Zachy's Last Hurrah

Yet another post I've been meaning to do for a while. In fact, you could even say I've been postponing it. Hehe. (That one's for you, Dad.)

So, as some of you may know, my little brother left for his mission on February 10th. The Friday before he left, my parents asked him what he wanted to do as his last big thing. He said go-kart racing. So, off we went to F-1 Racing Factory.

We're all suited up.Gotta love the smooshed chipmunk cheeks.


The whole racing gang.
(Plus random little boy...)

And now for some (really blurry) awesome action shots!

It's Sarah! (I think)
And...Mike?
I'm not even going to try to guess who's in this one.

The scores! My racing name was Ruby. Yeah, I'm not that creative.
But I got 5th place! (The first time. I was dead last the second. Haha.)

Here's all of us in our really attractive "head socks". Hygiene is important, people.
(We take such lovely pictures...)

This car was outside the factory. Hmm...

So, we had lots of fun. I'm definitely not the fastest racer, but I thought I did pretty well. Hooray for family time! By the way, I apologize if this post doesn't make much sense. I figured seeing all the pictures would be better than me trying to explain it. Aren't you all glad I got a camera for my birthday? ;)

And our last picture is: spirit hands! (Or wrists. Whatever.)

(This is what happens when the 3 younger ones get a little carried away, apparently.)

This is Dr. Carpenstein signing off.

A Rainy Day with the Carpensteins

Ok, originally this was going to be a short post about how some birds pooped all over my car at work today. And I mean ALL over. See?

(That's just one view. There was lots more.)

And then I went inside and more interesting stuff happened. So, let's see where this post goes.

It all started with my little brother. Here he is.

About 30 seconds after I walked in the door, Zach says "Let's go ride bikes." Being the wonderfully spontaneous *ahem* person that I am, I say yes. (I can't even remember the last time I rode a bike, so this is bound to be an adventure.) After lots of staring at the air compressor and one phone call to the daddy, we got some tires pumped up and Zach's friend Spencer joined us for our ride.

Ah, the memories that came flooding back riding down our street on the way to the park. (Only this time it was cold.) Seriously, I was worried I wouldn't even be able to stay upright on that thing. But, turns out the whole "just like riding a bike" saying is true. We pedaled our way through the neighborhood and made it to the park (even with the wind almost knocking us over). I wish I'd had my camera with me once we got there. I may have to go back tomorrow and take a picture of Lake Emerald Park. Gotta love that rain! :) After looking at all of the water, we rode back home so we could feel our faces and hands again. Here's us in the garage after our ride.

(Sadly, this was the best picture of me with the bike.)


Zachy really likes our old school bike.


Admire my wind-blown hair!

After we warmed up, my parents left for some scout dinner, leaving us children ("the three younger ones", as we used to be called) to feed ourselves. Scary, I know. Want to know what we came up with? Well then, you're in luck, because I took *pictures!* (That's my sing-song voice, in case you wanted to know.)

We had:

Leftover beans and rice from Chino Bandidos


Fish sticks and Totino's pizza rolls

And I had salad and carrots.
(The other children did not want rabbit food.)

Moral of the story: the three younger ones need more cooking lessons.

This is Dr. Carpenstein, signing off.