Well we have survived a whole year in the AZ heat! We moved last year on the 22nd, arriving in AZ on the 23rd and moved when it was 98°F. It was warm, but not like the Midwest 98°F with 80% humidity. Overall we couldn't have picked a more suitable region for Mara to do her rotations in. We have absolutely LOVED the weather here, although we did enjoy the thunder/lightning storms we had in the Midwest. We've taken full advantage of the mountains with hiking, camping, and rock climbing, and the night sky in the desert is spectacular!
This last week we took a trip down to Desert Breeze Park (on the advice of my fellow lab rat, Aprill). This park has EVERYTHING. A train, carousel, lake, huge playground, and our favorite hot weather activity, a splash pad. Rohan was all over the place. We hit the playground's tube slides (which Rohan experienced for the first time) and also the 3-turn tall tornado slide. Rohan got turned around on the tornado slide and rode down upside down and at a snails pace. It was hilarious. He had no idea what to do going down that directions. We wish we had video. Rohan was running all over the place, but kept looking over at the splash pad. It was large, and the kids were going crazy at it. He found a beach ball (that someone must have left there) and tried putting it on the fountains and concrete spray animals. He really wore himself out. We even had some time to share his Cheerios with some very brave, almost aggressive, ducks & birds.
We capped off the day at Sasha's where she made us some traditional Columbian fare. I can't remember any of the names of the food, but one translated to "Sweaty Chicken"...:) Slight language barrier, but it was essentially chicken roasting in it's own juices. We filled up so much we needed a walk too...where else...a FroYo place...:) It was a nice 3 hour walk to walk off all that food!
Sunday we has some seriously high winds (topping 40 MPH). We decided it was a perfect time for Rohan to try out his kite Grandma Bacon got him. Rohan actually really liked holding the kite and was even letting it pull him all over the soccer field we were at. It was pretty cute until he let go and we had to chase the kite down...:)
The weather was gorgeous despite the wind. We even went on a hike afterwards at Piestewa Peak in the Dreamy Draw Recreation Area.
Mara is finishing up her Pediatric Cardiology rotation this week and we are planning a nice camping getaway sans Rohan. Auntie Heather & Unkie John are watching him this weekend, and we can't thank them enough! I'm sure they'll all have stories when we get back.
Enjoy the mulitmedia buffet:
Rohan Goes Down The Tornado Slide:
Feeding The Ducks (Some Birds Were Very Cool To Watch Steal Food)
Fun With A Coke Box (Note The Destroyed Living Room):
Rohan Loved The Farm Animals At Wal-Mart:
Rohan Learns The Art Of The Zerbert:
A View Of The Wind On Our Walk:
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Pretty Low Key Week
This last week was pretty uneventful. Mara has been hitting the books hard in prep for her board exam today (Monday), and taking breaks to run and relax. We did take a break Saturday night and had super with Greg & Nico before they head out to Europe the end of this week. Their trip sounds amazing, and we can't wait to see pictures!
Other than that, we had a pretty low key week. We've been enjoying the awesome weather. It's starting to get to the mid to upper 90°s, and the car thermometer (which is pretty accurate) had 100°F on Sunday in Phoenix. Scottsdale is usually about 5° cooler than downtown since it's slightly higher elevation. The warmth has felt great, and Rohan has spent most of the last week barefoot, playing at the parks and pool. We have been really careful not to let him burn his toes on the hot pavement (or playground equipment), but he seems to be pretty tolerant of the heat. We've had to switch our running times drastically the last few weeks. With it getting so warm (and the intense sunlight) we've been running at night, usually after it dips to below 90°F. Neither Mara or I are morning runners, but with the longer runs we have planned for training, we may have to figure something out so we aren't running until 2am. 20 miles from 10pm-2am at night doesn't sound that appealing. But then again, neither does 20 miles at 4am t0 8am...
Not a lot of pics this week, but we have some video of Rohan's shenanigans...:)
Rohan's TP Skills:
Rohan Horsing Around:
Rohan & Linus Watch The World Pass:
Other than that, we had a pretty low key week. We've been enjoying the awesome weather. It's starting to get to the mid to upper 90°s, and the car thermometer (which is pretty accurate) had 100°F on Sunday in Phoenix. Scottsdale is usually about 5° cooler than downtown since it's slightly higher elevation. The warmth has felt great, and Rohan has spent most of the last week barefoot, playing at the parks and pool. We have been really careful not to let him burn his toes on the hot pavement (or playground equipment), but he seems to be pretty tolerant of the heat. We've had to switch our running times drastically the last few weeks. With it getting so warm (and the intense sunlight) we've been running at night, usually after it dips to below 90°F. Neither Mara or I are morning runners, but with the longer runs we have planned for training, we may have to figure something out so we aren't running until 2am. 20 miles from 10pm-2am at night doesn't sound that appealing. But then again, neither does 20 miles at 4am t0 8am...
