July 30th, 2012
Itching to stretch our muscles after all our eastern-ly travels, we wasted no time after arriving home and headed up to Flagstaff this past weekend. Paul is eager to tick some of his long-standing Priest Draw projects and I’ve committed to running the Imogene Pass Run in Colorado this September. So Flagstaff is the place to be. We met up with our friends John and Mandy and their three little ones (I talked Mandy into running Imogene too!…not that she needed any persuading) and had a fabulous time, despite the torrential monsoon downpours!
Ivan, psyched to be out on another big adventure
…but not quite sure which activity to try first: bouldering, trail running or investigating his newly found fingers/hands
Silas’ choice is simple: Diggers. All the time diggers.
…or picking flowers for mama again
Ivan enjoying the bouldering
Silas too
And let’s not forget mama
Now dad’s turn
Paul working out the moves on BK Broiler, v10
More BK Broiler
Construction / snack zone
Tree hugger
My Morgie
Paul on Lolita, v10
More Lolita
Attack of the Silas! (Silas loves to jump on dad after dad falls off the boulder)
Don’t throw rocks please
Away from the pads while dad is climbing please
Me and my boys
“Baby Ivan sooo cute”
Are these what I think they are?
Yes! The fingers I’ve been drooling over all day!
Hey, mama’s sending! Doesn’t anyone care?
Silas with his new friend Mia and her ponies
posted by arr
February 12th, 2012
This year at Hueco is a 180 from last year. Last year’s scene: Paul or April is climbing (with no spot and strategically placed pads) while the other shuffles around, hunchbacked, holding Silas’ little hands, helping him balance and negotiate Hueco’s uneven (and sometimes deadly!) terrain. It was exhausting to say the least, but thanks to Hueco being…well…HUECO, we persisted in our trips there anyway and sucked it up.
This year’s scene: Sturdy Silas not only can fend for himself on the uneven terrain, but he climbs, eats his snacks on his own, plays quietly with his diggers, dinosaurs and trusty screwdriver while we climb (and spot one another or move pads), and listens when mama and dad say “Get out of that cactus patch!” or “Don’t put rocks in the spider’s house or he won’t be able to climb out!” or (the most common) “Off the pads please while dad is climbing” – for some reason every time dad chalks up to pull on the boulder is the time Silas thinks dad needs a hug.
This Hueco season is absolute bliss for us and our little guy. He loves being out at the rocks and so do we. And him yelling “HUECO!” from the backseat with legs bouncing and arms in a triumphant Rocky pose makes Paul and I beam with happiness. Maybe we’re just lucky. Or maybe all that hunchbacked suffering, er, shuffling, paid off. 🙂
Silas with his big boy water bottle. Conveniently, his sippy nalgene got lost in a Hueco windstorm in November. Maybe it’ll end up an artifact someday.
Diggers. Yeah.
Paul on Rogered in the Shower, v10/11
More of Paul on Rogered
A poor spider’s home
Our little Hueco lover
posted by arr
December 2nd, 2011
Another outing over the weekend – this time a little bouldering on The Matterhorn.
The Matterhorn Boulder
Dried boogers, dried drool and a granola bar
Baby under the boulder
and on the pads – of course his favorite play area
Paul giving Jewel Thief, v10 a try
Setting up for the crux
Going big
Going down
And going home. After about a dozen falls from the top, it’s cold and getting dark. Pauls wants to try again this weekend but we might get shut down due to SNOW!!!! 😀
posted by arr
November 9th, 2011
Sorry for the lack of posts. I will catch you all up very soon with lots and lots of cute Silas photos- I promise! In the meantime, here are some quick pics from last weekend’s trip to Hueco. I couldn’t bear to keep the red puffy pic all to myself. 🙂
THE new red puffy pic
Paul bagging a repeat of Predator, v10 after his 4 months off rest period. Grrr – can this please happen to me?
Snack with Mama
Back to exploring
Dino climbs too
Silas’ secret passage
See Spot Run, v6
The gymnasium
Paul working out the enduro traverse Burn Baby Burn, v8
Car + scewdriver + dirt = awesome
my baby
posted by arr
September 5th, 2011
A Mt. Lemmon hike sidetracked with a little baby bouldering. I promise this is not staged:
posted by arr
July 10th, 2011
Since our last post we’ve been heading up to Flagstaff every chance we get. The monsoons are here now though and Mt. Lemmon has opened back up as of this weekend (hooray!). Chances are however, we’ll continue the trips north. Once we have the Flag itch we just can’t stop. 🙂 Even the baby is addicted…as you can see:
Checking out the holds on Super Roof, v4
Super Roof, v4
Hanging out up on Mt. Humphrey’s waiting for dad to finish his run
Breakfast at the campsite
Walking miles and miles following Silas
Silas telling his friend how to say “Rock!”
Off to the next climbing spot
Man’s best friend
Another friendly dog
Kids turn to climb
Typical Silas on the drive back home: zonked.
posted by arr
June 12th, 2011
The Coronado National Forest is in lockdown. No camping, no picnicking, no hiking, no climbing, no trail running, no nothing. Do not enter. The Coronado National Forest encompasses all mountains surrounding Tucson. This means no Catalinas (i.e. Mount Lemmon), no Rincons, no Santa Ritas, no Chiricahuas, nada. Seriously. Due to the extremely dry conditions (and no doubt the fact that the country’s firefighters are all busy fighting other AZ fires), we can’t risk a spark. The mountains are closed until further notice. Read: Rain. And the monsoon season is at least a month out.
We’ve been turned away from the cool forests during the hot summer before – Flagstaff has closed the Coconino Forest in the past (i.e. no Priest Draw), but never on our home turf. And now hanging around the house on this lazy Sunday with the temps cookin’ outside Paul and I are at a loss of what to do to. It just so happens Paul decided to sign up to run Colorado’s Imogene Pass Run this fall to enforce a serious rest from climbing to heal up his elbow tendonitis. Not good. If one can’t get on the trails and run up the mountains, how exactly does one properly train for a 17 mile race that runs from Ouray to Telluride up and over a 13,000+ foot pass? Dunno.
With each southwest summer and the smothering 100+ degree temps it brings, I like to try to compare it to the coldest of cold winters in the Northeast. Only the tough will survive. Only the hardcore will dare go out it in. Only the crazy will actually ..gasp.. enjoy it. So I remind myself of this as I put Silas down for his afternoon nap and glance at the thermostat that reads 102 degrees, and then proceed to go outside into the oven to campus. Tough, yeah. Hardcore, yeah. Crazy, yeah. My mantra has never been so necessary as it is now. What other option do I have? How else can I train? Dunno.
The one thing we do know is that they haven’t closed the Flagstaff forests. No yet anyway. So probably like all other Tucsonians that need to escape the heat we’ll be heading back up there very soon. Here are some photos from last weekend’s trip:
Silas giving his go on a variation of Bat Roof, v3
Contemplating the day’s climbing
Awaiting his power breakfast – hurry it up, Dad, I’m ready to go climbing
Warming up
The usual cuteness
More climbing
Are we heading to the rocks soon?
The drool kiss. I love it.
Finally! We’re at the rocks. Now get climbing mama!
Singing itsy btsy spider on top of his trusty friend
Mama being all spider-like on Meateater, v7
Meateater, v7
posted by arr
May 31st, 2011
Woody needs a facelift. Time for a re-set.
posted by arr
