Carsten spend the night so we didn 't have to drag him out of bed at 6am, then watched him on race day.

On race day we arrived downtown around 7am, got all our body markings, then set up our transition area.  We had some time to kill, so we mingled with friends, watched the Olympic distance athletes start their swim and just tried to relax.  Race time for me was 9:25 and for Scott 10am.  My personal goal was to finish in under 2 hours and not walk during the 5K, Scott wanted to finish and not drown during the swim :-)  We both met and exceeded our goals!  Scott swam the entire race, did not backstroke or breaststroke, he swam freestyle the entire time and did not take a break...this was a huge accomplishment, considering during our first week of training he was proclaiming, "I am going to backstroke the whole damn thing!"  I finished in 1:55:45 and did not walk and Scott finished in 2:05.

AND, the kicker....we just recently found out that the course was set incorrectly on the swim AND the run!  We swam an extra 300m and ran an extra .2 of a mile.  In total we swam 1050m, biked 12.1 miles, ran 3.3 miles.  So, needless to say we are both thrilled with our first time triathlon experience.  I can say that I would be happy to do another triathlon and next time I will be getting some skinnier tires (we both did the bike course with our mountain bikes)!  Scott is looking for a more adventure style triathlon.

Also, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone to donated to the YMCA's Strong Kids program!

It was an awesome experience and something that we were able to enjoy together.  We are looking forward to many more Saturday morning bike rides (with Carsten in tow) around Lady Bird Lake and Zilker Park!

March update

March has been full of excitement and adventure for the whole family.  We kicked off the month with beautiful spring weather, Carsten and I got out and enjoyed the park.  He learned how to go UP the steps and DOWN the slide...concepts, love to watch his little brain tick!  Now we just need to work on feet first. 

He started to blow kisses, we have been working on this with Elmo!  Which, we are happy to report that he is also finally warming up to inanimate objects that all of a sudden become animated and make noise.  i.e. Elmo, laughing lion, puppy dog, rocking horse  

Carsten is getting better at eating what is put on the table, when he has a good night he gets some kind of treat, usually it is applesauce or a graham cracker, but we had ice cream in the freezer.  What a treat!  He LOVED it!

YUM!  

And then pointing for MORE, PLEASE!

  

Carsten got to spend St. Patty's Day weekend at home with Grandma and Grandpa Burkemper while daddy went to Rolla to celebrate.  Mommy stayed in Austin, went out with a friend, her car was hit while parked in a parking lot, and she got sick.  Wish my 5 days solo could have been written a bit differently, but everyone enjoyed their individual time.

It was blistery cold the third weekend in March, but the following weekend we had gorgeous weather so we headed out to the rodeo.  Not much rodeo action going on, we just walked around, went to the petting zoo (which Carsten was not too fond of), saw some animals and then out to dinner.  Carsten is SUCH a daddy's boy, it really is adorable.

Aside from a few outings we have been filling our time with spring cleaning and backyard landscaping/gardening.  We had to pull a few plants because they were highly poisonous, we planted some herbs, tilled an area for a vegetable garden and pulled a bagillion weeds.  We still have to pull some timbers and replace them with stone, get some rock, plant a few flowers, and plant the entire garden.  A couple more busy weekends ahead of us, but when we are all finished it will be wonderful!

Carsten's First Hair Cut

Carsten went for his first hair cut last weekend.  Two pics are from the day before showing how long his hair was on top and his curls in the back.  I do miss his little curls!  He did great, no tears, no fuss...helped that he was driving a car and a movie was playing.  He looks like a little man now!

 

February of FUN

The month of February was filled with FUN at home (and one weekend trip to the ranch)!  It was nice to just be home and hang out as a family.  We spent the majority of our evenings with the TV on, which is rare, but we were soaking up the Olympic Games.  We hosted a BBQ one weekend, it was nice to meet all the husbands of my friends from the mom's group.  It was interesting playing goalie with 8 toddlers as they tried to gain access to the BBQ pit.  Carsten had some trouble "sharing" his toys and had a HUGE problem when momma held another baby, COMPLETE MELTDOWN.  He is a tough little booger and knows what he wants when he wants it...and, nothing will stop him.  He thinks he is a 10 year and on top of that he is one of the smallest kiddos.  I love his head strong attitude, but oh goodness I am not looking forward to picking him up from the principals office because he beat up someone on the playground.

At the end of the month we visited the Stone's at their ranch just southwest of Forth Worth.  Scott had training in Dallas all week, so Carsten and I drove up on Friday morning.  We picked up daddy from his hotel room then went to visit Jen Matson who was in town for a trade show.  It was AWESOME to see her and catch up.  Hope it happens more often!  After our visit we headed to Stonecrest and had another amazing weekend!  The pics and video below can tell the story of our weekend.

Fun times with Jen

Carsten loves all the puppies, but Annie always comes in for a quick kiss and then dashes away.  And, he loved this little rocking chair.

It was a bit cold in the morning, so we had to bundle up in our fleece, hat and gloves.  He will actually help you put on the gloves because he knows he gets to go outside.

Bisquits (or toast) and gravy at Mary's

                   Carsten wasn't scared to hop on up with dad.

Harley is the oldest of the puppies (13) and is never far from Carsten's side.  Before we left Carsten was trying to give him a kiss, Harley kept turning his head, so Carsten bent down and gave him a hug. 

We went for a long walk to feed the horses.  On the way back, Carsten wanted to hold daddy's hand...then I his little legs were tired and he wanted a ride.

Got up here all by myself!

Mom, look.....it's Harley

Up and down...up and down...up and down.  These steps kept him VERY busy.

Snow Day

It snowed in Austin today and you would have thought we got a foot of snow...I went to the YMCA to work out at 4pm and the Childwatch center was closed due to bad weather. Really!?!?!?!  And, some schools don't start until 10am tomorrow. I mean really, it was a wet dusting, and the roads have been worse when we have heavy rain. Also, it was nearly 70 degrees on Saturday and today snowing...I feel like I am back in Missouri. Nonetheless, Carsten and I had fun playing outside for a little bit.

Our cul de sac

Carsten goes outside to get wet and "play" in the snow

 

January filled with fun and family

January brought a ski trip to Colorado with the Steinhoff clan...GOOD TIMES! I have not hit the slopes since before we moved to China and Scott has never. He learned to snowboard and he rocked the board and did some serious shredding...no kidding, was busting down some blues on his second day. He took a full day lesson on Thursday, all day on Friday he rocked it! They are hurting for some snow, but we couldn't complain about the weather, sunny and 35 the entire time we were there. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the mountains.

Carsten didn't do much skiing, maybe next year. He got hang with Grandma while everyone else was on the mountain. Grandma walked to meet up with us for lunch on Friday and on Sunday he rode up in the Gondola for lunch on top of the mountain.

We also drove to Nederland (just outside of Boulder) and had a wonderful visit with Lisa Faenger, some delicious food and a couple of tasty beverages.

We had some amazing dinners, played some cards, enjoyed the hot tub, and made some fantastic memories. Here are a few captured memories...

Group minus the photog...my sister

Grandpa, Carsten and Grandma going UP in the Gondola.

Brother in law, Jim, looking like a real mountain man.

Phew! This riding is tiring...

Mom, Carsten and Dad atop the mountain.

In the parking lot at the condo, last day of skiing... :-(

All bundled up...let's go play!

Scott and Stephanne