The Trail Bites Back

This week we have had some awesome weather, and we've taken advantage of it by getting some trail runs in as well as just getting outdoors! Unfortunately this weekend was raining, which was still fun since we don't get much, but limited us to what we could do outdoors.

Monday's trail run went great. I left first and then Mara and Rohan met me at the trailhead after about 45min. I took Rohan back home and Mara went on her run. When she got back she showed us that the trail had gotten her a little. She was stretching at a sign (and admiring the sunset) when she fell over into a bush. She ran the rest of the route and came home to show us the damages. It looked AWFUL! The scratches all bleed more than usual since she was working out, They were all superficial scratches, but there were A LOT of them! We spent 5-10 min picking thorns out of her legs and shins. Would have been funny to see he tip over though (knowing she's OK of course)...:)

Friday we met Heather and Grandma (with Rebekka and Marisa) at Enchanted Island for a charity night. Wrist bands were $3 and free rides. Rohan was a lot more outgoing and adventurous that we thought he'd be. He rode the cars by himself (first time on a ride by himself!) and just seemed to enjoy the ride...with little emotion. He rode with Rebekka on a helicopter ride in the air...he thought it was OK, but very little emotion. Next we hit up the Tea Cup ride where you try and make yourself dizzy. He was excited to ride, but as soon as it started spinning he made the "pukey cheeks" face, but never actually barfed. He sunk back into Mara and rode the ride out. When it stopped he sat up, smiled and gave us high fives. We were a little shocked he was happy. Next we hit the train ride (always a hit!) and then Mara took him on to the cars again. Just as we were leaving it started to sprinkle so we got everything do just in time! On the way out we also had to stop and see the Firetruck they had at the entrance. Rohan actually got inside this time and didn't seems so freaked out by the size of the truck.

Saturday we tooled around PHX, visited Greg, Nico & Mila, then heading over to Heather's(while they were out of town) and visited with Grandma & Grandpa Hansen. With the cooler weather it was nice Mara made grilled cheese and soup for everyone! It really hit the spot on a dreary day!

Sunday, our favorite yogi, Jeanette, invited us to a private yoga class at her studio and said it was OK to bring Rohan. He had just woken up from a nap, and after an initial meltdown at the start of the class, he was great! He mostly walked around checking out the fitness equipment, and also traversing the banister they have (something he's been doing A LOT more of lately). At a couple points he was walking around hand-in-hand with Jeanette while she instructed us...it was pretty adorable. He even had a hand in his pocket, and followed her everywhere.

The rest of Sunday we grilled some marinated steaks that had been stewing all day (the secret is homemade yogurt!). Mara was also feeling nostalgic for the English crumpets we had in London. We found them here, at only a few, expensive, places so she decided to try and make her own. We only had wheat flour and Bisquick but she tried it anyway. We also only had christmas cookie cutter metal shapes instead of round, as well as the double open ended soup can. As ghetto as it looked, they actually tasted REALLY good. I even made a pankcake sized crumpet for myself...:)
Enjoy pics & vids!


Rohan talking on the phone. I love his pose at about 24 seconds in....


Rohan loves Firetrucks! Not sure what the voodoo thing is in the beginning:


Rohan rides solo for the first time:


FINALLY got Rohan to make a duck sound on camera. It's not a "quack"...more of a "balk"...cracks me up every time! He says it only once at about 27 seconds in:

Michelle Comes To "Relax"

