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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...
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On a 29 degree afternoon back in October of last year April, myself and Joe set out on a journey to find the Emerald lake boulders. The freezing temperatures didn't phase us at first. We eagerly...
Our tradition to do a hike every year on our wedding anniversary started last year, on our 1st ever anniversary. Next weekend April and I will celebrate our 2nd year anniversary and continue our tradition. Yep, we're going...
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All systems go. Less than 2 days until we stare up at the Imogene Pass and go for it. I did a short "test" run for my knee last Sunday and things went well. It was a...
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A few weeks ago the kids and I visited a local farm that distributes raw milk and cheese at our CSA. The pics pretty much explain it all. The kids not only got to try their hand at...
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Ahhh. I have to say it feels nice to hang out at home for an entire weekend. Recently we've been a little crazy with all the travels but it has been a lot of fun. Now, our...
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Five days lounging in J-Bay plus 1 “warm-up” climbing day plus 1 delicious chicken and dumplings dinner equals a well-prescribed rehab for Paul’s knee. So far so good anyway. Yesterday we spent a full 8 hours climbing on...
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Paul and I snuck in a Valentines run up Agua Caliente trail before dark while the kids were in gymnastics. Looking forward to longer days so we can maybe do this some more!
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105 degrees forecasted for Tucson today. Yep. Summertime has set in. And with the summer temps comes the usual for us: a "break" from hard climbing (and re-setting the woody), work around the house/yard, visits from...
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After one full month of bouldering and with one more month to go, Paul and I decided that now is a good time for a little mid-trip rest. With a rainy forecast in Bishop, cozy snow up in Mammoth...
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Well, the kids stole the show this weekend. Ivan took his first steps (!!!!!) and Silas schooled me on all my Hueco projects. Paul and I climbed a lot. A LOT! We even ventured up onto...
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Even though we may be the only vehicle in the parking lot, the Hueco season is not over yet for us. My forced rest turned out to be the right decision because I had an AMAZING weekend! ...
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Seth and Erin and their two kids came to Tucson. We did some climbing and sightseeing. But mostly stayed up waaaaay too late drinking and catching up after kids were all in bed. ;-)
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The mission Nate was referring to is the Hueco Wanker 101. One hundred and one boulder problems.....in a day....with the long and pumpy Ghetto Simulator V2 as #101.
Paul and I had originally planned on climbing the 101 last weekend,...
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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...
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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...
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We took a break from the woody construction last weekend to party it up in Las Vegas for April's Aunt's wedding. It was a blast. We linked up with Joe and Holly, toured the strip, lounged by the...
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As you can see from our last web entry, Paul and I spent the weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our good friend Courtney now lives there and has a house nestled snug in between the base of Little...
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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...
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For some self-centered reason I'm sure, watching video of myself climbing gets me amped. Paul too. So I put together this short snippet of footage we took last season at Hueco and thought I'd share. Hopefully it...
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Imogene Pass Run is fast approaching. Only 4 weeks away! We made another trip to Flagstaff so Mandy and I could get some training in. This weekend's goal: Complete a 17 mile loop up on Mt. Humphreys....
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Stop one on our whirlwind tour of eastern friends and family: Our dear long time friend Tammy and new, to us, husband Bissell (who officially gets the family thumbs up on awesomeness), now living in western Massachusetts. Looks...
Fall? What's that? Still summer here in Tucson. Still trying to keep our cool. Silas doesn't seem to mind....the heat, that is. From the looks of his face when I snapped these pics, he sure...
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Hopefully by now we have been providing a convincing argument that our crazy amounts of driving to and from various climbing destinations is totally worth it. And yet again, I think we can prove it. After we used...
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We're in upstate NY now at Grandma and Papa's. Silas is having all kinds of fun with playmates his own size for a change. Now that Ivan's here Grandma & Papa have SEVEN grandkids! Waahoo!
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Christmas! With chilly Tucson temps and snow in the mountains, this is as Christmas-y as it gets people. So before temps move back up to the low 70's norm, we jumped on the moment and got our tree...
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Well, turns out there probably won't be any grand finale Hueco weekend after all. Our plans of heading there one last time over the weekend got shut down by a nasty stomach bug...(which I suspect we picked up at...
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While temperatures have been consistently breaking 100 degrees here in the desert we've been doing more planning and talking about climbing than, climbing. So when April recently asked, "How am I going to get back in shape after...