Not a lot of pics this week, but we have some video of Rohan's shenanigans...:)
Rohan's TP Skills:
Rohan Horsing Around:
Rohan & Linus Watch The World Pass:
Monday, May 10, 2010
Mother's Day Brewer Weekend
We only had one series where the Brewers came to AZ so we had to take advantage of it! We bought tickets to all 3 games , then realized it was Mother's Day weekend. Turned out to be a great Mother's Day gift! :) We had a night game Friday, with fireworks afterwards. Rohan was off on his nap schedule so he crashed at the end of the game and slept through the fireworks! He was a bit of a handful that first game, but we found areas for him to run around in and work off some restless energy while we were still able to watch the game. The Brewers won that game 3-2.
Saturday was a night game so Mara was able to go and get a ton of studying done in the morning. I took Rohan and the dogs to the dog park to a.) wear Rohan out so he'd nap before the game, and b.) get the dogs some time out their kennnels since we'd be at the games all weekend. Rohan took an awesome nap afterwards, and even took another just before the game. The game itself was awesome. Jody Gerut hit for the cycle, and the Brewers smoked the Diamondbacks 17-3! We capped the night off with a trip to a new frozen yogurt place near our place.
Sunday we got up and went for a 9mi fun run. It's getting a lot warmer here, and it was 80°F at 8am and the sun is starting to slow us down. But we're diligent about drinking water, and hopefully we won't do too many long runs in the sun, rather wait until evening like we did last year. I had to do some aCGH work before the game, then we headed to Chase Field for another Brewer's win and completing the sweep of the D-Backs, winning 6-1. What a great weekend to go to some games!
After the game we swung back to TGEN so I could finish some stuff up, then picked up Pei Wei for supper. We capped the night off with some relaxation and wearing Rohan out a little more. He's been getting up in the night quite a bit so we've started keeping him up a little later and trying to completely exhaust him so he (and us) can get a full night's sleep!
We hope all the Moms had a great Mothers Day! Enjoy the pictures and TONS of videos. We have been watching reruns of The Office online (since we don't have a TV set up) and Rohan has been in love with the opening theme.
Rohan Feeds The Puppies:
Sasha Teaches Rohan The Two Legged Kick:
Rohan Dances To The Office Theme:
Rohan Being A Goofball At The Game:
Saturday was a night game so Mara was able to go and get a ton of studying done in the morning. I took Rohan and the dogs to the dog park to a.) wear Rohan out so he'd nap before the game, and b.) get the dogs some time out their kennnels since we'd be at the games all weekend. Rohan took an awesome nap afterwards, and even took another just before the game. The game itself was awesome. Jody Gerut hit for the cycle, and the Brewers smoked the Diamondbacks 17-3! We capped the night off with a trip to a new frozen yogurt place near our place.
Sunday we got up and went for a 9mi fun run. It's getting a lot warmer here, and it was 80°F at 8am and the sun is starting to slow us down. But we're diligent about drinking water, and hopefully we won't do too many long runs in the sun, rather wait until evening like we did last year. I had to do some aCGH work before the game, then we headed to Chase Field for another Brewer's win and completing the sweep of the D-Backs, winning 6-1. What a great weekend to go to some games!
After the game we swung back to TGEN so I could finish some stuff up, then picked up Pei Wei for supper. We capped the night off with some relaxation and wearing Rohan out a little more. He's been getting up in the night quite a bit so we've started keeping him up a little later and trying to completely exhaust him so he (and us) can get a full night's sleep!
We hope all the Moms had a great Mothers Day! Enjoy the pictures and TONS of videos. We have been watching reruns of The Office online (since we don't have a TV set up) and Rohan has been in love with the opening theme.
Rohan Feeds The Puppies:
Sasha Teaches Rohan The Two Legged Kick:
Rohan Dances To The Office Theme:
Rohan Being A Goofball At The Game:
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!!!
This year for Mother's Day we have a 9 mile fun run scheduled, followed by the last day of our weekend of Brewer Baseball. Mara has a board exam in a few weeks so she'll be studying (as always). Rohan and I hope she enjoyed her massage package (from us and family) as well as her 8x10 collage pictures of Rohan as well as her and Rohan.
Here are some pics of Rohan and his favoritest Mom:
We just wanted to say we hope all the Moms we know are having a great Mother's Day!
Here are some pics of Rohan and his favoritest Mom:
We just wanted to say we hope all the Moms we know are having a great Mother's Day!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Happy 3rd Birthday Snack Cake!!!
Happy Cinco de Mayo 3rd Birthday Jackson!
Rohan (And The Rest Of The AZ Syings) Misses You!!!
Rohan (And The Rest Of The AZ Syings) Misses You!!!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Training For The Next Half Marathon & Other Misc. Stuff
Since our last real post Mara and I haven't been doing too much out of the ordinary, but we've been keeping busy as usual! Mara finished up her rotation in pediatric hematology/oncology with an amazing case (not so good for the patient, but a great learning experience for Mara). Mara starts pediatric cardiology today for the month of May. She's also studying for her second round of boards and testing so it will be a PACKED summer for her.
Rohan has been growing and learning more all the time. With the weather getting a little warmer we've been able to bring him to the splash pads at Desert Ridge Mall. See the videos for the hilarity that ensued...:)
The weekend before last I was invited to climb in Superior, AZ, about an hour outside Phoenix with some friends from AZR. It was a BLAST! The rock faces were about 80-90 feet tall, and even on easy routes I was exhausted from the shear length of the climb! I got so instruction on lead climbing and belaying while I was there so as soon as we get some more gear (and practice) we can go out on our own and climb. Right now we rely on others for ropes & quickdraws, but those we'll add slowly since they can be expensive! The pictures below are from my camera phone which SUCKS in bright light and distances, but I forgot our camera so it's all I got.
After climbing I met Mara & Rohan at Heather & John's. They watched Rohan that day so I could climb and Mara could study. I'm pretty sure they had fun...:) We hit the pool and Rohan also tried out the putting green. He's got the idea, but his putting stroke needs a little work. He did actually hit a 5' putt. It was unintentional, and he was facing the wrong direction, but a putt's a putt!
Other than that we have been getting back into running after our San Diego Half Marathon. We took a week and a half and did some light running to keep fresh, but ran slow and short to let our bodies heal, rest, and recover *cough* Michelle *cough*. :) To keep us on schedule for our full marathon in January, we started training for another made-up half marathon which we'll run in July at night or at a higher elevation! We aren't running 13.1 in the desert heat! This training is a step up from our last one (Intermediate 1 vs. Beginner). After that we start our 28 week marathon training. FUN! I say that humorously, but we are having a lot of fun. We even slowed our pace down a little more; running closer to a 10-minute mile now. We noticed we are not sore at all, even on the long runs, and we are also able to just plain run farther! Overall it will be a great pace for the full, and probably the overall pace the rest of the time we run this summer. I know I'm not out for a race, just a jog...:)
Hope everyone is getting some nice weather! It's been beautiful in AZ, but I know everyone else in the Midwest is getting thunderstorms, and we are jealous of that! We loved to go drive around and watch the lightening. Monsoon season will be here soon enough and hopefully we'll get some lightning shows in the desert.
Everyone seemed to really like the photos of Mara & Rohan from the last few weeks. If anyone wants either a copy of the high resolution photo or a photo itself, just let us know. With prints only 20¢, Rohan wants to buy some for anyone who wants them. Just pick out several you like and let me know which Walgreen's to send them to and we'll order them for you.
Have a great week!
Rohan LOVES The Splash Pad:
Rohan Being A Goofball:
Rohan has been growing and learning more all the time. With the weather getting a little warmer we've been able to bring him to the splash pads at Desert Ridge Mall. See the videos for the hilarity that ensued...:)
The weekend before last I was invited to climb in Superior, AZ, about an hour outside Phoenix with some friends from AZR. It was a BLAST! The rock faces were about 80-90 feet tall, and even on easy routes I was exhausted from the shear length of the climb! I got so instruction on lead climbing and belaying while I was there so as soon as we get some more gear (and practice) we can go out on our own and climb. Right now we rely on others for ropes & quickdraws, but those we'll add slowly since they can be expensive! The pictures below are from my camera phone which SUCKS in bright light and distances, but I forgot our camera so it's all I got.
After climbing I met Mara & Rohan at Heather & John's. They watched Rohan that day so I could climb and Mara could study. I'm pretty sure they had fun...:) We hit the pool and Rohan also tried out the putting green. He's got the idea, but his putting stroke needs a little work. He did actually hit a 5' putt. It was unintentional, and he was facing the wrong direction, but a putt's a putt!
Other than that we have been getting back into running after our San Diego Half Marathon. We took a week and a half and did some light running to keep fresh, but ran slow and short to let our bodies heal, rest, and recover *cough* Michelle *cough*. :) To keep us on schedule for our full marathon in January, we started training for another made-up half marathon which we'll run in July at night or at a higher elevation! We aren't running 13.1 in the desert heat! This training is a step up from our last one (Intermediate 1 vs. Beginner). After that we start our 28 week marathon training. FUN! I say that humorously, but we are having a lot of fun. We even slowed our pace down a little more; running closer to a 10-minute mile now. We noticed we are not sore at all, even on the long runs, and we are also able to just plain run farther! Overall it will be a great pace for the full, and probably the overall pace the rest of the time we run this summer. I know I'm not out for a race, just a jog...:)
Hope everyone is getting some nice weather! It's been beautiful in AZ, but I know everyone else in the Midwest is getting thunderstorms, and we are jealous of that! We loved to go drive around and watch the lightening. Monsoon season will be here soon enough and hopefully we'll get some lightning shows in the desert.
Everyone seemed to really like the photos of Mara & Rohan from the last few weeks. If anyone wants either a copy of the high resolution photo or a photo itself, just let us know. With prints only 20¢, Rohan wants to buy some for anyone who wants them. Just pick out several you like and let me know which Walgreen's to send them to and we'll order them for you.
Have a great week!
Rohan LOVES The Splash Pad:
Rohan Being A Goofball:
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