We'll just say it...Michelle, Mara and I relax the same way...by punishing ourselves phycically so we can enjoy the rest...:)  Michelle made her annual trek out to the desert to escape the cabin fever awaiting her in mid-winter Wisconsin.  It started out a little sketchy on Wednesday when she showed up.  I got off work and waited for her in the cell phone lot of PHX.  When she called I went to start the car and...nothing...the battery was toasted (luckily that and nothing expensive!).  Fortuitously, Mara was off her rotation early and came to the rescue.  After a quick jump start and a stop by our favorite German bakery (Old Heidelberg German Bakery), we continied to one of our favorite restaurants, That's A Wrap.  We  hit up an Autozone for a new battery and then dropped Michelle off for a massage with our favorite RMT...Jeanette @ The Little Bohemian. While Michelle got a 1hr+ deep tissue massage, Mara and I climbed at AZR across the street.  After climbing we grilled a pesto chicken & pine nut pizza and went for a long walk around a very affluent area near Camleback Mountain.  Not a bad way to introduce Michelle to AZ!  We all slept like rocks that night!
Thursday morning Mara ran Rohan into daycare and Michelle and I went and watched the sun rise over the McDowell's.  When Mara returned we headed up to the 104th St. trail in the McDowell's and went for a 5mi trail run!  It felt awesome, and we all had a lot of fun exploring the preserve!  Afterwards we met Greg & our favorite yogi, Jeanette again, back at our place and had a private yoga session.  The session was AWESOME!  We all had a great time, and even earned a few nicknames...:)  After everyone disbanded, we soaked our calves in the hot tub and then headed to Tempe and ate at California Pizza Kitchen before we grabbed Rohan and took him to a park for a long run/soccer session.  We capped the day off with some more grilling (portobellos and sweet potatoes) and some well deserved wine and beer!
Before the beer & wine we had to do some micro-surgery on Rohan's hand.  He had a HUGE sliver from the mulch playground at school in his palm which was starting to get irritated and we wanted to remove it before it got infected.  We got the tweezers and showed them to him, let him play with them, he seemed pretty OK with the instrument.  As soon as we started to operate on his hand he flipped.  We felt awful, but we had to hold him down and Mara did an awesome job getting in and out, with no blood, but 3 big pieces of mulch extracted.  Rohan calmed down well, and eventually started showing off his "battle scar".  Such a little trooper!
Friday I had a "Sequencing the Genome" lecture for work I wanted to attend, so I dropped Mara and Michelle at the Cholla Trail of Camelback Mountain where they traversed it, and came down the Echo Canyon Trail where their car was parked.  After their hike they hit up a YMCA to try and completely exhaust themselves!  They came and picked me up from the seminar and we headed to Greg & Nico's to BBQ and see baby Mila again.  It was great to see them all doing so well, and Mila is such a cutie!  We picked up Rohan and grabbed a quick bite before we hit up AZR again.  Michelle showed off her athleticism and totally scaled the walls at AZR. Not even doing "beginner" routes, she took right to the 5.8s and had no problem!  Too bad they don't have a gym in GB, I think she would really like it!
Saturday we tested Michelle's nerves by heading to Superior, AZ and hiking a lone mountain called Picket Post Mountain.  It's a pretty shear cliff at some points, and Michelle can have a sometimes debilitating fear of heights.  We had some fun finding the trail, but eventually we made it about 3/4 of the way up, across some pretty sketchy areas, before we thought it'd be best to turn around.  Rohan was with us as usual, but his backpack was starting to get in the way, so we turned back.  It was an amazing view, and now we have an excuse to hike it again and get to the top! :)  Michelle did surprisingly well on some of the outcrops and scrambles given her fear.  We even got her to pose on the point of an edge for a pick...very proud of her...:)
We stopped by Triple C Coffee House in Superior for lunch and brought it to a train park so Rohan could get out and play since he was such a trooper on the hike.  We headed home and hit the hot tub again before Michelle took us to dinner at Bombay Spice (one of Mara and I's favorites!).  We capped of the night with a long walk with the dogs and enjoyed the last bit of warmth Michelle gets before heaeding back to WI.
We dropped Michelle off at 5:30 and then headed to Tempe Town Lake to watch the sun rise (which was gorgeous).  We spend Sunday cleaning, airing out the house since it was mid-70s, and playing baseball with Rohan.  While we were playing baseball, the sunset was so nice, we hopped in the car and drove to the TPC Scottsdale Golf Course next door to snap some pics and they turned out amazing!  What a great way to cap off an awesome visit and fun-filled week!  This week we probably won't be able to match the level of intensity of this last week, but we'll try! :)
Hope everyone had an active week, and enjoy the pics...the are a lot of them...


Rohan getting his kick in the tub...I think he splashed out a gallon of water:

We LOVE Busy Weekends!

This week was crammed full of stuff.  We did the usual things during the work week (running, climbing, & yoga), but also got to have 400,000 of our fellow Americans (at least most are) come into our neighborhood and attend the Phoenix Open.  It was nice to get through everything with our resident pass, and Waste Management (the title sponsor) did a great job setting it up and running it smoothly.  We'll be glad to get our park back though.  It's been a staging area for vendors and parking lot for guests, and fenced off for almost 2 weeks (with Barrett-Jackson here before them)!
Friday, Mara got off a little early and tried trail running in the McDowell Mountains.  Michelle comes out this week and wanted to try it, so Mara was testing out a trail to see if it would work.  Mara had a blast!  I think we'll have to do some more of that in the future!  Friday night we headed out to the other side of the McDowell's and stargazed at one of our favorite spots.  There was some clouds that reflected the city lights, but those went away eventually, and we got some GREAT shots with out new camera.  Lots of fun to play around with!  Even borrowed some techniques of foreground lighting that made for some really cool cactus/star shots.
Saturday morning ran some errands and then took off to Suerpior, AZ to find a bouldering spot.  Unfortunately it was blocked by some road construction, but we ended up hiking for almost 5 hours.  We stopped a couple times to explore some rocks, and let Rohan out to play too.  He started climbing the rocks like nothing and was totally fearless!  He's going to be a great climber.  We found a really cool place to camp sometime too...and the best part...we didn't see a single person the whole time!  Can't wait to explore that area more!  We capped of Saturday with some steaks on the grill and some nice barely sodas...:)
Sunday we got up early and I checked out the trail Mara had run Friday.  It was a blast!  Trail running adds such a different twist to running, and I even found some cool trails to check out another time. After the run I met Mara and Rohan (who ran from our house) at AZR and got some more climbing in. Rohan napped almost the whole time too, even with the gym noise! Afterwards we hit up a shoe store to look for some new running shoes for Mara and also checked out some trail shoes, but they didn't seem to be too different.  After that we hit up a Dave & Busters to watch the Green Bay Packers win Superbowl XLV!!! One of the downsides of not having a TV at home is missing major sporting events unless we go somewhere. It was fun to be at a place where Rohan could run around with games and not be "that kid".  They even had a pretzel bite appetizer, so the whole family was happy! :)
This week we are getting ready for Michelle's visit.  Not really doing much for it, just resting because we're going to run her ragged..:)  We have trail running, road running, hikes, walks, yoga and climbing all on the agenda, so we'll need to be well rested for all the outdoor time & activity!
Hope everyone had a great/active weekend!!!


Rohan Bouldering:


Rohan Rar'ing: