Luke's fourth encounter with a goat.

With Kenny bogged down with work, Luke and I took a trip out to Blessington Farms with our neighbors to pick some yummy strawberries and enjoy some fresh air. And let me just say, having visited farms and picked fruit in Utah and Idaho, that Texas farms are a racket. A racket. Yes, we ended up with some yummy berries and the boys had fun exploring the little play area they had set up, but I doubt we will be returning to pay the exorbitant fees. We might live in one of the five largest cities in the US, but deep down Luke and I are a couple of country bumpkins. 

Anyway, Luke loved the giant slide and animals, holding extremely still while he held a (very docile) chicken and giving hugs and kisses to all of the baby goats. 

Post kiss--see the nice snot-string still connecting them

He also enjoyed the mini egg hunt but was extremely selective about which eggs he decided to put in his basket, so we will see how he does on Easter.

  If only we had a yard that I could just release him into each day...

Zombie Bait

So has everyone heard of the escape the room concept? Where you pay money to be locked in a room and then have sixty minutes to figure out how to unlock the door?

Yes, it's a real thing.

No, we weren't swindled.

In fact, we went so far as to pay to be locked in a room with a zombie. 

Six of our good friends joined us for the fun, and were terrorized by a fantastic actor decked out in zombie makeup chained to a wall as we scrambled around a room looking for clues. Every five minutes a buzzer would sound and his chains would lengthen, until he could reach every corner of the room and had to be "distracted" by loud shakers. And if that wasn't enough, every so often the lights would go out completely and we would have to clap together to get them to go back on.

We highly recommend it.

Not only was it a lot of fun, but it brings out your true selves in ways only sheer terror can.

I, for example, am a screamer. A screamer. My good friend Suzanne who has known me since the beginning of law school told me afterwards how surprised she was to find that out.

To help the self-discovery along, the Trapped in a Room with a Zombie team has come up with classifications for the participants based on their impartial observations. I had four: I was an Identifier (as in, of clues), an Indiana Jones (physical, opening things and actively working to figure out the puzzle), a Leader, and the Jumper (goes hand-in-hand with the screaming, jumping out of the zombie's way).

Ken was also an Identifier, a Collaborator, and the Outside-the-box-Thinker. He also earned special mention because he did something they had never seen before: he abandoned his team! Ken, being Ken, identified the only way to win (the box with the key inside, which was padlocked shut) and held on to that key for pretty much the entire sixty minutes. Near the end there was some confusion and most of us were still working on some puzzles even though we already had the combination to get the key and, consequently, escape the room. So Ken took it upon himself to unlock the key, unlock the door, and LEAVE without notifying ANYONE ELSE. At which point the zombie took up watch right inside the door.

Obviously we all made it out, but our friend Nate summed up the experience quite succinctly in one observation: "Geez, Ken, even in games like this you still find a way to win."

So I guess the moral of the story is that Ken and I are not a great team for the zombie apocalypse. Ken will most likely abandon me (with perfectly rational reasons as to why it had to be done) and my shrieks will lead the zombies right to me and my early demise.




PS: After having Ken proof read the post, he very seriously added "That's probably the reason I would leave. Plus, I left you all the key. I could have taken it with me."

Howdy, Texas!

Luke and I decided to have a true Houston cultural experience and check out the Houston rodeo with his best friend Sam and mom Amber.

Highlights included: Buying matching rainboots and coats at target beforehand,

riding a pony,

(Not really a fan. Ended up holding this nice man's hand and still had to be taken off early.)

eating a curly fry loaf, 

 (bottom right: don't worry, we didn't even come close to finishing)

and pushing the strollers when not making a mad dash through the crowd. 

We'll raise us a Texan yet. 

Sisters of the Moon

Date night a few weeks ago: Fleetwood Mac live in concert!

All of them around 70 and still able to give a fantastic show. 

Sugar Coma

Skittles in yogurt? All part of this balanced breakfast.

The guilt got to me later, though, so we made up for it with an uber-green lunch. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody!

Nap Time

I found this draft post hidden away from a couple of months ago.

Beware a quiet toddler.

(an entire box of tissues, in case you were wondering)

Two Weeks in Taiwan: Food

The Shaner way of sightseeing is more about what is being eaten than what is being seen. We generally like to plan our meals and then fit in the sights and activities based on where the restaurant is that we are eating at or which street food is nearby. I enjoyed everything (with the exception of stinky tofu, which had an unfortunate aftertaste akin to its stench), while Luke was a bit more unpredictable. He warmed up to the tastes after a while and would eat most things as long as you called it a "chip". He also *finally* seems to like rice, something he has heretofore refused to eat as a baby (took a trip to Asia to cure him of that one). 

Some of our culinary favorites include:

Beef noodles

Chung jwa bing: fried dough topped with an omelet, basil, and some delicious sweet and spicy sauce



Night market food: including delicious fried chicken

not-so-delicious stinky tofu

 Taiwanese sausage (sweet and mild):

Soy pearls (rehydrated in drinks to form delicious little balls of squishy joy):

Steamed buns (with cheese!):

the strange but delicious:

Chicken wings! (deboned and stuffed with fried rice, then grilled and smothered in BBQ sauce):

Pork omelets! (deep fried bread and egg, fresh onion and cucumber, and crackling pork):

the strange:

Sorbet burrito (rice paper, sorbet, cilantro, and shaved peanut brittle):

So:

Did we ever get sick? 

No!

Would I repeat this culinary adventure?

Absolutely!

Would Kenny have eaten any of it?

Doubtful. 

21 Months

This month was a busy one for Luke! He took his first international trip outside the womb, handling both the flights and jetlag like a pro, and was offered his first job (as a model). He has grown tired of his little baby body and really wants to do big boy things; Luke no longer wants to sit in his high chair or his car seat, so getting into both has become a wrestling match that Luke sadly always loses. 

Balls are still his favorite toy and he has started to successfully catch large balls thrown at him (they still have to be rather gently thrown and pretty spot on) and he can kick and dribble a ball very well with his feet. He still loves electronics of all kinds and will bring you your phone with the request that you "call people?" Luke loves keys and locks and containers doors and anything grown up; we pulled together some miscellaneous keys to make "Lukey's keys" after he lost mom's house key for an entire day, which he quickly lost interest in once he realized that they didn't actually open anything. 

Above all, Luke loves music! He is starting to sing the words to songs, including the ABCs (he can go up to G, but "LMNOP" will also come out occasionally), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus, and Rather Be (he prefers the Pentatonix version). He has also started showing preference for what we listen to in the car and will loudly assert his opinion if he doesn't like what is playing. Best of all, he loves to dance and has some sweet dance moves!

Two Weeks in Taiwan: Model Baby

Behold Luke's ever-adoring fans of all ages!

Mostly oblivious, he charmed them with his blonde hair and beautiful blues while trying to make friends with all of the little Asian toddlers. 

He did have a breaking point, however, like when some lady picked him up and began to dance away with him amid shrieks of terror (not pictured, since mom was freaking out, too)...

or in the elevator leaving Taipei 101, when he found himself in the middle of a circle of phones and cameras and started yelling "no!" with his hand outstretched. 

 No doubt Luke is now the wallpaper on many a Taiwanese and Chinese person's "hone". 

To top it all off, we were stopped by a very eager model agency guy who begged us to move to Taiwan so Luke could model. 

(Kenny said no)