We were sitting down this afternoon asking Rohan to say different words and I realized how much more he can talk/imitate than even just a few weeks ago, he even surprises us and names animals, etc in books that we didn't know he knew. It is so awesome to watch how his brain is developing:)
Here is a partial list of words he can say (mind you, we may be the only ones who understand him):
Mom, Dad, Linus, Schroeder, Hi/Bye, Please, Stroller, Water, Apple juice, Milk, Banana (my personal favorite), Tortellini, Cookie, Cracker, Pretzel, Cheese, Bath, Car, Truck, Ball, Soccer, Baseball, Football, Zebra, Lion (Rar!), Kitty (meow), Cow (moo), Dog (woof), Duck, Bird, Airplane (zzzzz---apparently the sound an airplane makes), Stop, Book, Bear, Train. I'm sure there are more, but these are the most common. He'll usually try to say most things we ask him to.
He also has said a few 2-3 word sentences with/without prompting; his first unprompted 2 word phrase makes me laugh: Mom, STOP! (I can't even recall what I was doing, but he was pretty adamant about it:) )
We turned a normal 2 day weekend into what felt like a 4 day weekend...which is good, and bad. Good because you feel like you accomplished a lot, bad because it wears you out, but the good FAR outweighs the bad!
Other than our normal running and climbing this last week, we met up with Sasha & Tim for happy hour sushi at Ra, followed by a Starbucks run, and followed that by a trip to the climbing gym. Tim had never been, and he only got 2nd degree burns on this hand (don't grab the rope when you fall...). He was fine, and he actually wants to climb again! Rohan was a trooper that night. We had never really watched much TV with him (aside from sports) so we put on Shrek and watch him space out for almost the whole movie! He was watching, pointing out birds & trees (see above post) and dancing to all the music. I think we found our destractor for the flight to London/Germany...:)
Saturday Mara had to work, but they ended up letting her go before Noon (because she's a rockstar!) so we had the whole day open. We spent as much time outside as possible as well. While Mara was working, I took Rohan and the dogs to the park and watched soccer for almost 2hrs. Rohan was having a blast outside. Mara found a chance to chop her hair too (something she's been talking about for a while now). I think it looks awesome! I got to be the catalyst, thanks to Michelle's idea. She said I should cut a big chunk of Mara's hair off so she'd have no choice, and Mara said DO IT! We took a little video, but for some reason there is no sound, but you get the idea...:)
Sunday was equally gorgeous (80F & sunny!), so we took the dogs to the dog park, hit up some thrift stores for warmer clothes for Germany, and capped off the night with a nice 6+mi run. We hit up a new coffee shop Mara had wanted to try out (Copper Star Coffee). They had really strong coffee (a good thing!) and even had a band playing called Dirt Music Express. They were a really bluesy band, and had some really fun guys. The music wasn't crazy loud and Rohan was dancing for most of the songs. I think we'll definitely hit that up next time we are on that side of town. It's good to have a "go to" coffee place in different parts of the city...:) Mara and Rohan found some time to bake some more cookies to use up some of the items in our fridge that would spoil otherwise...can't argue with that logic!
Not a ton of pics & videos, but it was a great weekend! Hope everyone is done digging out! :P
This last work week was pretty low key (as usual). Mara had a couple short on-call nights, but was home early enough to get some sleep. We had a couple runs, and found time to climb. Climbing as been good to get back into, but we are having to retrain ourselve again since we had a couple weeks off. We're getting back into it though. Rohan has been wearing a harness and be suspended from a rope a couple times, so hopefully he'll be ready to climb for real this winter sometime!
This weekend we did quite a bit of running around. It has been gorgeous this week (75°F & sunny vs. 55°F last week) so we took advantage of that. Saturday we hit up the Holiday Pet Festival at WestWorld. It was fun, but my god people are insane about their pets, even offering pictures with Santa! Some vendors even offer clergy services for per funerals...too much damn money in Scottsdale. Others just offered insanely expensive pet pampering services. We brought our dogs and they had a blast sniffing and smelling their way though the expo. Rohan even got a couple of stuffed animals (moose & elephant). They were meant to be dog toys but Rohan claimed them for himself. Later Saturday we met up with Heather & John (and friends) for the Electric Light Parade. We went last year, and Rohan had fun, but fell asleep in his warm cozy blanket. This year was MUCH warmer and Rohan had a blast, especially with the marching bands and mucial float. He was bee boppin' most of the time and kept waving to everything too. It was a blast to see him so enthralled.
Sunday was pretty low key. We finished off one of our better crock pot chili dinners and watched some football and relaxed. We found a few hours to climb and work out. The gym was pretty dead, so Rohan was all over the place jumping off mats and squealing. We capped of Sunday with some more cookie decorating which Rohan is a pro at now. We did however transfer them to other containers, which turned out to be too large of holes for the decorations. It led to Rohan burying a cookie in jingle balls...:) The cookie survived, and we salvaged most of the balls, but we ended up taping some of the holes up for the other ones. Mara also gave Rohan another haircut. He wasn't as cooperative this time, but it went well and he doesn't look quite as homeless...:)
The next few weeks will be VERY exciting since we will be headed to Germany for almost 3 weeks! With less than 2 weeks before we leave we got Rohan stocked up on gloves/hats, sweaters, and warmer PJs since the temps in Zweibrücken are MUCH cooler than Scottsdale...:) We came across an awesome ugly sweater for Rohan too. Hand knit, great quality, with mushrooms and 3D gnomes...hilarious...:)
Mara also found a GREAT backpack for Rohan while we are in Germany (For about 1/10 the cost!) on Craigslist. Our current backpack (compliments of Cari & Rob!) is great, but when Rohan falls asleep there isn't much padding and his face can chafe on the front. This one had a "pillowey" area which will be perfect! We've tried it out a couple of times and he loves it. He even pulls it out just to get into. We've checked the mail with him in the backpack quite a few times this last week.
Not much planned this week, just planning for Germany and sorting out all the minor details. We are so incredibly excited for this trip! :D
We have tons of video from the parade, but not lots of pics, but enjoy!:
Rohan Listens To A Waltz (Great-Grandma would've loved this!):
Rohan Dances To Tim & Allison's Song (Moondance). Everyone Else Sings SpongeBob Squarepants:
Sorry for the lack of posting, we've been all over the place, and mostly without a PC to type up a blog post.
Last week Mara and Rohan headed back to WI for a residency interview, and while Mara went there, Rohan hung out with the Syring family (since the Bacon's will see him in Germany in <3 weeks!). Aunt Shelly took him to a wildlife sanctuary and then he hung out an played with G&G, Chris, & Jackson. Mara came back after her overnight & interview (which went great!). After more playing they woke up at 4am for Rohan's breathing and took him to the ER. It was most likely croup, so they gave him a steroid (which he reacts really well to). That didn't slow them down though, they hit up a parade where Rohan got so cold his lips were blue and his teeth were chattering. That's an AZ boy for ya...:) They also played at Michelle's friend Lisa's with her kids. They slept well that night! Michelle and Mara also found time to workout a couple times that day too, so they slept just fine also. After breakfast the next day, Mara and Rohan were headed back to warmer climates, but they had a blast. Thanks for all the hospitality from both Syring's and Bacons!
While Mara and Rohan were gone, I had the house to my self. I spent most of the time keeping busy with running, climbing, and cleaning (so easy to do without Rohan!). Saturday I meet up with Jeanette and we headed out to Superior, AZ for TufaFest. Tufa is a climbing pro shop in the 4 indoor climbing gyms around Phoenix (it's also a type of rock). Scott, the owner, put on a festival for all the patrons of the gyms. There were probably 100+ people who got their early and climbed. We didn't get there in time to climb, but we got some great chili (and other food), and got an outdoor movie (Reel Rock Tour). One cool thing they did was build a bar that afternoon from scratch. They had tons of spare wood and fence parts. It turned out awesome, and was a blast to watch them work. They named it "Burn Bar", more on that later. After keeping warm by the fire, and meeting tons of new people, we went midnight bouldering at around 1am. We used headlamps and small lanterns donated by Black Diamond. It was a lot of fun, and I even got a couple routes in myself (not too bad for my weak bouldering skills coupled with m the cold!). We came back around 3am and the bar lived up to it's name, and we burned it. We did remove the liquor first though...:) The next day we had planned on climbing and desert yoga, but the wind and rain put a damper on that so we had to call it off...:(
After Mara and Rohan got readjusted to AZ warmth and time, it was just in time for Thanksgiving. We started off the day by hiking up to Tom's Thumb in the McDowell Mountains near our place. It's a great hike, with awesome views, and some climbing areas to check out. Rohan loved the hike, and was out with in 20 min. Linus was, as usual, cactus prone, and within 8 second of being on the trail, we had to pick a large chunk out of his paw. By the time we got to the top he was really chewing at his paw and not using it. Upon further inspection, we found a HUGE ant that he picked up and must have been biting his paw (see pics of the ant below). He was fine after that, besides a few burrs here and there. The views back across the valley were awesome, and we could see all the way to South Mountain, Estrella Mountain and the White Tanks. Now that we know our way around PHX better, it was a lot easier to pick out landmarks.
After the hike we cleaned up and headed to Sasha's for Thanksgiving. We also had an invite from Greg & Nico, but we had already committed to Sasha's. If they were closer we would have hit both for sure! Sasha had about 25 people, and TONS of food. Her family (sans brother) were in from Miami, FL, so it was good to see her Mom again, and finally meet her sister. Rohan loved crawling under the tables and charming everyone he met. Somehow he got a nice red wine stain on his shirt...:)
Friday after Thanksgiving we skipped the Black Friday crap, and headed back out to Superior for an overnight camping trip. I had been out there a couple times to climb and camp, but Mara was always busy or out of town, and she wanted to see the area. The temps were chilly (about 68°F) but also pretty windy. We found a GREAT site with an area we could put the tent to be protected from the wind. The fire-pit, however, was pretty exposed. We decided to hike a little to warm up, and due to lack of trails, we just hiked out into the desert boulder field and went from boulder pile to boulder pile. It was fun climbing on stuff and exploring. Rohan loved the ride too...:) We got back to camp, ate something quick, then headed out on another hike to the rock climbing/bouldering area I had visited last weekend. It was a lot different in the daytime, but glad we could see our way this time without headlamps! We found a couple people bouldering and talked to them a while. Turns out they were at TufaFest as well. They told us of some cool places we'll have to check out when we don't have Rohan & the dogs in tow (and when we get a crash pad!). After the hike Rohan crashed for a while, and we warmed up by the fire, made some coffee and enjoyed the outdoors. Rohan did fine at night, but I think was a little weirded out at first by the darkness and the eerie light cast by the fire. He did fine though and had a blast power lifting logs and drawing in the sand.
After some chilly temps in the morning (low of 33°F, car said 39°F), we headed back home and relaxed a bit. We did have to make our second stop by Triple C Coffee House in Superior. If you get a chance, they make an AWESOME chai, homemade bagles, and the granola is the best I've ever had. They also support the CUE program for kids. I wish they were closer!!! After we got home Mara and Rohan made some xmas cookies for a party Jeanette was throwing. Rohan had a blast decorating, and clearly showed his preference for decorating with his left hand. No one at the party seemed to mind the extra sprinkles...:)
Sunday was pretty low key. Football, running, and crockpot chili pretty much sums it up. We have to start running with gloves and hat now...:( We also took some time to go through all the pics & videos from WI & AZ over the last 2 weeks, so enjoy the bonanza!
What blog post would be complete without a jumping video? A failed jump this time...:
Not a whole lot new this week. Mara was on call twice this week, so most of the week was spent with Mara recovering post call, and Dad trying to wear Rohan out. That is becoming increasingly difficult.
Mara being on call usually means we get to meet for lunch the next day since she is usually off around 11am. It's been nice to have the break in the day too, and walk around downtown PHX without Rohan. When she is on call I usually follow our normal routine of taking him to the park across the street and kick the soccer ball around. From last week's post you can see how much he loves to run! This week there was a huge tournament there, and all the fields were taken. There is plenty of room on the sidelines so we can still kick it around. Rohan usually just watches everyone else play though. This last time a ball went out of bounce came right over to us and he ran up to it and kicked it about 15 feet back towards the field. Everyone around us clapped and was pretty impressed that a 20 mo-old was that coordinated. Rohan was pretty proud of his achievement...:) The rest of Saturday morning was spent watching/playing football, and building a kick ass fort. We used his tent from his room as a bedroom, the mattress from our hide-a-way as a hallway, and all the cushions and blankets we could find. It reminded me a lot of when we used to build forts at G&G's farm using the spare mattress on the stairs in the breezeway...good memories...:) The dogs eventually got curious and Schroeder got a little rowdy and knocked most of it down. Rohan didn't seem to mind and kept jumping on everything and tearing the rest down. Greg swung by and grabbed Chipotle with us. He's been working and studying so much it was nice to catch up with him a little as we he was on his way to a clinical rotation in the ER. FUN!
Sunday, after Mara got off work, we grabbed some picnic items and hit up a park Mara came across on one of her Peds rotations called Desert Horizon Park. It was an awesome park with tons of play equipment, swings, open spaces, and Rohan's favorite, a baseball game! There was a game between two Hispanic League teams. We watched 4-5 innings of it before Rohan started passing out on his way home on his soccer ball.
We spent the rest of Sunday grocery shopping for cookie ingredients and other essentials. Mara and Rohan made cookies (with toffee!!!) while I watched football and ate cookie dough. After supper and relaxing we reserected an old favorite of Rohan's, the pillow tower. He attacked the tower with ferocity for over an hour. Mara and I even got in the action and wore our selves out in the process...:)
Hope everyone had a great weekend. I heard it snowed in WI...that's a shame...:P
Turn your back for one second and Rohan does this:
Rohan still LOVES to attack the pillow tower:
Mom's turn to lead the charge:
Dad's turn!:
For those who want to the experience of the pillow attack, here is a first person view:
This week we continued our habit of wearing Rohan out at the Scottsdale Sports Complex across the street. It REALLY gets him running and working on his coordination by kicking the soccer ball. His stamina has been increasing every time, and now he's running 3 and 4 lengths of the field, all while dribbling the soccer ball, as well as falling and being generally distracted by almost everything...:)
Mara has been working hard in the Pediatric ICU, and I have been hitting a crunch at work trying to get lots of experiments done at work before we go to Germany. I can't believe it's only 5 1/2 weeks away!!! We are insanely excited, an have already started planning and working out logistical issues. We can't wait to to meet our newest nephew, Lucas too! One thing I do want to accomplish is finding out where my Syring family came from. I haven't had too much luck tracking down a town of origin. Sadly, many of people who knew the genealogy have passed away. Hopefully I'll be able to get some info so I can take advantage of the 19 days we'll have in Europe.
The weekends have pretty much revolved around watching the Hawkeyes, followed by finding a park or area for Rohan to run. He's gotten a TON of baths recently since he usually finds an area that has been recently watered, or picks up grass or sand/dirt and dumps it on his head...:) We've been adding bubble bath to the mix, and he loves bathtime even more now!
One thing we realized this week is how much Rohan's daycare has been incorporating music and dancing into his curriculum. Mara found a channel on Pandora Radio called "Toddler Radio" and Rohan knew almost all the songs, and even had a couple of dance moves within the songs. We had no idea he knew so much. It was a great way to get him tired for bed, and by the end, he was just staring at the computer and listening to the songs.
We've also been letting him jump off almost everything. He's been piling the pillows up by the couch and jumping on his own. As you can see from the photos and video, his form is coming along well also. We've even started tossing the football to him mid-air for an added measure of difficulty. He'll have the best hands on his Pop Warner team...:)
Sunday we took some time in the morning to check out a new coffee shop called Dazbog. Their slogan is "I like my coffee tall, dark and Russian"...:) We loved the coffee, and it was a lot less like Starbucks than...well...Starbucks. Afterwards we caught Tim, Allison, & Cameron on webcam. Cam was adorable, and he kept saying "Hi Rohan!". Rohan was completely speechless and really just stared at the TV screen. I think he recognized everyone, but wasn't sure how they were interacting with him. It was great to catch up with them and see how much Cam has grown and become a big boy rather than just a big baby. I think we'll find more time to catch up that way, especially since they are no longer just a short drive away!
Not much else to report. We've scaled back our running a tad to adjust to our busier schedules as well as the small fact we won't be running much while we are in Germany, then have the full marathon less than 2 weeks later...should be a lot of walking, but we'll still have fun with it...:)
We hope everyone back in the Midwest is enjoying the last throws of Fall. Mara said it snowed in Amherst today...it was 75°F and beautifulhere. We don't mind if people live vicariously through us...:)
Enjoy the pics and tons of video!
ShapeShifter Fun!:
Rohan Explores The Webcam Before Our Visit With Tim & Allison:
Rohan has a BLAST trick-or-treating this year. Last year he hit up 2 houses before losing interest, but this year we went around Heather & John's neighborhood and Rohan walked the whole time! Mara put together a bucket for him to use using some of his artwork from daycare, it looked really cute! Who knew Mara had a crafty side!?!? :) Rohan was a little hesitant trick-or-treating at first since he's never really had to walk up to strangers and ask for things before. Once he realized they were putting things in his bucket, he was all about it. By the end of the hour he was walking up to houses on his own and holding out his bucket, then waving bye as he walked away. It was adorable...:) Everyone loved his glow-in-the-dark skeleton outfit from Grandma Syring. Afterwards we had pizza, and watched the rest of the Sunday Night Football game then watched Scared Shrekless. Rohan was super-hopped up on sugar and was running all over the place like a crazy kid. All he had was a few pieces of candy, but it was more than he's used to. He didn't put up a fight in the car and was asleep in no time. We think he had a great Halloween...:)
Friday night we had a nice little picnic at a park near us where Rohan was showing off his soccer skills, and also showing us how fast he is. He's no longer running like an infant with straight legs, he's running with bent knees and kicking his heels up. It's fun to see him have so much fun playing! He also showed us his climbing on the playground and climbed up a 6' wall (designed for 5 year olds) all by himself! Wish he would tolerate a harness so we can get him climbing at AZR!
Saturday we met Jeanette out for a bite to eat for breakfast. We hadn't been to the gym this week (with all the running we have been doing), so it was good to see her and Rohan LOVED to feed her strawberries...:) Afterwards we watched the #15 Hawkeye's (should be higher!) stomp the #5 (overrated) Spartans. An awesome makeup for last weekends missteps. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing.
Sunday we took the dogs to the dog park in the morning and enjoyed some outside time where Rohan could play with the dogs and the dogs could play with the dogs. Rohan wanted to watch football so we ended up at a new sports bar near us (Amore Sports Grill). Afterwards he took a great nap while we did some more running around and shopping before heading to Heather & John's for the night.
It was a great weekend! Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend!
Rohan & Dad Trick-or-Treating:
Rohan Waits Patiently For Someone To Open The Door:
Most of our week is consumed by our three 6mi runs we do during the week, then one day of our weekend is tabbed for out longer runs. Right now its 18mi, but we aren't there yet. We can run most of it, but we at least run/walk the whole thing. Rohan does great on the longer runs, but sometimes when he's really tired he wants to sleep on his stomach, but the jogging stroller doesn't allow that so we usually have to put up with some whining, but it usually isn't too bad.
This last week, with all the running, we were only able to go climbing one night. This will probably continue while we are training for the marathon, but we'll keep our fingers and forearms in decent condition with once a week. Maybe we'll be able to sneak off for a climbing trip once, depending on Mara's schedule.
Speaking of, Mara just finished up her 2wk Hospice & 2wk Allergy/Immunology rotations and is now in her Pediatric ICU (PICU) rotation. It's a busy one for her again, with overnight call every 4th night, but she REALLY likes the people she works with, and she's interested in PICU, so it will be a good chance to see what it's all about.
Friday night we were graced by my Mom who was in Tuscon (about 1.5 hrs South), visiting a friend. they came up and met us at the McCormick Train Park to let Rohan run around. It was just after his nap and he wasn't really in a playing mood. However, as soon as we got to Buca di Beppo's he perked up and was quite a ham. We had a great time visiting with Mom, and she enjoyed seeing Rohan again. Maybe they'll be back this winter and escape the WI winter. After supper we went for a nice walk through the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall (since we ate SO MUCH at Buca's!). Rohan had a blast playing in their dozens of fountains and water features. We also found the LOVE statue we've seen in so many other pictures. The family one we had didn't turn out great, but Rohan had a BLAST climbing all over it. Afterwards we were still feeling full and we went and walked for a few hours after we got home. It was goreous outside, maybe even a little chilly at 65°F...:) Mom is in Tuscon, soaking up the sun until she has to go back on Friday. It was great to see her again!
Saturday hit up the dog park early then we met up with some friends at The Sandbar in Paradise Valley. Greg had always said it was a great Iowa Hawkeye bar...I had no idea they were so hard core. They have a club called the PHX I-Club! It was a blast, even though they lost to WI on some really bad coach/QB decisions...:( Afterwards we ran off our frustrations at the park with Rohan. He's having so much fun kicking a soccer ball. He's dribbled it 10-12 times in a row so far, and getting more coordinated every day. It's a lot of fun to watch. Hopefully soccer will be a gateway to "real" sports like baseball & football...:)
Sunday we did some running around, and hit the dog park again. It's great to wear Rohan and the dogs out at the same time! Rohan has so much fun watching the dogs, and really likes the Golden Retrievers and similarly sized dogs. He's in awe of the Great Danes and Mastiffs, and just stares at them. They are like little horses! After watching a little football we headed out for our long, 18mi run. it felt good, and the hot tub afterwards REALLY helped loosed our hips and calves which aren't used to 18+ miles.