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Busy as usual. Recently we've been doing a lot of stuff with family, friends, chillin at home, and on the road climbing. Here are a few pictures of some things we've been up to in the last few...
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It was January of this year when we first went to the boulder problem "That Hi-Pro Glow," V6 at Hueco Tanks. April was psyched because the moves seemed do-able with a little bit of work. Unfortunately, 11 months...
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Our big multi-week stay at Hueco Tanks with Brian, Jen and fam has now come to an end. Both of our vans are currently on I-10 headed home, but our’s is headed west and their’s east. We’re of...
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We're back.
We spent like 16 hrs. traveling today. It was totally worth it! The climbing at Maple Canyon was...uh...STELLARRRRRRRR!!! I really feel like we just went on a true vacation because I can't...
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Congratulations Jenna and Katie!!!!
The ceremony
Bowls of M&M's as part of the table centerpieces to keep little kiddies occupied during the ceremony - brilliant!!!!
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Men's Swimming: "Guys looking for fish." (when the swimmers turn around at the end of the pool and swim underwater for a few strokes)
Rowing: "Look at all those bobbers!" (referring to the buoys that separate the lanes)
Men's Beach Volley Ball:...
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There were nuts, or something that looked like nuts, all over the kitchen floor this morning. I was picking them up and Ivan was next to me, so I asked him what all this was. He said bird...
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Like many, we’ve used this stay at home time to knock out a long overdue home project. We ripped down the shade structure in this corner of the back patio about a year ago. It was...
Since we moved to Tucson 11 years ago we've traveled home to our eastern family and friends for Christmas every year except one, when Silas was a newborn. This year's traveling is a bit different than all the rest though....
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Four months and two weeks ago...the Hueco Tanks boulder problem, Dark Age V11, busted up my left hand ring finger and put me out of climbing. Yesterday...I got revenge against Dark Age. I SENT!!!
I've been telling...
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"Goin' Vertical." This is Paul's classic phrase when standing under a route climb, tied into the sharp end, ready to ascend. We’ve all heard it, we all know it. Classic Paul. Problem is, it's been soooo...
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I did it again. I went waaaayyyy too long without mentioning any climbing. I'm truly sorry. I am! We are indeed climbing, I swear!! Despite all the baby cuteness you've been seeing on here, we've also been out...
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....finding a two week and one day old hamburger wrapped in tin foil in the lid of your climbing pack and thinking it was a dead animal.
Sick.
Disgusting.
Absolutely revolting.
A gag-reflex parade.
Can the backpack be saved?
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Silas giving mama a High Five for a Hueco season well done
Well, we are officially finished with Hueco for the season. Some really nice cool temps stretched just barely into May this...
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Finally, the update you’ve all been waiting for. After seven weeks in Bishop it was time for a change in scenery. It's too bad we had to leave the unfinished Mandala and High Plains Drifter behind but the...
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If you've ever climbed on the Mushroom Boulder you would understand how dissapointed we are, hearing that no one will ever experience a similar enjoyment of such a classic boulder.
From www.Climbing.com:
"Sometimes called the single best...
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The first stop on our list is Priest Draw. Although we’ve bouldered here many, many times before, our journey routed us right through Flagstaff so why not stop, even if just for...
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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...
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April is secretly working some projects so no major ticks to report from her end just yet. She is busy cleaning diapers this week since I won our little weekend bet. Here are some of the points I...
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finally made it to a internet cafe
the keyboards are so different. ill list the highlights
first of all everything is great
the weather was awesome for the entire 1st week.
we are living in french luxury in a beautiful rural gite in the...
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To celebrate our 17 year wedding anniversary: a ride on the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a cozy cabin, and a gorgeous hike in fall colors.
We bought Silas a big kid's bike today. This was quite the graduation from his Radio Flyer tricycle and Skuut balance bike. He'd been looking forward to it tremendously - finally getting a "big bike" that "older kids...
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"Due to excessive snow on the Imogene Pass the race will start and finish in Ouray. The course will go past the Lower Camp Bird aid station, up to the point where the private road meets the public road and...
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Before our stay with Grandma and Papa came to a close we decided to venture north again for the weekend, back to the Adirondacks. First to Lake George to meet up with my good friend Cara from college and...
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Our much needed ‘vacation from our vacation’ is over now and we’ve settled back into simplicity here on the farm. Only now we’re kickin’ it at the Alpha Excelsior Farm versus the de Pakhuys Farm next door.
And...
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Yesterday we escaped the heat and cruised up to the summit of Mt. Lemmon. We got off to a late afternoon start and immediately descended about 1500 feet down, down, down. We went down the Mt. Lemmon Rocks...
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Intermixed with all the bouldering projects out on the rocks, another major project that Paul and Mike have been sessioning together over the last week is the small bottle of deadly hot sauce that Mike purchased at the Clanwilliam grocery...
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After a pleasantly mild spring, the Tucson summer has officially arrived. We can't complain, seeing as we made it all the way until JUNE before the thermometer hit the triple digits. I heard on the news this hasn't...
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Silas getting a personalized digger demo with "Digger Man" (aka Tommy) and a close-up with Jane's horses.
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Well, baby time is fast approaching and we can hardly wait. Over the last few months Paul and I have been helping Silas along in his journey to big brother status. In January we had the "bye bye...
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A barge sighting, a labyrinth victory and a close-up train passing!...all within a short and lucky 20 minutes while down at the Monongahela River. The kids could hardly contain themselves. :-)
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For the last installment of bouldering photos from our Switzerland trip I chose Cresciano. This area is famous for the mega classic, Dreamtime 8b+/8c. However, since temps were a little warm our crew passed on attempting this...
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Hello friends! I hope this greeting finds you all happy and healthy and enjoying this holiday season with loved ones. It's been quiet here on apAdventures this later half of the year...
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I love the sound of your cute small voice, trying to articulate big, grown-up words.
I love how in-love you are with your big brother, and how the first question you ask when you wake up from your nap is...
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Over the past month or so Paul and I have been experimenting with soft foods with Silas. Each new food - from veggies to fruits to beans - has followed this trend:
First "Huh? What is this?" ...
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To break up the 3000 miles of highway a little bit we opted for a quick detour into Rocky Mountain National Park. Having driven through the night to get there, we couldn’t believe our luck at finding a quiet,...
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The other day when we were complaining about being rained out from climbing it actually cleared up and we managed to get in some route climbing on Mt. Lemmon in the later part of the afternoon. I was pretty convinced...
Mt. Wrightson: 9,456 feet, 10ish mile hike via the Old Baldy trail with over 4K feet of elevation gain. Well over 100 degrees this day but we hit the trail at 5:30am to beat the heat. ...
We waited in suspense all day but finally, our new furniture arrived! Check our our sofa, love seat, coffee table and end table. There are also some photos of our new table cloth. We'll need to do...
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I can't stop looking at this amazing photo, wondering what it will be like to climb in this foreign land, experiencing what may be the world's most incredible bouldering mecca. It's almost time people. Time for the ultimate...
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Two days ago, before the snow came, we managed to sneak in a high elevation hike. We started at South Lake and trekked six miles up 3000 vertical feet to the boundary between the Inyo National Forest and the...
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Trying to get this baby to sit still for more than 2 seconds while I snap a photo is getting more and more challenging. This time I figured I'd outsmart the little guy with a few bright orange pumpkins...
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There are few toys that have stood the test of time like Legos have. I'm positive I'm not the first to say that (hello, Lego Movie). In fact now that I think about it, Legos might be the...
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After a lot of driving on Saturday we finally made it to our first destination, Colorado! April's sister Holly and her boyfriend Joe have welcomed us into their mountain home and have let us set up camp...
Well, no exciting climbing news to report this weekend...well, other than the fact that Paul and I almost got fried like eggs in a frying pan on the 100+ degree Hueco rock on Sat and Sun.
Yes, it...
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Tomorrow we leave for Yosemite. Our 1 year anniversary! It's going to be a long day. We just had an awesome party with our best friends. Thanks to everyone who showed up at our adobe. ...
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In the summer months the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum keeps it's doors open until 10pm. And the kids are finally at the age where we can all enjoy being out that late without complete and utter kiddie-meltdown. Woohoo!...
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For Paul's first Father's Day, I thought it might be a good idea to round up other fellow climbing fathers to spend the day climbing with, while us mamas looked after the babies. So Tom, Mia and Henry joined...
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For our trip to Switzerland we decided to travel light and not take any camping gear. Similar to the gites in France and the cottages we stayed at in South Africa, Switzerland has its own version of chalets called...
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Silas seems to be loving his new baby brother. He likes to tickle Ivan's head and feet, watch his diaper changes, help feed (every once in a while), bring him toys, and say "Good morning baby" when he wakes...
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What’s a Tucson boulderer to do with a 4-day weekend? Head to Bishop of course!
Paul - Toppin' out at the Pollen Grains
Paul and I flew back east for our family “Thanksgiving” two weekends ago,...
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Lots of pics lately and not many words, I know. Which means one thing and one thing only: We're busy! That, and it's a lot easier and quicker to dump a few pics on the site when Silas...
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This post is almost a month late, I know! But hey - the photos were taken about 2 weeks ago so I'm not that far off. Enjoy! If you'd like a print just let me know.
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Happy Birthday to April!!! I got crazy and made an applesauce spice cake lastnight. Wow! It came out awesome. Now we're off for some Hueco climbing. ha ha. Just can't get enough.
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I promised a Fontainebleau trip summary and it will be up soon. When I said we had to recover from our travels, I lied. We had to go climbing again. It was nice climbing at Hueco the...
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It's that time of year again to climb with our Pittsburgh buds at Hueco! Similar to last year, we coordinated our trip over Thanksgiving...a blissful 2 full weeks with excellent temps, minimal crowds and plenty of strong psyche and sends. Here is a...
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This boulder was not in the guidebook, and thus was enthusiastically named by the kids as "Zip" because Ivan "zipped right up it" and rated "probably v3". (They crack me up, haha).
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Somehow, my newborn has suddenly turned into a one year old right before my eyes!!! I can't believe an entire year has gone by since my little Ivan made his worldly debut. I'm positive time moves even faster...
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A couple weekends ago our dear friend Linda married a pretty special guy, Ty. They are without a doubt a perfect match. We're so excited for them!
Silas testing his strength against...
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It's been a full month now of Bishop bouldering with long time friends. Beginning today though, Paul and I are back to two. Sadly, yesterday Grit, Manu and Anke said their goodbyes to us and started their long...
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A few weeks ago Tucson celebrated its annual Rodeo Days. This is such a big deal here in the southwest that the kids actually have two days off from school during which time the rodeo is happening! City pride I...
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...Our Rocklands Trip 2008! Finally, the South Africa footage is compiled and we have a little home video ready to share with our special peeps. Click on the pic below for a mild taste-tester.
Click on the picture to...
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...before you go climbing and forget a critical item. "Critical" as in the outing is either completely unsalvageable or at the very most, extremely uncomfortable. Like realizing you forgot your water when you're three pitches up on a...
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Finally, we made our first trip to Cochise Stronghold yesterday to climb. Routes? NO! Of course not. We heard there were a few boulders including what some call "The Midnight Lightning" of Arizona. A Bob...
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We just returned from a short trip to Vegas over the weekend to hang out with Paul's parents, brother Mark, sister-in-law Francine and nephew Luke. Being on the strip with two small children was interesting...mainly because of all the...
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Sister Katie and I threw a bachelorette party for sister Holly
Holly's party destination choice: Vegas
On the agenda: drinking,
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We headed up to our old stomping grounds last weekend for the long weekend, Priest Draw in Flagstaff, AZ. The mission was 3 days of hard bouldering on the limestone roofs. The reality was only 2 days of...
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Silas practicing his bike riding skills with Pap Pap
Keeping Ivan from uprooting plants and making a break for the street. ;-)
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This year is a big year for Paul's Aunt Jude. She not only turned 65, but also retired, as well as got another book of poetry published. To celebrate these momentous achievements, her partner Ann coordinated a surprise...
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This is a V10 put up by Eric Scully at the Hairpin Boulders just minutes from our house. Paul ticked this off last December. Thought peeps might want to see video:
posted...
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Reason #11... why my kids are making me a better runner:
Because sometimes random things drop out of the stroller that need a go-back for retrieval. Toys, books, shoes, articles of clothing. Today it was a piece of...
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It's been a while since I've climbed with a very very *very* bad hangover. Well, today was that day. Another weekend at Hueco. Another stellar tour in the backcountry. High energy, crazy motivation, overloads of fun,...
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My baby is turning toddler...fast! Ivan is on a mission to catch up with his older brother as soon as possible. At 9 months he crawls fast. He eats fast. He transitions from laying down to...
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I'm sharing a bit of a backlog with you all. School is now back in session but summer was a blast! We spent the early part of the summer bouldering at Priest Draw up in Flagstaff, which is...
