The Most Funnest 4-Day Holiday Weekend

You know that feeling where work is actually a break from your normal, exhausting life? Well...that is what most of our work weeks feel like, and this one is no different! We started Thursday when I got off a little early and we had a lot of time before we had to pick Rohan up from daycare so we decided to bike there to pick him up. Mara looked up a route and it turns out that there is some GREAT bike trails that cover 99% of the 6.2mi from our house to his daycare...yes, coincidentally it's a 10K...:) The bike trail took us past some parks we surely need to check out (especially when Chris & Shell come in December!), and also took us over several pedestrian bridges which Rohan would LOVE on the way back. About half way we realized I had run over a nail at some point and was leaking air slowly. We stopped a couple times and filled the tire up (luckily we always bring a pump!), but didn't take the nail out for fear of a full on flat tire. We picked up Rohan and he was SUPER excited to get picked up with the bike stroller; he talked about it the rest of the weekend. A mile from daycare my tire lost air really quickly. We decided to pull the nail out and hope the tire slime would plug the hole, and luckily it did! If you are unfamiliar with tire slime, we are huge proponents of it's use, especially with all the thorny trees and shrubs around AZ! All in all we ended up going about 13mi, with some exploring we did, and Rohan had a blast travelling in style. My legs were a little sore with pulling his chariot, with a low pressure tire (more drag), and to cap it off a swirling wind which felt like it was uphill both ways...:) Friday, Veteran's Day, I had to run into work quick, but afterwards Mara and I got in some climbing at AZR, which we usually never get to do by ourselves. Afterwards we picked up Rohan and headed to Lee Lee's Oriental Market in Glendale. It's a drive for us, but always worth the trip. This time we were on a mission to experiment with Thai food, which we have been eating out quite a bit, but really haven't been able to find all the right ingredients at the local chain supermarkets. We found all we were looking for, and even stuff we weren't! :) We ended up making an AWESOME Tofu Panang with rice noodles and Tom Ka Ga soup. We might have to stock up on Thai ingredients! We capped the night off with a good long walk with Rohan and the dogs. We came to a small community park around 10pm, and let the dogs run around. Rohan was still a little antsy and asked to get out. He preceeded to run for about 30min, non-stop, at full speed, and even a little faster! We must not have wore him out that day, but he definitely showed us how much energy he had! Saturday was a pretty awesome day as well, and the best/busiest day of the holiday weekend. We got up early and made some waffles and turkey bacon (the key is to microwave it!). After a filling breakfast we hit up the Gateway Trailhead in the McDowell mountains. We LOVE the trails out of this trailhead, but haven't been there since we moved. Rohan hiked about 1/3 of a mile before we put him in the backpack and headed up to Bell Pass. It's a trail we hadn't been on before, and gave us an elevation gain of over 1500ft! Rohan was asking all sorts of questions about what rocks, trees and plants were so that was pretty fun. We even got to see our first tarantula...lots of pictures...:) When we got to the top of Bell Pass we had an awesome view. To the SW we had the views we usually see from the McDowell's, but since Bell Pass is a saddle, we had an awesome view to the NE of the Mazatzal Mountains and Four Peaks range...very cool. We had a nice picnic lunch at the pass, then headed back down the mountain. After we picked up some fruit to get back some of that energy we just burned we headed WAY South to a petty zoo, called Marley Farms. It was one of those areas where you take as far South as it goes and ends...and there's the farm. Rohan was geeked up by the horses they had near the ticket booth before we even parked, so we knew this was going to be a good trip. The ticket booth person told us of a couple unique animals they had there too...we'll get to them. We started off by feeding the goats, which Rohan liked a lot now that he's about their size. There was one in particular that kept hanging around Rohan and us. After the goats we saw some llamas, kangaroos, a duck, a peacock, chickens, roosters, turtles and cows. The we saw the Zonkey...Donkey Mom/Zebra Dad...called Ms. Pippy...as in Pippy Longstockings due to her zebra stripped legs...pretty cute. Rohan liked feeding her, and never shied away from feeding any of the animals. The big test was when we met James the Camel. He was massive, probably about 7ft tall, and very friendly. Rohan leaned back at first, then smiled and held his hand out to touch him. After the camel we fed some horses and a deer followed by another trip in to the goat pen to pet them some more and say goodbye to Rohan's goat buddy. After driving back to civilization, we picked up some well deserved kabobs and steak and beer and headed to our friend Kim's house. We spent the rest of the night grilling out, watching climbing/skiing/Epic Mealtime videos, and of course, several rounds of the Mike Tyson Quotes song...:) Sunday was our "slowest day" which we spent climbing for a couple hours, eating Thai leftovers, and switching Rohan's room with the guest bedroom. Rohan showed us he needed to burn more energy off by taking his bike around our block, which we do often, but then Mara and I each took turns running around the block again, with very little rest...this kid had some endurance!!! We are so happy our bed is so comfortable...:) Hope everyone else had a great weekend, and remembered to thank a veteran, not just on Veteran's Day, but everyday we enjoy our freedom. Halfway up Bell Pass Trail: