Mara & Rohan Photo Shoot

While Mara and Rohan were back in MO for Mara's testing she wanted to use the opportunity to get some family photos (sans Dad).  We had used a friend of ours, Crystal, for the first photo shoot and we were so happy with her photos we used her again.  If you are in the area, look her up.  She does GREAT work and is very reasonable!
Mara and Rohan met Crystal at Truman State University's campus and the backdrop was perfect.  All the pictures turned out good, but there are a couple we think are just awesome.  Enjoy!

The M&M San Diego Half Marathon

I thought I would post a little about our "virtual" half marathon.  The reason we ran one was so that we can keep training for our full marathon next year (PF Chang's). It's pretty simple.  If I don't have someone (Mara) or something (Nike+) telling me to run, I won't.  I'll find something else to do, or not do for that matter...:)  So we picked an arbitrary date to run on and started a training program.  Turns out I had to travel for work, but it worked out great to be able to run the 13.1mi along the ocean in San Diego.  It was great to be able to run with Rohan, and we're glad Mara found the jogging stroller rental business.  Our half marathon route was really easy in the sense that it was flat.  We didn't get above 50 feet above sea level since we ran along the bay and ocean the whole time...:)  We ran along Fiesta Bay, Mission Bay, Sail Bay, San Juan Cove, Santa Barbra Cove, Bonita Cove, Mariner's Basin, and lastly along the mighty Pacific Ocean.  Here is a map of our route.
Over the course of the last 12 weeks or so of training, we ran almost 250 miles!  Most of the time we felt great, and we are getting better at knowing when to slow down and when to take a break.  I think thats been our key to making running fun, and not a chore.  The main thing we want to get out of running is health, and the only way we'll keep running is if we enjoy it.
We start an increased training regiment next week (Intermediate Half Marathon), running 4 times a week in stead of 3, and having some longer runs the the Beginner training we were doing.  This is in preparation for our big 28 week full marathon training which will begin in July (mostly running at night with the heat!).  We are both looking forward to the full marathon, and we want to make sure we finish feeling good, not just finish and hate ourselves for the next week.  We may never run another (said that about our first half), but to train to run one is an awesome feeling!  Feel free to come join us (for a run, or for support)!

Work, Play & Relaxing In San Diego

This last week I headed to San Diego, CA for training on some digital pathology software called Aperio.  Amazing stuff.  It even utilized some algorithms from NASA for cellular recognition and differentiation!  Nerdy as hell! :) While I was there I found a chance to try out some good restaurants and even hit a Shogun. I hadn't been to one of those in probably 15 years! Teppanyaki is still way cool...:)
This trip also gave Mara, Rohan & I a chance to spend an extended weekend in CA with work picking up most of my costs.  Greg & Nico took Linus & Schroeder (thank you so much!) and Mara flew out with Rohan on Thursday.  We hit up Little Italy right away and tried out a new restaurant (to us anyway) called  Zia's Bistro.  Rohan was a trooper ALL night.
Friday we picked up our rental jogging stroller from Baby's Away.  They have sites all over the country for people who need to rent baby equipment.  We couldn't have been happier with the stroller we got!  We got in a 2mi run around USD, before hitting up one of many Indian restaurants.  This time we hit up Royal India.  Rohan was a charmer and was LOVING the Mint Chutney & Chicken Pakoras.  He even charmed the hostess into a couple of pieces of chocolate.  We walked of dinner by walking about 8 miles the rest of the night around downtown San Diego.
Saturday we got up early and hit up Crown Point Coffee‎ for some awesome bagels for our pre-run snack. We then went to Crown Point Park to wear Rohan down before our run. We ran along the beach, and even found some ducks to feed fruity cheerios to. Rohan wasn't too fond of sharing with the ducks, but they got along just fine. From the park we set out on a 13.1 half marathon along the boardwalk that run around Mission Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. We took a really light attitude to the run (as we've been doing lately). Who cares what our time was? We ran, we felt good, we got Rohan out when he needed it, and it was a great time! The weather was perfect, about 70°F with a light wind off the ocean and tons of sunshine!  We ended up running it in ~2:11, and we never felt sore! We rewarded ourselves with a fruit smoothie from Cafe By The Bay and a Roast Beef Sub & Antipasto Salad from Poma's Italian Deli‎ (Our favorite place in SD).  It hit the spot!  After lunch we went back to the hotel and hit the hot tub to loosen us up a little before we took a quick nap.  We hit up another Indian restaurant for supper, Star of India this time.  Rohan did us a HUGE bonus and napped the whole dinner in his stroller.  The food was spectacular at this place!  We walked off dinner by walking a few miles back to Little Italy for dessert.  We LOVE the Crème Brûlée at Cafe Zucchero. Needless to say, we crashed that night...:)
Sunday we found another awesome coffee shop, Filter Coffee & Tea‎.  We then wore Rohan out by taking him to North Park Community Park where he ran all over their giant playground.  We headed downtown and walked around Horton Plaza for a while before heading to Petco Park for a Padres/Diamondbacks game.  It was an awesome ballpark, and Rohan had a blast dancing to the music and running around their "Park At The Park".  After the game we headed up to Torrey Pines State Park to watch the sunset from the cliffs.  Unfortunately the weather didn't hold and we didn't get to see much. We did get to relax a while by the ocean and watch the surf crash. It was a VERY nice time. We hit up one last Indian restaurant (Ashoka the Great).  The food was good, but the service sucked.  Oh well, we have other Indian restaurants to go to...:)  We tucked Rohan in to his hotel crib and relaxed with a nice bottle of wine (Bear Flag) before crashing hard and enjoying our last bit in CA.

Monday we flew back to PHX, got a ride from Sasha to Jimmy John's for lunch, then hit the pool for some more sun.  Rohan took a nice nap and allowed us to unpack, do laundry, and grocery shop the rest of the day away.

Whew!  What an awesome trip!!!  Enjoy the multimedia below:

Rohan & Dad Feed The Ducks:



Rohan Shows His Moves At The Padre's Game:



We Leave You With The Relaxing Sounds Of The Pacific Ocean...:)

Rohan's Growing Up Fast!

This week Rohan was pretty much growing up in from of us. With his spider-like climbing skills it was only a short time before be was throwing a leg over his railing and getting out of his crib. We preempted that by taking his railing off and giving him a daybed style big kid bed.  He's been awesome with it so far. He climbs in at night and even when we hear him get up, we find he went back to his bed and slept.  He's even surprised us a couple of times by getting up from a nap and walking out like nothing is strange about that.  It's pretty crazy.
Rohan is also finding the joy of firetrucks & lights.  Like Michelle did with Jackson, we saw a firetruck in a parking lot showing off the lights to kids.  Unlike Michelle, I made a couple illegal u-turns and moves and, again like Michelle, we showed the truck to Rohan.  He was a little tired, but he was enthralled with everything.  He even got a little Junior Firefighter badge.  Ironically, we were actually on our way to buy Rohan a ride-on firetruck, which he has been in love with since we brought it home.  We actually had to take it out of the box and let him ride with it on his lap so hit could play the song it has (which we are now sick of!).
Rohan must have learned a lot from his visit with Cameron because he is talking a lot more, dancing at every beat, and now does the Cameron hand dance thing that he used to do when eat.  It's hilarious!
Rohan also received a nice sand play set from G&G Syring which he LOVED!  He knew exactly what to do with them, and screamed bloody murder when we took them away.  He learned to get sand in his pants is a lot easier with shovel, rather than using his hands like sucker...:)
Last Friday Mara and I tried to hit up a camping spot in the mountains, but unbeknownst to us, there was a fire in the area in 2005 and it is completely closed off for camping...:(  We found a spot to cook out and watch the sunset, but then headed back home.  It wasn't all bad because the bugs were swarming, not biting or stinging, just everywhere!
Other than that, we've just been enoying the gorgeous weather and getting tons of outside time at the parks and dog park, as well as grilling up a storm.  We even grilled our first pizza of the year tonight.  I heard Green Bay got 3½ inches of snow last week...:P
This coming week I have some training to do in San Diego, so I'll be heading out on Tuesday night for the week.  Mara and Rohan are going to join me on Thursday night and we are going to take some time to relax and enjoy some beach time!  Can't wait.  A HUGE thanks to Greg & Nico for taking the dogs for us.  It will be really nice to not have them this time.  We have a half marathon scheduled for Sunday and we found a great place to rent a jogging stroller too!  Our planned route is almost entirely around the beach.  As long as it's not too windy it should be a really fun run!
Enjoy the videos & pics!


Rohan & His Fire Trucks:




Linus Cracks Rohan Up:

Tests, friends, family, Easter...busy week!

The Syring's have been busy as usual...:)

Last Monday, I had a cumulative exam covering all of the clinical rotations of my 3rd year of medical school. It was pretty tough but right on target with the difficulty of the exams we took after each core rotation. I have now completed rotations in Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Radiology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Surgery. With those rotations being done, I now get to pick my rotations for the next year...(I'll do a separate 3rd year wrap up/4th year preview post, way to much for this one!)

After the exam we had just enough time to do some last minute laundry, pack our bags, and go for a relaxing 6 mile run!

Tuesday we got up bright (OK, dark) and early at 3AM for our 5AM flight. Mike took Rohan & I to the airport, checked our luggage and said goodbye. Mike got an extremely early start to his work day, but at least he got done early. Rohan LOVED the airport, watching all the airplanes and baggage/food trucks. He fell asleep as we taxied to the runway. His nap didn't last long and soon enough he was busy "reading" stories to the older gentleman sitting next to us. He had an 8 minute and 37 second (yes, I counted) freak out during which the flight attendant came to my rescue and walked with him since there was turbulence and I couldn't get up. The remainder of the flight he was his smiling self. We had a brief layover in MN which Rohan spent running all over and then once again fell asleep on the flight to Des Moines. Allison and Cameron picked us up and we hit a park on the way home to wear the boys out. They had a blast! They played so well together or at least near each other. Tim grilled and Nate played with Rohan, Cam had already passed out. It was really good to catch up with T&A and Nate over a good meal and a glass of wine! Thanks again Peet's for the wonderful hospitality! We really appreciate it!

Wednesday morning we let the boys play and then Allison and Cam took us back to the airport to get our rental car for the trip down to Kirksville. We got into Kirksville just after the Berrey girls got done with school, Rohan loved all the attention they lavished on him! It was good to see Deana, Jim, Serena, Haleigh, and Jayden; it had been nearly a year since we last saw them. Rohan and I then headed to Truman State University's campus and met Crystal and Tiffany to take some pictures. I can't wait to see how they turn out, he was such a ham and he loved hanging out with Braden and Chase, Tiffany's boys. Wednesday night we just relaxed and hung out with the Berrey's and the Park's, more medical school friends. Thanks for letting us take over your bedroom Haleigh, Rohan really liked all the dolls and Barbies:)

Thursday morning I ran Rohan out to Tiffany's house, where he played while I had my MSIII testing. I am fairly certain Rohan had a more fun filled day than I did, I heard he even got to play with some of his old daycare friends and a few bunnies! My testing consisted of standardized patients that I had to interview then write up a note on. We had to do 8 patients in 4 hours, not too tough but a good preparation for my COMLEX PE board exam coming up in June. After I finished up my test, Rohan and I got back in the car and headed back up to Des Moines, Rohan fell asleep on the way back and didn't wake up until the next morning!

Friday morning Rohan and I jumped back in the car and headed up to meet my sister and her family and my parents in Albert Lea, MN. Rohan played hard with Sam and even tried to hug Ryan a few times. It was really good to see everyone, especially since I hadn't met Ryan yet, what a sweet, sweet boy! I loved the baby snuggle time, Rohan doesn't snuggle quite as much as he used to:) We took the boys swimming at the hotel pool and Rohan showed off his water-baby side, man did he and Sam LOVE the water! We even tried taking the boys to a park, Rohan fell asleep as we pulled in and didn't wake up even as we took him all over the playground equipment. Sam really loved climbing on everything and boy can he talk, I love it! He has quite the vocabulary and Auntie Mara wasn't so careful about what I said...let's just say I may have called Ro a midget...We had a wonderful time and are so glad that the Ahos and Bacons could meet us, even if ever so brief! Wish we could see them more often. My parents and sister stayed the night and relaxed while Rohan & I headed back to Des Moines. We spent the evening with the Peets and Nate.

Saturday Allison & I got up before the boys did and went to a Body Pump Class at her work. It was fantastic! I definitely felt it the next couple days. When we got back we all headed to the Des Moines Zoo. The boys loved the animals, I loved the crazy loud monkeys! Rohan wanted to jump in the Koi pond but we persuaded him to try the playground equipment instead. They took an awesome nap while T&A played with their new phones and I did a bit of studying. When the got up we went on an Easter egg hunt, this was obviously more for us than them, I have a feeling there are still some in the yard that the lawnmower will find. More wine and good food capped off a wonderful day!

Sunday we had a Cam/Rho dance party, it appears they both like the Latin Pop station...:) After a delicious breakfast casserole and some more play time, Tim & Cam took us back to the airport. Rohan got to have his picture taken with our puddle-jumper airplane since he was the only kid we boarded first. He managed to stay awake and happy for the entire flight! In Milwaukee I was super excited to see an ALTERRA coffee shop next to our departure gate, of course I had to have one! It was delicious!! Our flight back was a bit longer than we anticipated but Rohan was a trooper and only had 2 mini-meltdown's over 3.5 hours. We were both EXTREMELY excited to see Mike at the terminal!

Our trip was a lot of fun, but exhausting! I squeezed a couple of shorter runs in along the way for a total of about 5 miles, not much, but at least some:) We logged 900 miles exactly on our rental car and I can not say enough what a fabulous traveler Rohan is. Over the course of 4 flights and numerous hours in the car he had less than 30 minutes of crying, I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Rohan adjusted quickly to being back home and Mike even thought he had made more advances in talking and running faster. He changes so quickly still.

Rohan went to bed at a normal time and we took that time to hit the hot tub and relax. Perfect ending to a long day of travel.

No rest for the weary, we jumped back into things on Monday morning. Rohan went back to "school" and I started a new rotation in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. I am loving being back with kids, and really excited to be in Heme/Onc, should be a great month!

Here are a ton of pictures and videos from our trip.

Rohan & Cameron Dancing The Day Away:








Unkie Nate & Rohan:


Rohan & Cameron Scour The Yard For Easter Eggs:


Rohan Watching The Airplane Taxi: