apAdventures

posted by arr

…up on Mount Lemmon a few weekends ago.

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Beautiful skies we’ve been having lately. The monsoon season is near it’s end.

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The boys pick an armenian cucumber and dad makes gazpacho for dinner!

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Last weekend we did another mini-roadtrip. Destination: Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Adventurers: Auntie Ann, Auntie Jude, Paul, Silas, Ivan and me. Temperature: HOT. Overall experience: AWESOME.

We had been talking about doing a trip to Chaco since pre-Ivan, having spawned the idea on a trip to the Hopi Mesas with Jude and Ann 3 years ago. And now finally here we were, out in the middle of nowhere (and I mean NOWHERE!), gawking at the densest concentration of ancient pueblos in the American Southwest nestled in a breathtaking natural landscape. This was a first-time visit for Paul and I and we were completely blown away to say the least.

First off, the remoteness of Chaco had us hooked immediately. Chaco is not a place you see a sign for on the side of the road and decide to take a short detour from the highway to go check out in an afternoon. It’s not ‘on-the-way’ to anything. The canyon is accessible only by long and desolate washboard dirt roads…no matter which direction you choose to come from. And once you’re “there” the only establishments are a small campground and even smaller visitor center. It’s mind-blowing to imagine such a lonely, quiet, remote place once being a cultural hub of ancestral Puebloan peoples.

Then of course are the ruins. The engineering precision and complexity in which these structures were built is truly impressive, even to a 4 year old. The night sky was just as impressive. It was so perfectly clear and dense with stars there was almost no blackness between them and the Milky Way looked like a cloud. Add to that some incredible petroglyphs and really sweet-looking boulders and cliffs and this family’s socks were blown right off….if we had been wearing socks, that is….which we weren’t because it was scorching hot.

We had planned to stay four days and three nights. We ended up only staying three days though on account of the steadily increasing heat. It wasn’t so bad the first two days thanks to the lovely monsoon cloudy skies. But then the clouds disappeared and the mercury rose and we had to bail.

Heat or no heat, the trip was outstanding and Chaco Canyon is a wild place. And we’re clearly not the only ones who think so. Despite the high temps the campground was booked on Friday night! Going back is a absolute must for us.

Approaching Chaco Canyon from the south

Tired travelers

Setting up camp. Tip for future visitors: Site 40 has morning AND evening shade thanks to these boulders.

Good morning Chaco

Yes, that’s a petroglyph on the rock RIGHT THERE in our campsite!!!

Aunt Jude and Silas approaching Pueblo Bonito

Pueblo Bonito, the largest pueblo. This photo doesn’t do it justice. Unless you’re up on top of the mesa, you can’t really get a photo of the entire thing

And you can explore inside of it! I still haven’t decided for myself whether I think this is a good thing or not.

Silas, an expert identifier of grinding holes thanks to Hueco Tanks, points one out to us

A bit more of Pueblo Bonito from a higher vantage point

Our Junior Rangers in-training, headed to Una Vida pueblo and petroglyphs

Fajada Butte

Petroglyphs on the scooped rock overhead

I don’t believe I’ve ever in my entire life seen so many stars

Another breakfast in the shade at camp

Silas and Ivan with their hardcore adventure Aunties, Ann and Jude

Hiking to Kin Kletso

Kin Kletso

Ahhh, shade

Kin Kletso from part-way up the mesa. There is a really fun “trail” that takes you up a slot in the wall to get to the top of the mesa. It’s the same slot used by the ancients long ago – there’s rock art and grinding holes all the way up

On top of the mesa. Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo below

Thank you Aunt Jude and Ann for this awesome adventure!

posted by arr

We got an invitation from our good friends Jenna and Katie to join them and their son Sage in LA for the weekend. Sage was headed to Australia for a fancy VIP basketball camp (cause he’s THAT good!) and departing out of LAX. An 8 hour drive is not *that* unreasonable, so we went for it. Also, having not taken Ivan to see an ocean yet we figured this would be the perfect chance. AND it was summer so the kids could not only see the ocean, but play in it too!

The good news is that we had a lovely time chillin’ with Jenna, Katie and Sage, the kids went wild over the ocean, and it was really fun to do a non-climbing/camping trip for a change. The bad news is that we all got sunburned, on the way home our car AC wasn’t working, and we got caught in a dust storm so bad we had to motel it and finish the drive Monday morning.

It was still a good trip though. 🙂

Ivan’s first trip to the ocean and lovin’ it

Silas was our little fish, coming back on shore only to recruit another one of us to take him back out in the waves

Their excitement could hardly be contained

The star basketball player Sage and Ivan and Silas with a few feet to grow

Dig baby dig

Silas ran at least 50 times back and forth to the ocean trying to fill Ivan’s hole with water

What to do with a giant hole you’ve dug in the sand? Lay down in it of course!

Happy baby at its purest

I personally had never considered rolling around in scratchy grainy sand to be fun. Snow? Absolutely. Leaves? Sure. Soft green grass? You bet. But sand? That’s our Ivan for ya.

Venice Beach, California

The hot ride home

Sightseeing pitstop in Yuma

And a wonderfully desolate stretch of I-8

posted by arr

No need for a narrative on this subject. The pics say it all:

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I’m sure most parents would agree that when all is quiet, the kids are up to no good. My kids are certainly no exception to this rule. Yesterday however the planets must have aligned and I got my exception. Silas and Ivan spent an entire THIRTY minutes on the couch, watching tv, just like this:

posted by arr

Wow, I’m really slacking with the webposts! We’re in a bit of a slump around here I suppose. Perhaps it’s the heat, or Paul’s slow yet steady finger recovery (he did ended up getting surgery and it went well – I’ll leave all the details for him to summarize some other time), or the fact that we’ve decided to stay local this summer versus our usual Flagstaff weekend climbing trips and roadtrip back east, or maybe it’s our embarkment upon these home improvement projects. Whatever it is, it has me unmotivated to write. It’s not like we haven’t been doing anything. We’ve just been doing different stuff…Tucson stuff…the kind of stuff I’ve always imagined most people doing that aren’t busy spending their weekends hangin’ around a bunch of rocks.

The garden:
We’ve been spending all kinds of time in our garden. Harvesting, planting, harvesting, snacking, harvesting, weeding, keeping the compost moist and turned, staking tomatoes, squash, tomatillos, peppers, yelling at the gophers that keep eating all the wildflowers that we had growing on the outer perimeter and stuffing rocks in their holes to make them mad, watering, watering each other, and harvesting some more. Our garden is AWESOME. I am amazed at how much food we’re getting out of it and absolutely loving the year-round growing season we have here in Arizona. We put it in last Sept and have already had 3 plantings!…with another around the corner with the monsoons that are about to start up. The kids are so into it too. Every time we need to leave the house, Silas says “Mama, before we get in the van, let’s go take a peek at the garden!”….lowering his voice with a mischievous excitement. We go over to it and just stand there and admire it. It’s quite funny actually, if anyone were to see us doing it. We have a true love for the thing.

Home improvements:
Back in April we got a heater/air-conditioner installed and as of this month we flicked it on and started using it. What a treat! Before that we had some plumbing fixed in the guest house. Now our guests can use the shower…another treat! Next on the list is electrical work. We’re getting rid of all the old wiring and adding/moving plugs, light fixtures, switches, etc. We’ve finished our bedroom, the kid’s room and 2 walls in the living room. Paul’s finger surgery slowed us down a tad but we’ll be back in action on it come this weekend. The home improvement list is long so I’m not even going to get into what the next project will be once the electrical is complete. We may just call it done and go climbing!

City life:
We’ve been exploring downtown Tucson a lot this summer. The kids and I got a membership to the Children’s Museum and have already spent a nice handful of days there. We’re regulars now (and members!) of our local food coop, The Food Conspiracy. We’re still familiar faces at the Tucson CSA…I think they all secretly get a kick out of watching my children run around like wild banshies. And we’ve even taken the kids and braved some not-as-kid-friendly new restaurants downtown with small tables, no high chairs, fancy cocktails and delicate centerpieces that beg to be grabbed by small hands. At our last dining experience Paul and I finally toasted to our long-awaited return to the relaxed restaurant scene, where we were actually able to be holding a real-life adult conversation as our children entertained themselves. We thought the day would never come. 😉

The big-boy transition:
This summer we hope to accomplish 3 major milestones with Ivan, similar to what we did with Silas right before Ivan was born. #1, say bye-bye to the crib. #2, say bye-bye to the pacifier. #3, say bye-bye to the diapers. Two weeks ago we got rid of the crib. We also got rid of Silas’ toddler bed and put bunkbeds up in their room. HUGE success cause well, bunkbeds are just cool like that. Incredibly, Ivan stays put. If he does climb out it’s only 3-4 times right after we say goodnight. The best part is every morning when he comes out of the room with the biggest proudest smile on his face…as if to say, look at me! I’m such a big boy I can just wake up and climb out of bed and say good morning ALL BY MY SELF! So cute. Last week we got rid of Ivan’s pacifier, “the binkie.” This one pretty much happened on it’s own. We lost it AND the back-up bink. Surprisingly, Ivan went right to sleep without it. So when I found them both a couple days later I kept the news to myself and quietly put them in the trash. Victory on #2. So now we’re faced with the big #3. Silas was just waaaay too easily potty-trained. What are the chances that Ivan could also be easy? Slim to none I’m thinkin.’

And finally, home life:
During the week while Paul is at work, if the kids and I are not attending one of the countless children’s summer events going on around us (storytimes, craft hours, gymnastics, gym-climbing outings, harmonica lessons, museum activities…you get the picture.) you can pretty much count on finding us either in the pool or hunkered down in the coolness of our air-conditioned adobe. Both boys absolutely adore their books and we spend many hours reading. Silas is really into doing craft projects (my patience wears thin very quickly with this though because Ivan is bent on destroying, not creating. I’m working on it!). The legos are getting plenty of love (when they’re not being fought over). Ivan is a certified kitchen-helper, whether you want him there or not. And finally, we have a delightful variety of make-believe animal friends that live with us, or visit us, or call us on our cell phones…or when our cell phones are dead and need charged, send us smoke signals….except when the friends are on the other side of the earth because they migrated there to get away from the heat of Hueco Tanks…and they’re too far for smoke signals…and then it’s my job to figure out how we can communicate with them because mama bird just had a new baby bird and we need to know if they’re doing ok!!! Indeed, the home life can be pretty exciting too. 🙂

Garden life. I can’t go out and pick anything without Ivan at my heals

Biggie ONIONS!

Beautiful kohlrabi

Compost love

The garden has become a sort of sanctuary for me – it can cheer or calm any nutty of a day

Finally! The garlic is ready for harvest! Now where in the heck can I find a cool dark place to hang it to dry around here?! This is the desert!

Go ahead, stand there and admire me

Check out our basil!

The start of our summer home improvements – a big crane in the driveway

New heater/AC unit. The kids were speechless

Wonder where this old wiring goes? Into the chimney of course! As our plumber always says, the cowboys that built this place were good at hustlin’ cattle, not running plumbing or electrical

A trip down to The Children’s Museum

This place rocks. Enough said

On one of our adventurous adult-restaurant nights, the kids were so well behaved that we decided to take it up a notch and go mini golfing with them afterwards…WELL past bedtime. Oh..my..word..this was a blast. Pre-kids I remember going mini golfing and looking on with dread at all the parents with their children running wild, swinging clubs, throwing balls and not at all actually trying to get the ball in the hole. Well, we were those parents now and it was honestly, no-kidding, the most fun I’ve ever had playing mini-golf. Silas was actually very interested in getting the ball in the hole using any tactic possible including hitting our’s out of the way, and Ivan just ran around with a golf ball in one hand and a club in the other just lovin’ life with a big ‘ol smile on his face. I actually found myself now looking on at young couples without kids, stopping at those little mini-tables to fill out their scorecards and thinking to myself, man…I remember those days. BORING.

A trip to our local fire station. Wow, if I knew we’d get this kind of special treatment I would have knocked on their door a long time ago!

Craft hour at Agua Caliente Park…aka “the duck park” according to Silas. This day we learned about desert food chains!!!

One last hurrah for the crib

Sound asleep in his new big-boy bunkbed

Binki free!

A secret craft project for mama’s day

Silas, Dad and Ivan put it in their bedroom to dry. I was clearly not allowed to enter

Silas, pooh and black bear having a tea party. I like how he made booster seats for them with books and a hardhat

Ivan crashes during storytime with Dad. Silas is giving him “pets”

Summer fun is better with a buddy

posted by arr

Ivan has always been the little entertainer in our family. Yes, he’ll dance for us, or “show off” with a silly stunt, but his real talent lies in his facial expressions. This boy has an expression for every single thought in that smart little head of his, I swear. He’s taken his lack of understandable vocabulary and turned it into a theatrical performance that any pantomime would be jealous of. And it’s not just us that notices. He’s very good at making strangers smile, or even sometimes laugh. He knows when to turn-it-on for an adult, or especially his mama…who can’t help but giggle at “the look,” regardless of circumstance. He’s quite the character, as many like to say. And now he’s 2 years old! Here are a few birthday photos that capture just a few of the many many faces of Ivan. Enjoy.

You’ve got my attention even though I’d rather turn back around and keep playing in the pool

I’m not in the mood to smile for the camera so I’ll give you this face to work with instead

Alright, you’re not getting the hint that I don’t want to smile. Now you get “the look.”

Yes, I’m excited to get into the pool already. Stop bothering me.

Fine, take a photo of this.

I’m tired now from the pool photo-shoot.

Blue sandals! Just what I always wanted.

I’m tough, grown-up…and ready to fight a fire.

but now I need help putting my helmet back on

Why is he touching my stuff?

A cake topped with bananas?!!! This is the best day of my life!

Happy Birthday Ivan!

posted by arr