2 Week Catchup (WI, Camping, Hiking, Thanksgiving, More Camping, More Hiking, Then More Hiking)

Sorry for the lack of posting, we've been all over the place, and mostly without a PC to type up a blog post.
Last week Mara and Rohan headed back to WI for a residency interview, and while Mara went there, Rohan hung out with the Syring family (since the Bacon's will see him in Germany in <3 weeks!). Aunt Shelly took him to a wildlife sanctuary and then he hung out an played with G&G, Chris, & Jackson. Mara came back after her overnight & interview (which went great!). After more playing they woke up at 4am for Rohan's breathing and took him to the ER. It was most likely croup, so they gave him a steroid (which he reacts really well to). That didn't slow them down though, they hit up a parade where Rohan got so cold his lips were blue and his teeth were chattering. That's an AZ boy for ya...:) They also played at Michelle's friend Lisa's with her kids. They slept well that night! Michelle and Mara also found time to workout a couple times that day too, so they slept just fine also. After breakfast the next day, Mara and Rohan were headed back to warmer climates, but they had a blast. Thanks for all the hospitality from both Syring's and Bacons! While Mara and Rohan were gone, I had the house to my self. I spent most of the time keeping busy with running, climbing, and cleaning (so easy to do without Rohan!). Saturday I meet up with Jeanette and we headed out to Superior, AZ for TufaFest. Tufa is a climbing pro shop in the 4 indoor climbing gyms around Phoenix (it's also a type of rock). Scott, the owner, put on a festival for all the patrons of the gyms. There were probably 100+ people who got their early and climbed. We didn't get there in time to climb, but we got some great chili (and other food), and got an outdoor movie (Reel Rock Tour). One cool thing they did was build a bar that afternoon from scratch. They had tons of spare wood and fence parts. It turned out awesome, and was a blast to watch them work. They named it "Burn Bar", more on that later. After keeping warm by the fire, and meeting tons of new people, we went midnight bouldering at around 1am. We used headlamps and small lanterns donated by Black Diamond. It was a lot of fun, and I even got a couple routes in myself (not too bad for my weak bouldering skills coupled with m the cold!). We came back around 3am and the bar lived up to it's name, and we burned it. We did remove the liquor first though...:) The next day we had planned on climbing and desert yoga, but the wind and rain put a damper on that so we had to call it off...:(
After Mara and Rohan got readjusted to AZ warmth and time, it was just in time for Thanksgiving. We started off the day by hiking up to Tom's Thumb in the McDowell Mountains near our place. It's a great hike, with awesome views, and some climbing areas to check out. Rohan loved the hike, and was out with in 20 min. Linus was, as usual, cactus prone, and within 8 second of being on the trail, we had to pick a large chunk out of his paw. By the time we got to the top he was really chewing at his paw and not using it. Upon further inspection, we found a HUGE ant that he picked up and must have been biting his paw (see pics of the ant below). He was fine after that, besides a few burrs here and there. The views back across the valley were awesome, and we could see all the way to South Mountain, Estrella Mountain and the White Tanks. Now that we know our way around PHX better, it was a lot easier to pick out landmarks.
After the hike we cleaned up and headed to Sasha's for Thanksgiving. We also had an invite from Greg & Nico, but we had already committed to Sasha's. If they were closer we would have hit both for sure! Sasha had about 25 people, and TONS of food. Her family (sans brother) were in from Miami, FL, so it was good to see her Mom again, and finally meet her sister. Rohan loved crawling under the tables and charming everyone he met. Somehow he got a nice red wine stain on his shirt...:)
Friday after Thanksgiving we skipped the Black Friday crap, and headed back out to Superior for an overnight camping trip. I had been out there a couple times to climb and camp, but Mara was always busy or out of town, and she wanted to see the area. The temps were chilly (about 68°F) but also pretty windy. We found a GREAT site with an area we could put the tent to be protected from the wind. The fire-pit, however, was pretty exposed. We decided to hike a little to warm up, and due to lack of trails, we just hiked out into the desert boulder field and went from boulder pile to boulder pile. It was fun climbing on stuff and exploring. Rohan loved the ride too...:) We got back to camp, ate something quick, then headed out on another hike to the rock climbing/bouldering area I had visited last weekend. It was a lot different in the daytime, but glad we could see our way this time without headlamps! We found a couple people bouldering and talked to them a while. Turns out they were at TufaFest as well. They told us of some cool places we'll have to check out when we don't have Rohan & the dogs in tow (and when we get a crash pad!). After the hike Rohan crashed for a while, and we warmed up by the fire, made some coffee and enjoyed the outdoors. Rohan did fine at night, but I think was a little weirded out at first by the darkness and the eerie light cast by the fire. He did fine though and had a blast power lifting logs and drawing in the sand.
After some chilly temps in the morning (low of 33°F, car said 39°F), we headed back home and relaxed a bit. We did have to make our second stop by Triple C Coffee House in Superior. If you get a chance, they make an AWESOME chai, homemade bagles, and the granola is the best I've ever had. They also support the CUE program for kids. I wish they were closer!!! After we got home Mara and Rohan made some xmas cookies for a party Jeanette was throwing. Rohan had a blast decorating, and clearly showed his preference for decorating with his left hand. No one at the party seemed to mind the extra sprinkles...:)
Sunday was pretty low key. Football, running, and crockpot chili pretty much sums it up. We have to start running with gloves and hat now...:( We also took some time to go through all the pics & videos from WI & AZ over the last 2 weeks, so enjoy the bonanza!


What blog post would be complete without a jumping video? A failed jump this time...:


Rohan playing in the desert dirt:


Rohan decorating cookies for Jeanette's party: