Beating The Heat (Again)

We took a little break from the heat this weekend to explore some areas at or around a mile high...:) We camped at Blue Ridge Reservoir (about 7400 feet in elevation) and dodged rain the first night. It rained on our way up, but quit while we set up camp, ate dinner, explored the forest, and sat by the fire. A great first night! Saturday we took a day trip to East Clear Creek Canyon in Winslow, AZ. We took Rohan on a 3+mi kayak trip down the canyon. He had a blast, but couldn’t wait to get out and play on the rocks and jump into the water. We found a nice spot that had a 25’ jump for Mara and I, and a 12-15’ jump for Rohan. He was so excited to do it (but just a tiny bit scared). We stopped for lunch in Winslow and headed back to camp afterwards. Rohan was creating his “Tough Mudder Captain America Steve Rogers” course the rest of the day/night. He probably ran it 20 or more times…check out the video for the course walkthrough. Sunday we headed down to the reservoir amongst some awesome fog on the water and temps around 60°F! A far cry from the 112°F we left in Phoenix! The water was pristine, and very still. We kayaked another 3-3.5mi around the reservoir, and found a great place to snack and enjoy the serenity of the lake. Such a difference between the canyon and the reservoir, so it was awesome to kayak on both within a day! AZ is such a wonderland of terrain! Last week we also had a leak in our water line from the city to our house so we had a couple friends drop what they were doing come and help with that. Such great people we know! Enjoy the pics & vids!

Rohan's way of helping fix a leak:

Rohan's "Tough Mudder Captain America Steve Rogers" Course:

1st Person Jump (mainly for Michelle & Jen...:P):

Mara's Jump:

Rohan's First Jump:

Rohan's 2nd Cliff Jump:

Rohan discussing astronomy while traversing:

Rohan shooting bad guys then jumping:

Cliff Jumping & Bike Riding (not at the same time)

This last weekend we took a fun trip up to Winslow, AZ to explore a deep water soloing area. It's an area that you climb without ropes (the soloing part) and when you fall (or jump) you jump into deep water. Sound like fun! It was an absolute BLAST! Rohan didn't go this time because we wanted to scout it out for a future trip. Not sure how he would be for 5hrs in a kayak, or if there would be beaches or rocks for him to get out and play on. There were some areas he could be on, so next time, he'll be in some of these videos too...:) Next time Michelle comes we'll have to get her to jump off one of these cliffs too...:P We also took Rohan on his first foray into biking on concrete. We had mostly been on grass where he could fall and not get too scraped up, and plus the ground here is about as hard a concrete so he can still peddle through it. He did AWESOME biking on the pavement, and set a personal best for distance (we have more video than pictures). He had fun with it too, so eventually we'll be able to go on family bike rides! :) Hope everyone had a great weekend too!

Rohan Biking (On/Off-Road):

Rohan buzzes the fire hydrant:

First Person Jump (Slo-Mo):

First Person Jump:

Self Jump:

Erik jumping off The Monster:

Jeremy Slo Mo Jump:

Hannah Slo Mo Jump:

Beating The Heat!

This last week we had a great surprise from my buddy Rick from college who was driving around the country in their RV with his girlfriend, Deana, and their dog Bo. He swung by for a night and we were able to hit up a D-Backs game and also hit the pool and hang out/catch up. It was great to get a visit from an old friend! This last weekend we also explored other ways to beat the heat. Saturday we went to Lake Pleasant to try out our new kayak, and met our friends Shannon & Jeremy. Jeremy had an extra kayak for us and Rohan had a BLAST in it. Definitely going to get another one soon…maybe a Rohan/Mike/Mara birthday/Xmas present…:)  We found a nice island and rock to jump off of and have some hilarious video of the jumps as well. The first thing Rohan said when we landed on the island was “I want to jump off that rock!”. He had a blast! (as did we!) Afterwards we hung out with some friends who own Matador Coffee Roasters. We got to be good friends with them at the shop since we are there quite a bit…OK…a lot…:)  We grilled a couple AWESOME pizzas. One was an old standby…Chicken, bacon, artichoke, mozzarella and the other was an experimental one (stolen from a pizza place in Oregon) that had prosciutto, asparagus, gorgonzola, and mozzarella…they both turned out amazing! Sunday we met up with a dozen people, or so, and headed to Flagstaff. At 7000 feet it’s a lot cooler than PHX! There were also some scattered thunderstorms so the temp cooled to almost 60°F! We had never been to this bouldering area before and it was an awesome area to climb! Rohan had a blast traversing and bouldering his own routes. Mara and I had a lot of fun projecting some routes and watching Rohan explore and keep people entertained with his Spiderman-style weapons kata…:) It was a great weekend of staying one step ahead of the heat! Enjoy all the pics and tons of videos!     

First Person Front Flip (Slo-Mo):

Rohan watching Mara jump (Slo-Mo):

Rohan jumping off rocks (Slo-Mo):

Slo Mo Jump:

Slo-Mo Jump Backwards:

Rohan explaining Iron Man's boosters:

Rohan traverse project:

Rohan's first sent boulder project:

Vacation!

First of all…Vacation ROCKED!  We had such a blast with Tim and Allison, and huge props to my Dad for coming and watching Rohan.  I think they wore each other out equally...:)
Second of all, we will be missing our good friend Kim who deployed as a medic with his MP battalion unit to Qatar.  Rohan will be learning all about what Kim is doing while he’s away.

Before our vacation we were able to spend a night with Kim, and other friends, after he got back from California.  We hit up a Diamondbacks game as soon as he got back.  It was great to catch up with him before he left.  Kim also invited us to the sendoff for the battalion which was really a cool thing to witness.  Rohan was pretty silent, just taking everything in (as usual).  Kim even took Rohan on his shoulders while they had a battalion-only meeting.  The picture is awesome…J

We arrived in Portland just after Tim & Allison and hit up a brewery bus tour by BREWVANA.  What a great into to Portland!  We spent the rest of the week hitting up breweries, wineries and coffee shops.  To counteract all that we did some workouts at a practice field, 10+ miles of hiking, a trip to the coast, and a kayaking trip up & down the Colombia River Gorge.  So hard to put into words how much we accomplished, so the pictures will have to suffice…J  We got home around midnight and took Dad to the airport right away in the morning, so we spent most of Sunday relaxing by climbing and buying a kayak on Craigslist.  We’ve been wanting one for a while and the kayaking in Portland reminded us how much we enjoyed it! 

Pics NOT from Portland:
Portland Pics:

Rohan Jumping Into The Pool:

Schroeder Submarining for a ball:

Another Schroeder Submarine:

Best SloMo Parkour High Five EVER!: