2012 Year In Reveiw

This is our first real attempt at a Xmas/New Years letter.
This year has gone down as one of our most active & exploratory.  Some of the activities that brought us to new & exciting places are rock climbing, running, camping, hiking, kayaking, biking, star gazing, any other sport you can think of, and even work.  We saw some awesome scenery and areas most people never make it back to, and that makes all the work to get there worth its weight.  We do it for ourselves, but also we do it to show Rohan the awesome world around us.
This year we went all over the Southwestern US with a quick foray into the Pacific Northwest.  Outside Arizona we hiked a couple state parks in Colorado, Canyonlands & Arches NP in Utah, several state parks in Oregon & Washington, camped in Joshua Tree NP and Cuyamaca Rancho SP in California.  Within AZ we explored East Clear Creek Canyon, Fossil Creek, Mount Lemmon and quite a few lakes, rivers, and reservoirs.
A little about the family:

Rohan is a week or so from turning 4 and as energetic as ever.  He had changed everything we knew about the endurance of a kid.  Rohan enjoyed playing TBall and was one of the better players (thanks to his awesome coach!).  He has just started soccer and loves to chase that ball as well.  Rohan has been intensifying his love affair with space shuttles, dinosaurs and Legos...the trifecta of any soon to be 4yr old.
Rohan has weathered 99% of all the adventures we have gone on and loves everything that goes along with exploring the world around us.

Mara is doing great in her 2nd year of her Pediatrics residency at Phoenix Children's Hospital.  She is also showing no signs of slowing down despite being 25 weeks pregnant with twin girls!  She really is a superwoman!  With the twins due in April (but planning for March) she'll have some time off with maternity leave.

Michael is still with Translational Genomics in their Center for Proteomics division.  He had a blast coaching Rohan's TBall team (despite the annoying parents).  Currently training for the Tough Mudder in February.

The Endeavor

We have been on countdown for what seems like forever for this trip.  I think we started the countdown at about 30 days for Rohan, which to an almost-4-year-old had to seem like an eternity.

First we had some stuff to do.  We had Rohan's last TBall game a couple weekends back followed by his party with his team at a friends house.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with the parents outside of TBall, and great to see the kids have so much fun playing anything other than TBall.

We also had Mara's party for PCH which we had our friend Shannon watch Rohan.  She always spoils him rotten when she's here so he's glad to get rid of us for several hours.  We had a lot of fun without Rohan, and even made some time for a quick coffee (just us!) at Matador before heading to the party.  We can back around 10 to Rohan sitting with Shannon on the couch (past his bedtime) watching The Avengers...spoiled...:)

After all that we finally hit the last day before the trip.  Mara worked a Noon to Midnight shift on Monday, so I picked her up at Midnight (after a quick nap) and we headed towards California.  We stopped around 3:30am in Joshua Tree National Park and found our normal spot for camping and slept for 3hrs before heading in the rest of the way.

We hit the California Science Center around opening time and got in line with our free timed ticket to see the space shuttle.  It was insane.  Thousands of kids were busing in from all over.  The shuttle iteself wasn't too crazy, but we see why they needed timed tickets.  Before the shuttle they showed a quick video of the Endeavor being brought through the streets of LA.  Here is a similar time lapse video:

Rohan was so amazed by this video...we watch it at least once a day now...:)
After the video we get full reign of the the shed it's currently in.  I will have to say...for someone who has been waiting ~27 years to see a space shuttle in person...it was beautiful.  Never had I had so much pride looking at a national monument.  I cannot wait until they set it up in it's final position, upright with the booster rockets and fuel tank attached.
We roamed the shuttle for about 45 min before heading to an IMAX movie about Earth.  Rohan liked that a lot too!  We finally grabbed lunch on the gorgeous USC campus and headed back towards the museum.  We had several more hours until it closed so we decided (well...Rohan decided) to see the shuttle again.  It was perfect timing.  It was around 2pm so the schools were all headed back home, and before others got off work to come.  We didn't even need to wait in line for a ticket, they just opened the door.  There was only about 15 people in there, and it was so nice to have it quieter and more open this time around.  We spent almost another 45min there before calling it a day.
We wondered around USC a little more, got some stuff for breakfast in the morning, and ate at the Lab Gastropub...very cool place...:)
The next day we got an early start (after some coffee) and hit the rose gardens on the museum's campus.  Rohan went around smelling tons of roses, and just running around being a kid.  Today we were hitting the Natural History Museum to see their Dinosaur Hall and whatever else they have...turns out A LOT!  Rohan was yelling TRICERATOPS at the top of his lungs when we walked in because they had a T-Rex attacking a Triceriatops in the front rotunda...it was hilarious...:)
We spent A LOT of time at the Dinosaur Hall and also checked out the mammal, gemstone, and evolution exhibits.  All in all and awesome museum!  It was great to see Rohan SO excited about everything.  Every time he saw a dinosaur exhibit or foot print or preserved dung, he would run and get us and tell us we HAD to see it.  We were there for almost 4 hours before grabbing lunch at a great Indian place.  We had some time before we had to head home, and around 2:00 we hit the space shuttle for the 3rd time in less than 2 days.  It was really quiet again, and very nice to see one last time before heading home.
The car ride back was mostly at night, and one nice thing is it was almost the peak of the Geminid meteor shower!  I saw more shooting stars on the way home than I have in the last 5 years...it was a great way to end the trip...:)
Enjoy the pics and hop everyone has a great XMas!