While we recover, enjoy the pics & vids!:
This post will encompass the last couple weeks. We were pretty busy, and I had a work function to prepare for so we didn't get a post in last week.
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous these last two weeks, and we're remembering why we liked Phoenix so much! We've been able to work back into a more rigorous running schedule as well, and try to catch up on our marathon training (without getting injured!).
Last week we did some of our usual routes for our 6-7 mile runs. Mara had the great idea to utilize one of Phoenix's lesser known park systems, the Scottsdale Greenbelt. It's a 25mi trail running from near our house to the NW edge of Tempe. We did a really nice LSD run (Long Slow Distance)from Tempe to Shea hospital, a total of 13+ mi. It was long, but the parks and such were really nice to go though, especially the ones with water. We found a couple new parks to take Rohan to also. We went the next day and hit up one with an awesome play area and TONS of ducks to feed. Rohan is getting pretty good at throwing so most of his bread pieces even make it to the water.
The highlight for me last week was our TGEN retreat with our research partner group Van Andel Research Institute. VARI is out of Grand Rapids, MI so they come here once a year and we go there once a year to help stimulate research and update everyone on current advances in our labs. This year TGEN (somehow) organized a TGEN/VARI softball game at Chase Field, where the AZ Diamondbacks play! We've gone to several games, so it was awesome be able to be on the field. Everyone had a huge smile on their face for the privilege to be playing on a major league field! It was a really fun time too. They played George Carlin's skit on Baseball vs. Football, and gave us drink tickets as well, and rented out the Strike Zone Lounge (a bar usually reserved for VIPs) so it was a very casual atmosphere. That being said, TGEN whooped VARI with a 6 run 5th inning to win 10-8...:) I played pretty good as well. I was 1 for 1 (we had 30 people playing) with an infield hit (see video), and a run scored. I also had 2 catches in left-center and an outfield assist by throwing someone out at 2nd. All in all an awesome night!
Last week we also gave Rohan another haircut. He was in desperate need of one, and in most of our pictures in WI he looked like a little dutch girl with his hair flipped out to the side. We got TONS of ammo before we started. Coloring books, food, drinks, and books. Mara did the cutting and I did the distractions. He did pretty good, and Mara did an awesome job with the haircut too. Saved us $15 if we took him to one of those specialty kids haircut places! He looks like such a little man now...:)
Saturday we took Rohan to a health fair at Scottsdale Shea Hospital (one Mara has rotated through). They had a sweet petting zoo, firetrucks, bounce houses, food, and police cars. Rohan was completely geeked the whole time. He LOVED his fireman's hat, which is almost identical to the one Jackson has at G&G's that Rohan wouldn't leave alone. Rohan also got to take a teddy bear through the Teddy Bear Clinic in the children's ER. He was getting pretty tired at that point, but he did seem to enjoy it by the end. His bear got a band-aid, some medicine, and some TLC. We skipped the Electrocardiogram due to the line and Rohan's need to nap, but we had fun. Afterwards we relaxed and watched IA whoop on MI. GO HAWKS!
Later Saturday we went on another longer run (just 10mi this time). It felt good, and we used the Greenbelt Trail again. We really enjoy running on that with all the parks and water, and a trail that has very few bumps in it. It really is a lot of fun to run on . This time we just went from Shea hospital to the dog park and back. It's also a neat way to see parts of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley we are familiar with in a car, but now we see them from a pedestrian view.
Sunday was spent in a achy, virus (we think) laden haze. Whether it was something we ate, or a 24hr virus, but we spent most of the day taking turns napping, trying to keep up with Rohan, and trying to eat something. I think we had a few spoons of yogurt & applesauce, part of a candy bar, and a 1/2 bowl of cereal all day. We feel a little better today, but still feeling the effects from yesterday. Rohan seems to be doing just fine and he ate most of what we ate, so we are leaning towards a virus he didn't get. Hopefully it won't interfere with our training too much this week, especially since we have an 18mi run scheduled for Saturday...we'll see about that...:)
Hope everyone had a great week. Enjoy the pics & vids:
After setting a week's worth of record highs (which says something in the desert!), the temps finally broke and we are living comfortably in the mid-80s. After our trip to WI, then 110F we had was a little much. Streptococcus was also a little much for me, and I got taken down Monday. Tuesday, Nate came through after his golf week with some Nebraska buddies in UT & NV. We hit up Papago Park Golf Course while he was here. It was friggin' hot, but the fluids were replaced with plenty of Gatorade & beer.
John & Heather were kind enough to take Rohan Friday night & Saturday while we climbing and caught up with Nate. We REALLY appreciate them being so close to do that! That and Rohan loves the break from Mom & Dad too! :)
We hung out at Greg & Nico's a couple nights, and then Saturday we celbrated Mara's birthday and headed back to Jack's Canyon for some climbing. It had been a while (~6 yrs) since Greg & Nate had been out, so they had a lot of fun getting back into it. It rained on us a little, but not too awful. We're tough mid-westerners who can take a little rain. They bugs were a little much, but we toughed it out as well. We all got to lead & top-rope at least 2 routes, and Mara got to practice cleaning the wall and self-belaying down. All in all a great trip.
We had to cut climbing short a little since we had a going away party for a friend, Heidi, from AZR. Nate came back, but unfortunately Greg & Nico didn't make it. We headed to Jeanette's house for cake, apps, and of course, beer pong. Nate & Mara dominated! It was a LONG day, lasting until 3am. Add in climbing and it was exhausting. Rohan didn't help us too much, and slept until about 5am. I let the birthday girl sleep it off...:) We wish Heidi the best in NV. Rohan will miss his babysitter!
We hit up The Good Egg with Nate and he headed back on his long drive to Des Moines. We were REALLY glad be made the time to stop by PHX. It was great to see him.
We capped off the weekend with dinner at Ruby Tuesdays with Heather & John for Heather & Mara's birthdays. It was great to catch up with them, and thank them again for taking Rohan, who by the way, charmed every damn waitress in the restaurant, and even a couple of customers. He was playing hide & seek over the booth and being about a cute as he can be...:)
Not much planned this week. Just getting back into running and climbing. With WI, strep & Nate, we neglected our running a little, but if we don't get back into it now, then when? :)
Hope everyone had a great weekend. Stay warm Midwest!!
Nate warms up & NASCAR yells in the canyon:
Nate climbs the aptly named "Jack Off" route:
A view from the top of "Jack Pot" courtesy of our free Flip cam:
One more look over the edge for Michelle...:)
Mara's Post Climb Birthday shot of Jack Daniels:
Rohan Enjoys listening to 50 Cent & playing with light saber apps:
Wow, can't believe we're already back in AZ, our trip went WAY to fast!
