Awesome 3-Day Weekend!

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!:


Rohan learning to jump off the furniture:


Rohan enjoys the bumpy ride back to Jacks Canyon:


Mike climbing and repelling a 5.10:



Mara climbing a 5.10: