The Long, Long, LONG Journey

This

turtle

is

a

PSYCHO!!!!!!!

Do not be fooled by his cute little face, or his tiny size. Let me introduce, Bowser. He is the newest addition to our turtle habitat. We thought the sole-survivor needed a buddy, so we invested in, Bowser (named by Andrew).

The first time Bowser joined the sole-survivor in the day spa, he spent a majority of the time hiding under a rock. A couple hours later, Andrew went upstairs and yelled that we were missing a turtle. I ran upstairs and found that there was indeed only one turtle in the day spa. It didn't take long for me to notice a little turtle tucked into its shell, hiding under Andrew's bed. I was unsure which turtle had made the leap out of the day spa - but I was quite sure whoever it was would be dead within 24 hours - seeing at the day spa is located on top of a book shelf. The next morning the sole-survivor became our fourth floater. I made the assumption that the sole-survivor must have leapt out of the day spa in a suicide attempt... or he had been pushed by Bowser.

Well, I realized I was wrong yesterday afternoon.

While I was cleaning our apartment in preparation for my parents' arrival, I happened to go to the front door to get something. I immediately noticed something dark laying on the floor.

Bowser!?!?!?!

What the heck are you doing down here!?!?!?

Let me show you they journey Bowser took to reach this final destination.

First, he had to escape from the day spa. (Usually the day spa is very clean and has a really cool rock, but it is closed for repairs at the moment). After getting out of the spa, Bowser then somehow crawled out of my protective box which I placed the day spa in to prevent any further break-outs/suicide attempts.

Bowser then jumped off the top of the book shelf on which the day spa is located (you can see the box at the top of the book shelf). Also, please not the the floor is made out of WOOD!

Bowser then made his way quite a distance out of the room. He began his cross-country journey from the R2D2 located in the background of the picture.

He then somehow made it down this flight of stairs. Again, I do not know how he survived this seeing as he is the size of a silver dollar. (And yes, that is tile at the bottom).

And then across the family room.

As of now he is still alive. On top of that, he performed this exact same stunt while we were at church this afternoon. However, this time he decided to hide behind the armoire rather then hang out by the front door.

Bowser is now on day spa restrictions.

While Bowser was on his big adventure, Scott, Jacob and Andrew were having an adventure of their own. Yesterday afternoon, the three of them went to a Ward Party. The theme of the party was "The Amazing Race"....meaning our ward did its own version of the Amazing Race. (Sadly, I had to stay behind to clean the apartment and wait for some potential buyers to show up). The whole thing sounded like a total blast.

Scott rented a couple of bikes so he and the boys could participate in the race. He and Andrew rode tandem, while Jacob went solo.

Side note: the entire day before the race, Scott had been under the weather and had hardly been able to eat anything for the past 24-hours. So he gets major kudos for being a good dad.

The first challenge was to bike about 2 miles to the nearest McDonald's and buy a Big Mac. They then had to pedal another couple miles to the next pit stop. It was then that Scott found out he had to down the Big Mac - so fun on an upset stomach.

Jacob was then required to bury both Scott and Andrew in the sand. Luckily, Scott was permitted to help Jacob dig out the pits.

After biking another few miles, they arrived at a third swimming challenge.

By this point, "the Barlow Boys" (as the had named their team) were in first place! With adrenaline coursing through their veins, the three (well, I should say two) of them pumped their legs like crazy to get to the next pit stop. When they were about half way to the next stop, the chain fell off Jacob's bike. The problem was that Scott thought that Jacob was ahead of him. Mental picture: my eight year old is stranded with a broken bike while his dad and little brother take off down the path without even glancing back. In fact, Scott even picked up the pace to "catch up" with Jacob.

When Scott arrived at the fourth pit stop he realized that Jacob was not there. He and Andrew did the challenge, thinking that Jacob would show up at any time. When Jacob still had not arrived, Scott started to back track to find him. About a mile down the road he finally came upon Jacob walking his bike down the path towards the pit stop.

Jacob had made an attempt to fix the bike himself, but could not figure out how the get the chain back on. Super Dad Scott was able to fix the bike and get the family back on the road. They biked another few miles to the fifth and final challenge and were still able to come in fourth place. I have to say I was impressed.....and extremely proud of all of them!

This picture of Andrew sums up the day. (And please note, he did not even have to ride his own bike).