Our vacation started on Friday by both of us getting off of work a bit early, picking Ro up from daycare then hitting the pool since it was 110°F. Then we packed up the dogs and headed over to Sasha's to drop the dogs off for the week, THANK YOU Sasha! We had Indian for dinner then enjoyed some wine and old school Karate Kid (wow, hadn't seen that in almost 20 years!) before crashing for a few hours. Sasha dropped us off at the airport at 5am and we were on our way!
Despite an extended layover in Chicago due to some thunderstorms, we were ready to go when we landed in Green Bay. We were greeted by an AWESOME welcoming crowd, complete with posters! It was so nice to see Larry, Deb, Jen, Taylor, Kaylee, Chris, Shell, and Jackson, we definitely had the biggest group waiting for our plane! Once we got back to Chris, Shell, and Jackson's we got a tour of their beautiful home (seriously jealous of ALL the space) complete with decorations for Larry & Deb's 40th Anniversary. After the tour we hit the backyard for some outdoor time and to wear the kids out, we succeeded, but only temporarily. We then enjoyed a wonderful meal put together by everyone but us:) It was delicious! We prepared some "accessories" for the honorees and then made them wear them while we watched a slide show of pictures over the last 40 years, there were some fantastic pictures! We completed the evening with lots of running around by the kids, s'mores by the fireplace, wonderful cake, and IOWA football.
Sunday we got up, had breakfast courtesy of Deb (mmm--monkey bread and breakfast casserole), and hung out with Jen and the girls before they headed back to IA. Shell, Mike & I went on a quick 6.4 mile run before the Packer game, it was a beautiful 65°F fall day and a great run, can't wait for more weather like that here in AZ. Our friends Pete & Beth Fritz drove up from Milwaukee to watch the Packer game, it was really great to see them and the next time we see them there will be another Fritz Packer Fan! The rest of the day was spent running around inside and outside as long as the mosquitoes would leave us alone, definitely don't miss that!!!
Monday, Jackson went to daycare and Chris had to work, so Shell, Mike, and I hit they YMCA for some weightlifting while Rohan enjoyed the kiddie play area. After the Y we headed over to Amherst to have lunch with my family. Shell, Larry, and Deb joined the Bacon crew of Dan, Holly, Roger, John, Grandma and Grandpa Hansen, and of course us! We can't forget Lucy, she seemed to remember us and didn't hold a grudge against Rohan. We had another wonderful meal and Rohan got a chance to get reacquainted with the Bacons. We even took him to the Farm to see the calves/cows, climb on the tractors, trucks, and anything else he could get a hold of. We headed back to Appleton to hit the mall with Chris and Jackson before meeting up with Larry & Deb for Jimmy Johns! Rohan took his first nap in 3 days--a whole 20 minutes on the way to Green Bay.
Tuesday Jackson stayed home from daycare so we could head up to Door County and get the boys some more outside time. They had a blast at the Dunes in Sturgeon Bay, Rohan's first time playing in Lake Michigan. We found sand EVERYWHERE, should have taken a picture of the tub after the boys were done with it! After "the waves" as Jackson calls it we decided to grab some lunch, unfortunately PC Junction was closed, next time. We ended up in Egg Harbor at Shipwrecked, a micro-brewery/diner with a naked Mermaid that kept Jackson's attention for quite a while. Rohan was so exhausted from the waves that he slept through most of lunch but woke up in time to have a picnic of leftovers at a little park on the water in Egg Harbor. Then we headed to a coffee place and in search of an apple orchard, we had success in finding coffee, not so much on the orchard, oh well, we had fun looking for one:) We got back to Green Bay in time for Jackson to go to swim lessons, Shell got a workout in, Mike & I did a 9.5 mile run, while Chris & Rohan watched Jackson swim. Thanks for watching him Chris, we had a great run and the swarms of mosquito's encouraged us to keep moving and not slow down for long!
Wednesday we woke up to a very sick Jackson, he had Strep throat and felt/looked miserable. Shell was able to get him into the doctor but he pretty much slept the day away. Larry & Deb came up to Green Bay and picked up Mike, Ro, & I to hit an apple orchard and petting zoo. Rohan enjoyed all of that but I think the highlight of the morning was being able to go on a real school bus, he loved it, and the driver even let him sit in the drivers seat! We picked up pumpkins to carve but Jackson slept the rest of the afternoon and Rohan ended up taking a nearly 3 hour nap too, so we didn't get to them. Thankfully the antibiotics and Tylenol/ibuprofen had kicked in and Jackson woke up from his nap feeling much better, just in time to go to the NEW Zoo, free on Wednesdays from 4-6pm! We all loved the zoo, it was awesome that we could feed the giraffes, Rohan wasn't so sure that was a good idea. Ro also tried very hard to get as close to the animals as possible, even going so far as to put his head through the railing and briefly getting it stuck on his ears. He was NOT happy! Jackson did great at the Zoo especially considering how crappy he had been feeling. When we got back from the zoo Larry & Deb volunteered to watch the boys so we all could go to the gym. Mike & Chris played a mean game of racquetball while Shell & I did some weights, cardio, then a 45 minute pilates class, it was awesome!! Mike & I even did a cool down run on the 2 miles back to Chris & Shells. I think we all slept well that night.
Thursday Shell had a work meeting in Peewaukee and we tagged along, dropped her off, and went to see some old familiar sights and to visit some good friends in Milwaukee. We, of course, headed right down to Alterra and enjoyed a cup of coffee and some breakfast out on their patio, it was another beautiful day, although a bit mugger than we are currently used to. We had some time to kill so we walked down to the docks to admire the yachts and Rohan had the chance to climb in and check out a firetruck, he loved it! Then we met up with Mike's old boss and some co-workers from MCW, it was great to see Nikki, Crawford, Tina, Christy, PJ, and Paul and to enjoy some delicious Indian food and one of our old favorites. After lunch we grabbed a quick treat at City Market and met up with some of our old co-workers from the BRI (where we met 8 years ago!), I haven't been back in 3 years and it was great catching up with Corbett, Hope, Brad, and Shawn. They were all excited to see Rohan, but he was exhausted and insisted on sleeping through our visit:) After all of our running we made it back in time to pick up Shell and her co-worker just as their meeting ended. We grabbed Jimmy Johns on the way home and spent the evening relaxing and letting the boys chase each other around.
Friday, Chris & Shell let us borrow their car and we headed back over to Amherst to stay at my parents with my sister and her family for a couple days. It was so awesome, when we got there, Sam came running out of the house, ran up to Rohan and gave him such a big hug his feet came off the ground! Too bad none of us got that on video! It was extremely windy (gusts to 40mph) and drizzly most of the day but we played outside with the boys, went down to see the cows and equipment and Mike & I even squeezed in a short 4 mile run in the hills with the wind/rain. It was a fun run, especially since it isn't weather we deal with much these days:) When the boys got up from their naps we ran into Waupaca to go to a park with lots of water, it was quite the challenge keeping the boys out of the water, including Mike! Then we picked up some supplies for a family get together that was to include a bonfire, but concerns over the Bacon's and their pyro side we decided to hold off with the high winds. It was really great to see more family and to watch Rohan interact with everyone, he is one super-social child! We had a lot of fun trying to perfect our indoor s'mores making via the microwave or directly over the flat top stove, mom wasn't a huge fan of the stove's use:) I think Rohan, Sam & Wyatt ran at least a mile worth of laps around my parents house, so fun to watch them chase and squeal!
Saturday involved more outside play, another trip to the farm and a visit to the cows/equipment. By the third visit Rohan was running at the cows and trying to touch them, he really warmed up to them, the cows were curious about him but wouldn't let him get to close. We were glad he had a chance to see some more animals. We had plans to visit JR's Petting Zoo in Waupaca, but it turns out I can't read and didn't realize Hours: 9-5 MD-LD meant they were closed Labor Day to Memorial Day, I am bit slow:) They offered to let us look at a few deer but we opted to head over to Turner's Market and do their Corn Maze. It was a lot of fun, not only is it a maze, they have a question/answer game that you have to find all of the stations for. Rohan once again, couldn't contain his excitement and fell asleep on Grandpa and was then transferred between Grandma/pa for the rest of the maze(don't think they minded). Sam had a great time leading us through and was quick to point out if we hit a dead end! After a lunch of Chinese we headed home where the big boys enjoyed some college football and we played outside some more, even had snack time outside. All 3 boys loved all the outdoor time! The wind died down enough in the evening that we could have a bonfire complete with s'mores and wine! I love a good bonfire on a chilly fall evening!
Sunday morning we got up early and packed up everything to head to Appleton and meet up with some of Mike's extended family that were in town for the weekend. We had a great breakfast and caught up, if briefly, with all of them. After breakfast we took Rohan to the VFW Legion nearby since they have 2 tanks, a WWII aircraft, and 2 giant anchors. He LOVED them and loved playing on them! We met up with Chris, Shell, and Jackson and went for coffee and to another great park. The boys and the rest of us had a blast climbing, running, playing on all of the equipment. When we got back to Larry & Deb's we took the boys over to play on all the diggers, bulldozers, and dump trucks. I think they had almost as much fun as Mike:) We enjoyed a dinner of salad and pizza, watched some football, and let the boys play until it was time to head to the airport.
We got back to PHX at about 1030pm Sunday and were home, passed out in bed by 1130pm. Rohan, unfortunately is on Central time still and got up at 4am ready for breakfast, I woke up to him sitting in his high chair, trying to get the tray attached:) Mike woke to a temp of 102°F and whopping case of Strep throat complete with exhaustion and body aches! We heard Chris is also a confirmed Strep victim, lets hope the rest of us are able to avoid that!
We had a wonderful, but too short, visit! Thank you to all for taking the time to see we really appreciate being able to see so many people in such a short amount of time! Thanks again to The Stokes & The Bacons for their hospitality! We really look forward to seeing family & friends, anyone is welcome to come to AZ anytime:)
Enjoy the AV smörgåsbord:
Our Time with The Bacon/Aho Families:
Our time with the Syring & Stokes Clans (including the night before we left):
AND NOW FOR THE VIDEO PORTION OF OUR SMÖRGÅSBORD!
If you want to see ALL the videos (we had almost 50!), goto my YouTube Channel.
Last week was pretty low key for us. Mara was fighting off a minor strep throat infection and Rohan and I were getting over some viral thing that wore us out too.
Dispite being sniffly and wheezy, Rohan has been getting so much more active lately. It's been a lot of fun to see him recognize different sports and their equipment. We live next to a large soccer complex and we've checked out some of the games last weekend. He follows the ball and the players for quite a while before he gets bored (longer than me!). We also took the time to hit the driving range, playground and dog park all trying to wear him out. He just keeps going! :)
Rohan has been jumping off the couches onto a pile of pillows & blankets and when he's bored with what we're doing (cleaning or finishing supper) he'll just go over and start diving off the couch. It's pretty funny to watch him do his own thing, and even more fun to don a cape and jump with him...:)
Saturday Mara was on call so Sasha came over and brought Abbey and our friend, Rickie's dog, Jack Bauer. They all played well together, especially Jack & Schroeder (see video). We hit up Horizon Dog Park for a bit, then I headed to Jimmy Johns to pick up subs for Mara and I. She had a short break and was able to come eat with us. Rohan was pretty geeked to see her too, and went running as soon as he saw her. Mara has just this week left on this rotation before a week off in WI, and then Allergy/Immunology and Hospice next month (2 wks each).
Not much else this week. We are CRAZY excited to head to WI for a week+ next week. There will be PLENTY of picture and TONS of videos when we get back from there. The cooler weather will be a nice break. It will be great to see friends & family we haven't see for while!
Enjoy the pics & vids from this last week!:
This week Mara was on call on Friday meaning she was in the hospital at 5:30am Friday, and didn't leave until Noon on Saturday. It meant some more Dad & Rohan bonding time, which we took full advantage of. We ran all over the place. From playing catch, to chasing the dogs, and learning to jump off the furniture. All the good stuff Dad's teach boys...:)
Friday night we also put together a crock pot of Beef Machaca for a Hawkeye party at Greg & Nico's. So Saturday morning we packed up and headed over to Avondale. IA played N. Illinois, and made the fans proud by smoking the D-II team 37-7! A great start to the college football season! We were also celebrating Greg's birthday (a day early).
Mara was able to join us after her shift and we hung out for a while before touring Nico's parent's gorgeous new house. We headed back home for a nap and some relazation. We took the dogs to the Horizon Dog Park by our place, and otherwise had a nice relaxing evening.
Sunday we had an unexpected, but awesome, invite to climb with some friends from AZR. Jeanette called us Saturday night and said some of them had decided to head up north to climb last minute. We headed up to Jacks Canyon where we had hiked before, but never climbed. The group we went with was awesome! Very encouraging for outdoor rookies like us. Mara and I both lead climbed a 5.8, and climbed a couple 5.9s and a 5.10! I got to "clean" a 5.10 (where you take all the hardware off the wall), and at the top got to self-repel down. It was a rush! Now we have a little more experience under our belts, and can't wait to get back there to try our more routes! Rohan did great as usual, and once he got his rock legs back, he was bouldering and running all over the place.
After a long day of climbing we were rewarded with an amazing sunset over the canyon that looks like something our of the Serengeti Plains. We were also "rewarded" with a dinner stop at the Strawberry Lodge in the tiny town of Strawberry, AZ. It was a little on the podunk side, but the Fat Tire tasted good and at that point I would have eaten whatever they put in front of us, which we did...:) There was some nice photographs from a local photographer who only charges $2.00 for an 8"x10". Who can resist an 8"x10" of 2 deers mating in her front yard?!? Seriously, I couldn't make that up if I tried...:)
Monday (Labor Day) was spent with a trip to REI for some more (small) climbing gear and a trip to the Chapperal Dog Park to thoroughly wear out the dogs and Rohan.
Enjoy the A/V frenzy!:
This last week was fairly uneventful. Mara has started her "audition rotation" at Maricopa Hospital. Essentially, it's where she wants to do her residency, and this way they can see her in action and then they interview her in the end. She's been doing great, and has gotten a ton of excellent feedback. Last Tuesday, and Sunday she was on call overnight at the hospital. It was pretty slow on Tuesday, but she had 6 admits on Sunday, so it kept her busy until 2:30am. Rohan and I got to hang out and enjoy some father/son time...:)
Friday we met up with Sasha, Xiomy, Jeanette, and Marc for dinner/drinks at Daily Dose. Sasha had just returned from her rotations in OH & TX the last few months so we got to catch up with her. It will be good to have our climbing/yoga partner back!
Saturday we headed out to Cosmo Dog Park in Chandler because they have a lake for dogs to swim in. Turns out it was closed until Sept. 1st, but they dogs still go to run around and got soaked with a hose they had out. Afterwards we took Rohan to the Fountain Hills fountain which also has a wicked splash pad. I think I would have enjoyed it! There were tons of water features, and the temps were just about perfect (~95F). We also took some time to feed the ducks some of Rohan's crackers. Rohan got the hang of it pretty quickly, and really liked feeding them. Schroeder kept inching closer trying to inquire about the ducks, but they would scoot away every time he started getting close. Not sure if he'd like the water as much as Lucy did, but he does seem to get a little deeper every time we take him somewhere.
Saturday we also had a long run for our marathon training. We were scheduled to run 14mi, but ended up only getting ~12mi in before walking the last 2.5mi in. Once it cools down a bit more, it will be easier to do those longer runs...we hope...
Sunday Mara went into work around 6am so Rohan and I got to spend the whole day together. We ran into TGEN so I could add an enzyme to my DNA extractions and embed some tissue samples. He seemed pretty enthralled with the whole process. Afterwards we headed to Greg & Nico's where they gave me their old grill since they got the Cadillac of grills. It took a bit to disassemble the grill, but it fit in the RAV eventually. Rohan and I headed home and watched some football and baseball on top of playing around with the dogs. Rohan was wore out by 7:45 (usually goes to bed at 8:30 or 9), and I was recovering from some virus so I was down by 8:30. Rohan was up briefly at 10, but then slept through the night until 5:30. We both needed the rest!
Mara was off around Noon Monday, and we met for coffee before she headed home for a nap. Overall a good relaxing weekend!
After Tim & Allison's visit last weekend we've slowly been recovering. We either caught a virus from them, Rohan, or one of Mara's peds patients, but it took us down a notch. My liver also had to recover since I am not used to drinking Jack Daniels 4 days straight with no sleep and a crazy high activity level. But we'll do it again when they come back out! Most of this week was spent vegging and recovering. We skipped climbing & yoga as well as 2 runs, but we fit in a third and still got most of our 10 miler in later in the week.
Thursday we ran our 3mi recovery run, then Friday night we ran our 10mi long run. It was brutal, and slow, but it still felt good in the end. We did happen upon some more wildlife as well. We were running along the base of the McDowell Mountains when we heard a rustling in the brush between us and a gated community. Then we heard the antlers scraping the wall and trees, then the hooves, then the galloping. The, either small Elk, or large deer, ran along side us for a few feet before shooting ahead and across the road in front of us. It wasn't real well lit, but you could tell it was big, plus the hooves on the concrete sounded pretty heavy.. It definitely got our hearts pumping! Add that to the javelina, rattlesnake, kingsnake, coyotes, and countless bunnies, lizards, spiders and ants, its like we're running through a friggin' zoo!
Saturday (our 5 year anniversary, as well as both our parents') we took advantage of the cooler weather (from a storm Friday night) and took the dogs to the dog park. By the time we got there the sun had begun to UV irradiate everything, making it pretty muggy and uncomfortable. We lasted about 45 min before heading out. We took Rohan to the DC Ranch splashpad to cool off though, and that felt awesome. It was good to cool him down and wear him out at the same time, although he only got an hour long nap in before heading to Heather & John's for a pool volleyball party. We had 3 teams of 5, and they were all pretty closely matched so it was a lot of fun. We crashed hard Sat. night after almost 6 hours of pool, sun, & volleyball time. As always, the Schmit's hospitality was awesome! The sunset when we left was really intense, lighting up the thunderhead clouds on the other side of the mountain.
Sunday was pretty laid back in the morning. We played with Rohan and then hit up a Diamondbacks game at 1:00. We only stayed through the 7th inning since it was one of the most boring games we've been to (and we've been to a lot!). It was a classic pitchers duel, with the DBacks losing 0-1. We did see some awesome defense, but the lack of crown enthusiasm made it boring. They said 30,000 people were there, but it seriously seemed like a high school girls tennis match. We got out and bummed around Scottsdale a little that afternoon, then relaxed until the evening. We met our friend, Jeanette, out in Fountain Hills at a little creamery called La Scala. They have a meeting there every full moon and just chat. It's very casual, the food is awesome, and Rohan loved the fountain that Fountain Hills is famous for (sprays 560 ft in the air!). On our way over we had to stop twice to get pictures of another gorgeous sunset, with crepuscular rays that were stretching across the whole sky and even giving a glow to the full moon! Rohan was sleeping when we got there, but he woke up and MAN was he hungry! We think he's going through another growth spurt because he ate tons of veggie pizza at the Schmit's plus a whole waffle, tons of fruit, and 5 or 6 agar berries. He was charming everyone and doing yoga poses and flashing some smiles. We'll definitely be going back. The owners of La Scala were the ones who put on the gathering, and they could not have been nicer!!! Seriously reminded me of Grandma's house. "Are you hungry?" "No." "Have a seat. Here's waffles, fruit, sides, wine..." etc...etc...
Rohan has been talking A LOT more, using his phone toy and chatting at his books. We can't wait until he starts talking more. He's got More (Mah) & Please (Pa), Car (Ca) & Truck (Ck). Hard to distinguish car & truck sometimes, but he gets super excited every time. On our way to the DBacks game Mara had him on her back and all the sudden he just started squealing and hitting her shoulders. Turns out a bus was stopping at the bus stop right next to us and he thought it was the coolest thing EVER! The bus was more exciting than the game...:)
Most of our videos are of Rohan entertaining us, but we also have lots pics of him on top of that. None from Heather & John's, but we'll add them when we steal them from her blog...:) Enjoy!
Fun With Bubbles!:
Dad Teaching Rohan His Animal Sounds:
Rohan Reads "The Pokey Puppy" To Mom:
Rohan Has A Funny Conversation With Himself On The Phone:
This last week/weekend Tim & Allison came to visit the Syring household. Allison has an (almost) 2yr old and was in need of a much deserved break. Her parents were able to watch them and on Friday the 13th they flew into the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport. It was pretty great from the beginning because the Mesa airport is so small and under construction, they only have one terminal and the baggage claim is outside! It's like we were back in Kirksville! [shudder] One bonus is that this airport has somewhat cheaper flights than Sky Harbor, so check it out if you want to come visit us!
From the second they set foot on AZ soil, it was just like old times. We had blast catching up on the ride back to Phoenix. I gave them a tour of TGEN, followed by Starbucks (of course) and relaxing at the grotto at the AZ Center. We headed and picked up Rohan at daycare and went out to our favorite Sushi restaurant, RA. We ate enough sushi to feed a village, then headed to S. Phoenix to drop Rohan off at Heather & John's. They were awesome to take Rohan for the next couple days, so we could all enjoy a little adult getaway/stay-cation. We took full advantage of our time away from the kiddos. We capped Friday off with some Two Buck Chuck wine for Mara & Allison, and Beer & Jack Daniels for Tim and I. We hit the pool for almost an hour before watching several episodes of Three Sheets & Archer, and calling it a night around 1 a.m. (3 a.m. T&A's time!).