We ended the 3 days off by taking Rohan to a tampoline place called AZ AirTime.  It was a blast!
Double Trust Fall:  

Rohan Jumping:


Mike Jumping:

Full Advantage

Despite Mara's busy schedule, we have been taking FULL advantage of the beautiful weather lately!
Rohan had TBall the weekend before Thanksgiving, but it has been nice to have a break from it for a bit.  After his last game we headed out to the Anthem Community Park because of their amazing park, playground, and Daisy Mountain Railroad.  The day was so perfect, and we even had clouds! (The little things for AZ people...:P)
We also took the opportunity to continue our running and work on Rohan's biking.  Since we live in a fairly quite neighborhood with wide streets and sidewalks, we took Rohan on an 2.5mi bike ride while Mara and I ran next to him.  He did AWESOME!  Later in the week we did a run/bike to Matador to meet Mara while she studied, and also did a 3mi ride where Rohan rode a full mile on a trail!  It was slow going because he wasn't used to the terrain constantly trying to turn his wheel.  The first 100ft he wiped out 5 times, but kept at it, and completed the whole trail.  Very proud of him!
We also met up with Shannon & Angelika at the PHX Mountain Preserve for a sunset hike.  Rohan hiked almost the whole 3.5mi!  The sunset was gorgeous and the colors of the sky looked awesome from within the preserve.
Because we couldn't be with family this Thanksgiving, we decided to have an "Orphan Thanksgiving".  We have lots of friends who also don't have much family here so we did the only think we know how.  We got a 28# turkey and a keg of Four Peaks Kiltlifter...:)  We had about 20 people roll through and had a blast with great food and great beer...:)
The day after, Mara got sent home from the clinic (since it was empty) so we took Rohan to a park to do exactly what he wanted when we asked..."Play baseball, football, and soccer."  We played for almost an hour before we took him to an indoor trampoline place (AZ AirTime) to burn off some energy (this kid has a lot!).  We jumped into a foam pit for 2hrs.  I say "we" because after 2min of watching him jump, I went and got a ticket so I could join in the fun...:)  We had a BLAST...just see the pics...:)  Afterwards we went out for a picnic, and capped a lovely morning.
Saturday, Mara had to work, so I took Rohan and some friends to Groom Creek (near Prescott, AZ) to do some bouldering.  We were there all day, and had so much fun gouging our hands on the sharp granite...:)
We are just taking a nice break on Sunday, adding to our Target & Babies'R'Us wishlists since we keep thinking of more and more things we need for the twins...:)  Mara was 20 weeks on Thanksgiving Day, so we are well over half way now...can't wait to meet them!
Enjoy our pics from the last week or so! :)

Twin Girls!

The other day we had the anatomy ultrasound for the twins.  Everything looks great, and they gave us a disc with tons of pictures and a couple videos of the heartbeats...:)  Enjoy!

Twin A Heartbeat:


Twin B Heartbeat:

More TBall & Biking...Enjoying The Awesome Weather

Catching up on some more weeks...they are just FLYING by!  Mara is done with her long, late, fun PICU rotation so she has some more free time and isn't so exhausted anymore.  She is at 19 weeks this Thursday, and finally starting to show a cute little bump...:)
Last weekend we painted the Twins' room.  It was hard to paint a pink room, but we got through it, and we think it turned out pretty good.

Rohan is finally completely autonomous on his bike.  He can start, stop and steer all by himself, and had been riding up and down our quiet street almost daily.  The other day Mara went to study for boards at Matador bright and early.  Rohan rode his bike all the way there (on the sidewalks) and I jogged next to him.  He was so proud of his achievement too!
Rohan has been doing great at baseball.  He overcame a huge hurdle...letting other kids get the ball.  He was a bit of a ball hog (as all kids are at that age), but he was faster and more aggressive than the other kids, so he would usually end up with the ball.  Now he will let other kids get the ball and cheer them on to get it and throw it.  So fun to watch him evolve!

We also had Halloween and I am just now posting those pics...sorry.  Rohan was really into the season this year, and couldn't wait to go.  He was shy in the beginning, very quiet, but after 20 houses or so, he started getting more and more excited to talk to the strangers and say Trick-or-Treat.

Hope everyone had a great start to November!