The Syring Family Blog: "I'm So Happy"

I’ll get to the week synopsis in a minute, but first my favorite thing from the last week (other than having the Stokes’ here) was Rohan’s off the cuff comment. While we were standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon he looks over at Mara and said “I’m so happy” with a giant smile and then hugged us both. Seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen.
This last week started off with a couple of days of work for Mara and I, then the Stokes’ landed and the non-stop party between Rohan and Jackson erupted. We meet back at our house and Rohan and Jackson were instant friends, sharing a hug, then Rohan showed Jackson his toys and they were off playing. We gave Chris & Michelle a tour of the house, went and got our rental van, then caught up on a walk around our neighborhood. It was great to have them here.
We set out for the Grand Canyon pretty early, and the 5hr drive felt like less than an hour with all the talking and joking around. The canyon was spectacular, and even the boys seemed amazed by it…its hard not to be. We stopped along several overlooks over the next couple of hours before heading to our hotel (only about 5mi South of the canyon). We checked in and had an awesome hour long impromptu pillow fight with the boys (and girls). Afterwards we hit the pool so the boys could swim off some energy. Jackson is awesome in the water, and really made Rohan want to swim more. They shared a swim cube life vest (have to get one of those!) and did a ton of laughing and splashing.
After the pool we hit up the canyon again to see it at dusk, and even caught a few pictures of the stars. I wish we had stayed longer to take more, but I am not real quick with all the camera settings yet, so it takes a while and the boys were getting hungry! The boys played a little more after supper and then everyone crashed.
We got up early enough that we got to the canyon around sunrise, and that was gorgeous! The winter sun is a little off the canyon, but sent some beautiful shadows across the canyon walls. I found a cool pillar to climb out on to. It took a little bit of climbing/scurrying around some boulders, but the view was fantastic. I felt isolated. On our way out of the park we saw some huge elk and tried to snap a couple of picture of them from the van…still not sure if we have some good ones or not…:)
We swung by Flagstaff on the way back and hit up a couple of parks for the boys to get out. One was crazy windy, but one was well sheltered. We also stopped by a train café that Chris & Michelle had been to before (a couple years ago). That really kept the boys’ interest! After we returned the van the boys helped Mara and Michelle make cookies for Santa and the reindeer, with me taste testing to ensure quality, then we went for another walk around our neighborhood to see all the Xmas lights. Since it was Xmas eve, the boys were chatting about Santa and we looked him up on the NORAD Santa tracking site when we got back.
After they went to bed, Santa came and went just like that…:) To kick off Xmas right, Michelle was the driving force at getting us up at 4am for a 7.1mi run. We were all decked out in our running gloves/hats/headlamps and sleeves. Considering it was 34°F, about 10°F warmer than WI, we all stayed warm, and it was really fun to start the Xmas day like that. We got home and showered then woke up Rohan & Jackson. The boys were CRAZY excited to see what Santa had brought. After getting everyone toileted and woken up, we headed downstairs for the insanity. Jackson gave Rohan some tips to open presents and they were both tearing them apart in no time. It was fairly subdued, but we had to referee to keep them from opening everyone’s presents. Rohan says THANK YOU for all of the awesome gifts!
After the gifts were done and everyone had some breakfast we hit up Granada Park near Piestewa Peak and fed some ducks/geese, played on the playground, and then played soccer & football before climbing some trees and heading back home for lunch/naps. After that we all watched the Packers win over the Bears (my parent s had tickets to that game too!). It was a really great/fun day.
The day after Xmas, we all walked to our favorite coffee shop, Matador, and relaxed a bit. After caffeinating ourselves we headed to the McDowell Mountains and went on a 3+mi trail run. The boys played in the rocks near one of the trailheads and Mara and I took turns with Chris & Michelle running up and down some loop trials. It felt awesome! The sun was shining and no breeze, plus awesome views and 60°F is hard to beat! We grabbed a quick picnic salad lunch from Trader Joe's and ate near a playground at the Scottsdale Sports Complex near where we used to live. To completely wear the boys out we headed to AZR and got everyone climbing! Michelle liked it just as much as she did last time she was here, and Chris did awesome for his first time as well, even trying some of the harder routes and shredding some skin off his fingers…:) Rohan and Jackson played great. Jackson got pretty high up one route, and Rohan got higher than he has ever gotten before (on his own or otherwise!). They mostly played on some bouldering routes that Rohan likes to climb. Jackson did get to the top of that one, and even jumped to the mats below…pretty impressive…:) We capped off the day with some shopping (where Shell got some awesome running gloves for her winter running…:P), and of course a trip to REI. After we chilled out at home we relaxed and had some wine and cheese and chatted some more since the Stokes’ had to leave the next day…:(
What better way to kick off the last day of AZ weather than with another early morning run…this time at 6am. Mara and Michelle had gotten up, but I was boycotting in favor of my warm bed. After hearing them getting ready I was regretting my decision and decided to join them. As always, I was glad I did. The run felt great, and a great way to stretch our legs after the trail runs the day before. We grabbed a bite to eat with the boys, then headed back to the duck park to feed them more before heading to the airport. Rohan was sad, but gave everyone a big hug and waved goodbye. Later that day he wanted to go see Jackson at the airport (I think he thinks they live there). They had a blast together, and we can’t wait to get them together again!
Thanks again Chris & Michelle & Jackson for making it an awesome Xmas!!! Enjoyt the pics and vids...there's a TON!

Put the Panoramas in a separate slideshow. Doesn't do it justice, but the views were AMAZING!