We were up surprisingly early on Saturday morning...:) We bummed around in the morning, then hit up AZR to climb. It had been since college that Tim or Allison had climbed, so it was fun to relive those days, and also realize why they hadn't climbed since...:) They both did awesome for not climbing in almost 10 years (both made it up routes), and like all fresh climbers, their forearms were aching by the end of the first hour. After climbing we headed over to Greg & Nico's to cool off in their salt water pool. It was 110°F in Phoenix this last weekend, but without the humidity, T&A thought it felt awesome. They prepared for the worst, and it was not near the blast furnace they were expecting. Allison did mention it was really hot a couple of times though... The pool got a great workout with 5 grown adults acting like they were 13 again. Greg probably has to add 4,000 gallons of water back into his pool after we splashed so much out of it! Good times though...and the pics will show that. We also were able to see Nico's parents and celebrate their anniversary with tons of meat on the grill and copious amounts of adult beverages.
Sunday was very much subdued. Wait...no it wasn't. We were REALLY honored by having our climbing, massage, and yoga instructor friend, Jeanette, teach us a private yoga class! We all felt like crap going in after a long Saturday night, but afterwards we were all feeling great and ready for our next adventure...hiking Devil's Bridge in Sedona. With Me, Mara, Tim, Allison, & Jeanette the drive up and back was a riot, and the car was never quite the whole trip. The hike was awesome as usual. Mara and I had only done it once last year, so it was great to get back to the area (Sedona is gorgeous!). The hike was well worth the drive, and we had some fun on the bridge too. We all hiked up food and had an awesome picnic, with a view that's hard to beat! Jeanette hiked up watermelon and the rest of us brought supplies for ham and swiss sourdough sandwiches, along with several types of hummus and pretzels. After the hike we took a bit and walked through Tlaquepaque, an art colony in downtown Sedona. Perfect cap to a great hike.
When we got back to Phoenix, we had a late grilling session (supper around 9:30 p.m.) and Rohan rejoined the fracas. He obviously had a blast at Heather & John's, and after saying "Hi" to everyone, crashed hard for the rest of the night. We stayed up until around Midnight, chatting and drinking. Jeanette worked on Allison's tight muscle, and in turn, Mara worked on Jeanette's back. Tim & I brought nothing to the table, so we just B.S.'d and drank.
Monday Tim and I got up early and hit up the TPC Scottsdale for some world class golf. It's the same place the Phoenix Open is held (which I worked this last February), and has some famous holes and history. When I made the reservation a month ago, I was concerned what the weather in Phoenix would be in Mid-August. It turned out to be one of the nicer days of T&A's visit. Mostly cloudy, a slight breeze, and awesome course conditions! Tim and I got paired with a Canadian and New York pair that were visiting AZ. They were great to play a round of golf with. Tim played with his old clubs he gave Mara a while back, and ended up losing to me by one stroke...something I will never let him live down. I had several pars and even a birdie on the course, so I was really happy with that; especially since I haven only played one other time since last October. After a couple beers in the clubhouse and soaking it all in, we went to Ketzal for some great Mexican food and salsa. After lunch we hit up MoJo before picking up Rohan and kabob supplies. Greg & Nico came over and we hung out for the rest of the night.
4:45 a.m came early Tuesday morning and I took T&A back to the tiny airport. We had an absolute blast with them, and can't wait to see the whole Peet family next time! We all needed the break from everything, and I think we succeeded in completely wearing everyone out to the point of total exhaustion, which will take a couple of days to recover from, if not longer for any vital organs that were affected (i.e. the liver)...:)
There are tons of pictures (but not a lot of video for lots of reasons). Enjoy!
The weather has broke a little bit here in PHX. The temps have been in the low to mid 100's, but the humidity has bottomed out quite a bit. We went from 60% to 20%, and that made a HUGE difference. We took advantage of better weather and hit up First Friday with Xiomy, but first we made a stop at the Children's Museum, which is free on First Friday. Needless to say, it was packed! Rohan was all over the place (which is the point). He was touching everything, climbing on everything, and wearing himself down. His favorite installation was the Noodle Forest. It was thousands of swim noodles suspended from the ceiling. He warmed up to it after a few minutes, and then couldn't get enough. After everything he crashed hard. We met up with Xiomy and walked around a tweeker art fest with loud bands right next to the sidewalk and tons of bumps and curbs. He never even flinched. Can't wait until next month to do it again!
Saturday we started picking up and getting things somewhat ready for Tim & Allison's visit. Tim can be very diva~ish so we have to make sure our place is spotless...:P Rohan has been watching videos and such on our iPods, but now he's taken to playing the games. One in particular, Glass Tower 2, involve breaking blocks and the sounds get him all geeked up. We were able to break him away in order to go see a Diamondbacks game. We had won free tickets through our climbing gym, AZR. We didn't know it was the night Luis Gonzalez's #20 was being retired. He had their World Series winning hit in 2001, and has been a God here in AZ ever since. He's a great ballplayer and a great guy. It was the first number this young franchise has retired, so the people came out in droves. All in all, 48,946 fans showed up. It was fun to see that many people there, since they usually had about 20,000 fans show up. The shear number of fans kept Rohan's interest, and he was dancing and clapping the whole night. He even had a 4 year old girlfriend to entertain him too. The night was capped of with a blown save, followed by a walk-off home run, so it was a really exciting game. Afterwards we watched a storm from the roof of the parking garage, and Rohan saw a ton of planes and Police cars. He slept good again that night...:)
Sunday we spent most of the day giving the dogs a haircut. It was slightly breezy and warm. Sweat & fine dog hair don't mix well... We had to take a couple of breaks to cool off in the pool and all in all it took almost 5 hours to cut them! Saved us over $100, so it was worth the effort! The dogs are going to love the shorter hair!
We capped the weekend off, and started the week with, a nice long 12mi run. The temp was a nice 90F, with a very light breeze. We again came across a snake, this time no rattle, no venom. It was a baby Kingsnake, about a foot long, and as wide a a pencil. Somehow we attract snakes...or maybe it's because we are running through the desert...:)
It was a good weekend, and Rohan had some great all out play days that wore him out into taking good naps (except Sunday, which was a bit of a chore). We are really looking forward to Tim & Allison coming out and have some good plans to hike, climb, and a personal yoga session by our friend Jeanette. Should be a great time! Heather is going to watch Rohan Sat & Sun so we can enjoy their visit a little more without being tied to a sleep schedule or drinking age...:)
Hope everyone had a great week too!
One Of MANY Trips Through The Noodle Forest:
Rohan Playing Games On The iPod (And Trying To Buy Stuff!):
Rohan Is Doing Great At Putting His Puzzles Together:
Taylor Nicole -- February 5th, 1997 Kaylee Christine -- June 4th, 2001 Jackson Edward -- May 5th, 2007 Samuel Reuben -- July 5th, 2007 Thomas Costa -- December 28th, 2007 Rohan Alexander -- January 4th, 2009 Ryan James-- October 29th, 2009
