apAdventures

posted by arr

The last week and a half has been nothing but playmates galore for Silas and Ivan. First they got an invite to a 3 year old’s birthday party. Not only were there plenty of other kids in attendance, but the party was held at My Gym, which is basically a giant romper room. Whoa. Next we hosted a Halloween Party with local friends and their kids, complete with costumes, backyard “trick-or-treating”, homemade popcorn balls and pretzel ghosts. Ooooo. And then last weekend we linked up at Hueco with a couple we had met in South Africa who now live in the states and have two kids of their own, as well as friends of their’s with yet another kid. Oh my.

Silas has so many little friends now I wonder if he can keep them all straight. Who am I kidding, of course he can. And I know Ivan loves them all by the permanent smile on his face as he runs around squealing.

Gotta love the little people.

Silas showing off his gymnastics skills at the birthday party

Ivan making a new friend

Prepping for Halloween. Silas’ toothy-grin pumpkin on the left. Ivan’s “excited Ivan face” pumpkin on the right

The ghost pretzels for the party

And this year’s Halloween costumes! Silas wanted to be a yellow jet. A jet that can put his wings out, or tuck them in for a landing. A yellow one with blue stripes. And a propeller. And Ivan had to be one too, only blue (This is all according to Silas of course. Poor Ivan didn’t get a choice. Although I don’t think he minded much. 😉

Wings out and ready for takeoff (Silas’ pointy fingers are his lights. The lights always come on when the wings are out. Even during storytime at the Library when he’s not wearing his costume).

Party time

I was a cooking witch this Halloween, not a flying witch. Hence the apron versus a cape.

On to Hueco. An East Mountain Tour, 5 kids and 6 adults. At least we weren’t outnumbered!

Silas must have taught his new buddies how to fly

And with all these climbing kids come climbing mama’s and dad’s. Strong mama’s at that! Magdel battling the first move of Better Eat Your Wheaties, v8

Linda sending Squeeze Me Tender, v3

Paul and Greg spotting Lee on the upper section of Chutes and Ladders, v9/10

The dads looking all suave

The “excited Ivan face”

And a happy Silas

posted by arr

…see you at Hueco!

My latest obsession (among many), Bush League v8

Still waiting for that first hold on Better Eat Your Wheaties v8 to magically migrate closer to my right hand

In it for the long haul. Downtime under The Bloody Flapper Traverse v9 again this season

Quite possibly Silas’ favorite place to sleep in the whole wide world: the van

And his favorite place to play: the rocks

He’s sturdy, he’s independent, and most importantly….he doesn’t eat dirt anymore. This season is gonna be a breeze compared to last!

posted by arr

We had a party yesterday. A BIG party for a BIG boy. (Well, not really. It was just the 4 of us but we partied big anyway). Silas is now 4 years old and as with any birthday, I’m both happy and sad that he’s growing up so fast. I told him on the eve of his birthday that I didn’t want him to grow up. That I wanted to keep him small. Maybe even small enough to put him in my pocket so I could keep him all to myself, safe and sound. He replied very matter-of-factly with “Mama. (humph). I’m not a pocket mouse! I’m a boy.”

Score with the birthday booty

Party time!

A pleased dad

A curious brother (being kept at bay from his brother’s gift-opening with food and a high chair restraint)

New placemat! Oooo, aaaahhhh

Going wild over the big gift – Tidmouth Sheds for his Thomas the Train set

Tidmouth Sheds in action

Maaamaaaaa, when is it time for the owl cake?

“Happy Birthday to you…”

More ooooo’s and aaaahhh’s

Making his wish

Happy Birthday my sweet boy

posted by arr

We planted a garden! Somewhat on a whim last Friday night Paul and I made up our minds to finally commit to an idea we’ve been tossing around for most of this year – a garden, a REAL garden with tasty yummies like carrots and kale and peas and lima beans and beets. Silas’ and my experimental herb garden this spring was a huge success…all except for the cilantro. We live in the southwest and the cilantro withers up on us?! Go figure. Anyway, aside from the cilantro we were quite pleased with the bitty thing and were anxious to go big. So go big we did and as of last night we have six 3’x3′ plots, planted, mulched and irrigated with bunny fence, gate, and even two compost pile stalls, just in time for the Tucson fall planting cycle. Soooo psyched! Now let’s just hope it grows…

We decided upon the site last Friday night, bought our seeds the next morning and got right to work. East-facing, filtered overhead sun (thanks to the mesquite tree), and easy access to our main water line. Perfect!

Water break for our tiniest helper

Bunny fence almost complete

Soil prepped and irrigation laid

Went to the feed store across the street and picked up a straw bale for mulch to retain moisture

Spreading the straw was Ivan’s favorite part

Seeds planted and herbs transplanted from the bitty herb garden. The planting, of both the seeds and the transplants, was Silas’ favorite part. He would lovingly talk to the herbs as we put them in the new plots: “Here you go boy, this is your new home. You’re really going to like it here. There you go boy, all tucked in with straw.”

Done! The compost stall was built later that night after this photo was taken. It’s now in the foreground of this photo.

My two biggest helpers…and eaters…now eagerly awaiting carrots, turnips, radishes, beets, fava beans, swiss chard, kale, hopi yellow lima beans, tarahumara peas, purple queen garlic, cimmaron romaine lettuce, arugula, buttercrunch lettuce, onions, garlic chives, parsley, dill and CILANTRO! Grow garden! Grow!

posted by arr

I’m a bit backlogged on my webposts – sorry! Almost a month ago my parents arrived in Salt Lake City to begin a one-month tour of Utah (where my sister Holly lives) and Arizona. Part way through their trip we headed north to Flagstaff to meet up with them, Holly and her boyfriend Joe. This just so happened to be the weekend that it began to rain, EVERYWHERE, and continued to rain well into the next week, thus devastating the front range of Colorado…as we all have heard. The beginning of our Flagstaff weekend was absolutely lovely. We checked out Sunset Crater and the Wupatki Ruins with my parents. By mid-day Saturday though is when it started downpouring and didn’t really let up long enough to have much fun (huddling at camp under makeshift shelters drinking beer only lasts so long). We ended up leaving early Sunday and heading back to Tucson with my parents. We were greeted in Tucson with more rain, which was actually quite nice. It only lasted a day. The temps were cool and the kids had a blast in the puddles! My parents spent the week with us. My dad took Silas fishing a couple times, we checked out the Desert Museum, swam in the pool a ton and went on some nice walks. Silas adores his Papa and has been re-telling his favorite papa-experiences since they left:

“That papa. Up in Flagstaff…at that campsite…you came up to the car, mama, and…you caught us! You caught me and papa rockin’ out (to classic rock on the car radio) and chewing gum! You caught us, mama. That was SO fun.”

“That papa. He LOVES to fish. Yep. He just LOVES to fish all day long.”

“That papa. He LOVES to swim in the pool with me. He LOVES it when I get crazy and jump right in! I just jump right in, mama! He loves it!”

And if Ivan could talk, he’d no doubt *still* be counting all the kisses and hugs he gave his grandma.

The view of the San Francisco Peaks from the top of Lenox Crater trail in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Silas and Ivan’s Grandma and Papa

Silas in front of an old lava flow

Sunset Crater

The Wupatki Ruins (just down the road from Sunset Crater)

Family photo

The trash pit

The gathering circle

Someday when my kids are a little bigger and not trying to dart away like desert lizards 99.9% of the time, I’ll have a chance to read the guide and learn what the purposes of the rest of these buildings were. 😉

And then the rain started

Wet weather provides plenty of down-time at camp to cook up a good meal

Holly and Joe

And Courtney too! Surprise!

A very wet camp. And the beer is gone. Let’s ditch this joint.

Back in Tucson it’s a puddle field day!

On your mark, get set, go!

Silas catches a crawdad out of Rose Canyon Lake on Mt. Lemmon

Patient fishermen

Meanwhile, Ivan takes a nature walk and giggles hysterically over grabbing leaves off bushes

Grandma and Ivan

Pool time! During the one week that Papa and Grandma were here, Silas went from cautiously easing into the pool via the safe arms of mama or dad to full on kamikaze belly-smackers!

Ivan’s not quite there yet…

…still happy as a clam in the kiddie pool

Papa and Silas up to mischief again. This time, a Sonoran Dog!

Ivan’s thinkin’ about it

…and goes in for the kill

More fishing on Peña Blanca Lake down near the border

Pretty little place

The fisher boy

Got one!

Wondering when he’ll get his chance to catch one

Got another!

Bye bye fishy. Now swim home to your family

Paul and I on our 13 mile “date” run

What’s a date without flowers? 🙂

And a classic “Ivan Hug” for Papa. These hugs are one of a kind. He nuzzles right in and doesn’t let go. Love it.

posted by arr

Gateway to the west

Texas! …getting warmer

New Mexico! …almost there

Arizona! …home sweet home

We love you van!

Well that about wraps up our big summer vacation. Hope you enjoyed the show! Not much to report here since we’ve been back in Tucson. We’re modifying the woody and getting started on our fall training for (what we’re hoping will be) an insane winter bouldering season!

posted by arr

Back porch picnic

Listening intently to big cousin Luke’s reading

A trip to the Science Center! Great idea Aunt Francine!!

A Science Center digger!

Paul and his dad

Grandma and the boys admiring the neighbor’s flowers

Ahh, the days of the little pointer finger. My favorite!

If you’ve ever been around Ivan when he’s really excited you can probably hear the loud yells coming out of his mouth in this photo. The kid likes to be heard.

Grandma, Pap Pap and the boys

posted by arr

Keeping to the camping theme of our trip, we stayed a night at the Laurel Hill State Park Campground in the Laurel Highland mountains, east of Pittsburgh. This campground was where Paul’s love of the outdoors most likely spawned from; he and his dad frequented it a lot in his childhood. We even stayed right next to their old regular campsite! The next morning, after an all-night torrential downpour, we went to Ohiopyle for a walk on the rails-to-trails path. The trail connects Pittsburgh to Washington, DC!

Mmmm, pancakes for breakfast

Owl and Silas watch Pooh Bear while it rains

The Youghiogheny River

Ivan entranced by the rapids

The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) rails-to-trails

posted by arr

Silas practicing his bike riding skills with Pap Pap

Keeping Ivan from uprooting plants and making a break for the street. 😉

Silas visiting with his porch-turtle friends

A nice evening walk at The Waterfront

Porch relaxing with Grandma

posted by arr