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When Silas gets an idea in his head, he just won't let it go until it comes to fruition. This kid HAD to visit the Pima Air and Space Museum this summer to see a Super Guppy. Finally his "dream...
This is literally a caption out of the newest Yosemite bouldering guidebook, bold font, spread across a full page spread of a climber gripped on a beautiful granite Valley boulder with some snow, a sunset, and El Capitan...
For our first weekend blog, we're happy to be able to report some exciting climbing news. Paul, myself and our new German friend Marcus met up with Tammy and Vince on Saturday at Hueco. We had some projects...
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Our friend Courtney has been unable to enjoy the sport of rock climbing for a long time due to some horrible wrist pains. He took a big step today, went in for surgery...what came out is pretty crazy. ...
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It's hard to believe that it's been over a month now that Grit and Manu arrived here from Germany. Time flys when you're having fun and now their trip is coming to an end. Manu left for home...
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On one weekend at Priest Draw our friends Cat and Gus joined us. Both are now Protocol enthusiasts too. Climbers plus weightlifting? Don't knock until you try.
WHICH pocket?! ...
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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,...
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It was a dark and dreary day.....dud, dud, duuuuud....
And the Rocklands proper was deserted of climbers. The overcast clouds had been releasing a steady mist all morning, leaving the typically vibrant orange rocks dark grey and dripping wet. ...
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A falling star, a full moon, interesting cloud formations under the full moon, the distant sound of rockfall, and wine. I argued with Paul about the wine. Humans were involved in that, just like this fire...
We made it back from a long weekend in Bishop! It was cool, literally! Details tomorrow...
Courtney - Climbing one of the many classic problems at the Happies
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We arrived at the Sunrise parking lot at about 9:00AM on Saturday morning, stepped out of the car in T-shirts and sandals, got our snowboards and skis together and hit the slopes. The conditions were really awesome for the...
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On Sunday evening we hurried to Sabino Canyon to catch the sunset. Here are a few pictures of the beautiful scenery 15 minutes from home.
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Camping and fishing was how most vacations were spent with my family as a kid. And for as long as I could remember we spent the majority of them at Lake Eaton in the Adirondacks. Contrary to popular...
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The fourth spot on our hit list is Joe's Valley. After now having climbed there for the first time, I find it near-sacrilege that we've lived in the west for over a decade (with the majority of that time...
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After telling story upon story about the bouldering mecca Hueco Tanks, we had to prove to our new friend Grit (from Germany) that we weren't lying. She's been climbing for three years but has never tried bouldering and was...
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Paul and I have quite a treat going on here in Tucson this morning. SNOW! Snow everywhere!! - on the mountain, in the foothills, covering the yard, covering our cars!!! Across Tucson last night, around 5pm, the...
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Silas has a buddy now. His name is Henry. Although Henry has been around since the day Silas was born, Silas has just recently convinced himself that Henry exists. And that Henry is fun to look at....
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April and I were really impressed this weekend! We never thought that snowboarding in Arizona could be SOOOO much fun. It was awesome! The conditions were perfect and the scenery was beautiful. Our biggest problem is...
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We changed it up a bit this summer - bought a rope and tied in! Here are some random shots from Mt. Lemmon. We've been heading up there and doing routes most weekends this summer. Climbing local is quite a...
Yesterday was dubbed "the v6 day." As soon as Brian announced that he was interested in getting on See Spot Run, v6 we decided that we all had to send one of the grade. After falling from the...
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Last Christmas was the first year ever that we didn't head home for the holidays due to new baby Silas. So needless to say we were chomping at the bit to get there this year. The trip was...
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I should apologize for not providing an update because several people thought we had washed away from the rain last Monday. I'd have to say we were pretty nervous throughout the day that we would get flooded but luckily...
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As predicted back when we decided to spend an extra day at Joe’s Valley, we found ourselves having to hack a destination from the trip’s hit list due to limited time. Sorry Wild Basin, Colorado. We’ll visit you...
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Next up is Dragonfly, v5. Congratulations to Tom on the flash! Have a nice weekend...
Click on the picture to play the Dragonfly videoPosted by pjv
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On Friday morning Katie, Joel, April and I woke up, packed the car and were off to Hueco for the weekend by 8:30AM. We had grand plans of getting up at 5AM and trying to get to the park...
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Season's greetings from the eastern states! We've ditched the desert for the cold, the snow, and lots and lots of family and friends this holiday season. Silas and Ivan are enjoying multiple Christmas-es as we travel from home...
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So we've been busy. Really busy actually. With all our house projects this year and not having any time to tackle the long list, we got to thinking, "hmm, we need help!" So, we hired someone to...
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..from Hueco! Following through with what is now our yearly tradition, we celebrated the holiday climbing at Hueco Tanks with our Pittsburgh friends, Brian and Jen and kids. Yesterday the weather held nicely for the fixin' of our...
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We’ve got 7 days here in Yosemite, 3 of which are forecasted for lots of rain. The big question is (and always seems to be), do I focus on trying to send a single hard climb or...
Cape Town! Paul and I awake in our hotel around 8AM and head outside to catch our first glimpse of South Africa. We hit up a cute, artsy little coffee shop next door to the hotel, the RCaffe....
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Grit is back. Back in the USA. This time, she's brought her boyfriend Manu with her. And this time, she's here not to work or study....but to climb, climb, climb! Grit and Manu arrived from Germany...
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If you don't hear from us for awhile, we have a good reason...
Justin Wood sending Le Coeur at L'Elephant, 7a. Fontainebleau, France. March 2006.
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Sharing a few pics from la casa on this Easter Sunday:
Mama and Silas coloring eggs last night
5 cracked eggs out of a dozen (mr. yellow here...
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For many years now our eastern visits have been mild and without snow over the holidays, the opposite of what it used to be when I was a kid. Last year when we didn’t travel, the northeast...
More snow coming down! Let's head outside yet again!
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How lucky can one be to climb on warm and sunny boulders in the morning and build a snowman in the afternoon?
Me warming up on the Marble Cake boulder at Hairpin
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I know the blog has been very quiet the past few weeks but we've been busy trying to get back in control of our house. If you've followed this blog over the past several years I'm sure you've seen...
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April on Mexican Chicken V6
As climbers we are always looking for the perfect combination of events that make us succeed. You know, after a day of success you look back on the things you did right...
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Last week Paul had a conference to attend near Dana Point, CA so we decided to make a small family road trip out of it. Silas got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time...or any ocean for...
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The family fun started off with some local activities: a day trip to Bisbee, a hike on Mt. Lemmon, good food and lots of tequila. Part II of the family fun took Paul, myself, brown dog Morgan, and...
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After having showed April's parents a great time skiing last month, now it's part two with my parents. Yesterday we ate breakfast outside, took a tour of Mt. Lemmon and hung out around town. Here are a few...
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According to the Yahoo weather report for El Paso, it looks like temperatures are forecasted to drop for Friday and Saturday which might provide April and I an opportunity to send. When I say "drop" I mean the temps...
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April nor I got any Legos for Christmas so the next logical step to occupy our time (away from that climbing addiction) is to tear up our house a little more. The next couple of items on our long...
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Uncertain on whether to depart tomorrow or the following day, we decide this day has to be a climbing day. Our last one! We head back to the boulders we started on in the trip.
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If you've ever climbed with us you've heard us say, "One more try..." Well, we made one more trip to Hueco this last weekend and "one more try" is all it took for April to tick off her next...
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After nearly 3 years we've finally compiled and edited our video footage from 2 bouldering trips to Fontainebleau, France. Click on the picture below to watch a little teaser and get psyched. The 30+ minute DVDs should be...
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Here is a quick look at the bathroom and the shade roof progress...
The shower tiles are up. Needs grout.
The sink and cabinet are in place. Needs grout.
Extra Shelves....
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It's high time we showed this cute baby boy off to the family and friends back east. So show him off we did. Silas got to see both sets of his grandparents, 2 great grandmas, 1 set of...
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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...
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Oh special day! It snowed!! Here!!! At our HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Tucson weathermen/women had been warning us about this winter storm since Monday. Yesterday morning warnings were flooding the tv stations announcing "90 minutes until it hits." "60...
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So there's this problem at Hueco called 99 Heroin Balloons (V8/9). Super rad, tension-y, explosive, committing moves. Super aggressive full contact, football player style, spotting required! Here is a little video clip of Paul and Justin getting...
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Silas is a kindergartener now! It's official! Luckily my parents decided to come visit last minute to help ease the transition...for both Ivan and myself. :-) All went off without a hitch. Silas absolutely adores...
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This year's Christmas and New Years was spent with April's family and friends in Marathon, NY.
Click on the picture to see the photos
We couldn't have asked for a better trip:
* Watching Joel, Holly and KT show off...
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Well, sadly, our summer fun with Holly (my sister) has come to a close. She's done with her summer internship and heading back to upstate New York tonight. And...well...we're just a little bit depressed around here. Ok,...
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Our webposts have been infrequent lately and our emailing even more so. So if you are one of those poor souls sitting anxiously by your computer clicking the refresh key obsessively, waiting to hear from us (like you, Grandma...
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Last night we had some friends over for Mexican dinner night. It was a blast! Eric, Sarah, Matt, Courtney, April and I all stuffed ourselves with tons of good Mexican food. But, the grand finale was when...
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....Hueco reservations, that is. No need for New Year's resolutions when you've got Hueco reservations for the next three months. I will climb more. I will climb harder. I will send only sick projects. -...
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It felt so nice to go back to Hueco again. It was also nice to climb with Vince and Tammy again. April and I had been spending our weekends doing so many other things for over a month...
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Here is a little sampling of an area called Chironico. It was a little too hot to try anything super hard but there were plenty of easier problems to keep us busy. This spot reminded us of Cooper's...
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Tuesday March 14th:
We woke up at 4:15AM, loaded our crashpads, two backpacks and misc. carry-on bags into Courtney's truck and were off to the airport. We checked in and by 6:30AM we were airborne. We arrived in Dallas...
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The last loop in Upper Pines had some major pine beetle infestation and dead trees had to come down (according to rangers). This early in the season, with clean-up still ongoing, we...
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Many of you on here know of, or at least have heard me mention our good friends John and Mandy. Well, John has embarked upon a self-transformation of sorts, and is documenting it via vlog (aka video blog, aka...
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It's not every year I get a holiday and birthday all on the same day. Chocolate bunnies PLUS birthday cake!! Lucky me! We had a delightful weekend at home eating good homemade food, having fun with the...
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On Sunday we decided to stay local and hit up Mt. Lemmon. Courtney, Marcus, April and I headed up to Windy Point and spent the day mixing it up. We managed to do some trad, sport and bouldering...
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Way way back, when Paul and I first started this website, we vowed to never put bad, mad or sad news here. We meant this to be a place for sharing only...
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Last Saturday after my parents left we decided to introduce Ivan to Mt. Lemmon. Although he never actually opened his little eyes to see where he was, it was still a nice outing for the rest of us.
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Last week I tried to be all official and formally get some good pics of the boys together at the 3 year-old and 6 month-old marks. I realize now I was being overly ambitious. Do you realize how...
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Check out what we dug up in the archives:
Click on the picture to play the "Froggy D" video
Paul and Courtney working the problem Froggy Dick 7b, Fontainebleau France
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One day, maybe even one day soon, these boys won’t be loading their backpacks down with dozens of matchbox cars, hauling them out to the crag with all the pokey parts digging into their backs through their backpacks,...
Our website should start to become a little more active now. We've been spending time getting back in shape and preparing for our "big" trip. Stay tuned...
A view of the sunset from our back patio.
The bathroom in our main house is done! Check out the pictures. We haven't moved all of our stuff into it yet so I'll have to snap some pictures after we use it.
Here is a view from the...
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Damn. Oh well. It sucks to get injured but I couldn't be more happy showing off my battle injury. I was making my best link yet on Dark Age (V11). I started matched...
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On the way home from work today April and I finally managed to find some time to stop at Fleet Feet, to get some expert advice about running shoes. Pete, the owner, happily greeted us and quickly went...
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For years we’ve dismissed Mt. Lemmon for out-of-town rock. Hueco Tanks in El Paso Texas, Priest Draw in Flagstaff in northern Arizona, Yosemite in California. Well this year was going to be different. With a...
As promised, here is my next all-climbing post. Which, as you can probably guess (by the completely discreet and modest title) is Paul's mid-season report card. This write-up will be easy. Cause Paul doesn't have any...
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And now for the trip report of our 10-day vacation in the Canadian Rockies with Paul's parents, Marian and Regis. The idea of doing this trip with family originated back when Paul and I were on our honeymoon in...
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The day after we arrived in Pittsburgh we embarked upon an adventure day downtown for the kids: A ride on the subway, a look at the gingerbread and train display in the PPG...
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Here is another interesting conversation with Silas. This time while riding in the van on our way to Hueco:
Silas: "Hey Mama. Can I have a nack?"
Mama: "No."
Silas: "Why not?"
Mama: "Because we don't have...
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Tonight we had a small woody session at our place. Myself, Paul, Tammy and Vince. It was a good and fun night, although the energy was a little low - perhaps thanks to either the beer, or the...
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No visit at my parent's is complete without a trip over to "Digger Man's" house for a digger demo. This year was especially special because not only did Ivan get to ride the backhoe loader for the first time,...
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I've somehow only managed to snap pics of the kids lovin' up Hueco this winter. None of climbing! Whoops. I'll try to mend that soon...and hopefully with some sending pics. I've officially committed myself to getting...
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For our 1 year wedding anniversary we decided to start a new tradition that we will now refer to as, The Anniversary Hike. This first annual anniversary hike took us to Yosemite National Park. Following is a brief...
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So I've been pretty good thus far by refraining from sharing all of our fun and exciting adventures with baby poop here on apAdventures. I figure nobody really thinks poop is all that entertaining, unless it's your story and...
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Or did I mean "Two Days With Gene?" No no (that's a boulder problem name)...I've got Hueco on my mind again why? Because we went back again! Yeah. We took a little vacation and went to Hueco...
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Kids are done with school now and summer has begun. It’s going to be a fun packed couple of months for us! We were at the Tucson airport less than 12 hours after finishing school. ...
This roadtrip agenda includes an initial stay in Pittsburgh, then north to Clarks Summit, PA to say hi to our friends JR & Emily and their two kids, then further north to Cortland, NY for the wedding, then over to...
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The Birthday Girl: Linda
The Mission: 35 pitches in a day (for her 35th year of awesomeness on this planet)
The Support Crew: Her fiance Ty, friend Cat, and Me, Paul, Silas & Ivan
Joshua Tree,...
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For the last few years we've been coordinating a yearly climbing trip to Hueco Tanks with our dear friends Brian and Jen from Pittsburgh and their two kids Seb & Oren. This year, we all decided to mix it...
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So uh, long time no post. We've been a bit busy around here and I've had little time and motivation to share our lives. I even contemplated bailing on the whole apAdventures deal (cause I mean seriously, whose...
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The Hueco weekend rampages are still in progress and I feel as though we're coasting on fumes. I had negative progress on the Bloody Flapper Traverse, v9 and was feeling beat, Paul has this interesting bubble starting to form...
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And last but certainly not least, my sister Holly and Joe's beautiful Park City Utah wedding brings us to the end of our summer adventures. I promise cross my heart to be better about keeping you more up to...
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I promised I'd put a picture of KT's awesome artwork up on our site today. Today? Wow, it's late, like 1AM late. I'm trying to do a million things tonight before we leave for J-Tree tomorrow but...
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A number of factors conspired against us when it came to destination #2: Zion National Park, Utah. My appointment with the chiropractor the afternoon/evening prior meant heading out of Flagstaff way later than planned. And we weren't in...
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Some cute photos from our travels east over the holidays.
Fishing with Papa in upstate New York
...and Hazel
<a class="imagelink" href="http://www.apadventures.net/images/holidayPhotos/4.jpg"...
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As Linda nears closer to her big 50k, our mileage increases steadily to keep up! This weekend Linda completed a run that Paul and I, and Linda too, have talked about wanting to do for years. Literally, years....
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Finally, after a brutal summer the temperatures are reasonable again in Tucson. We've tried every method of training possible to stay in shape over the last few months and it's been tough. With the last few weeks still...
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Paul and I took little Silas on his first hike on Saturday. We decided on the Douglas Springs trail, since this is my all-time favorite. Silas liked it so much, we took him on another hike Sunday -...
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Thank you Matt for getting us up and running. When we manage to get a few free minutes we'll try and figure out how to post pictures and video. Movable Type is soooo easy!
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This October 2nd, 2008 marked our fourth wedding anniversary. Four years! Wooo! Unfortunately though, that day was spent in the van cruising pavement somewhere in Wyoming rather than busting our butts up our annual “anniversary hike.” ...
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I just looked at our website and realized it’s been a few weeks since we last mentioned what we’ve been up to. Geeze, I guess we’ve been slackin’ Actually, April and I have been busy. Busy getting...
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Not much to report in terms of climbing now that we're in Pittsburgh but there is plenty of fun to be had. Last night we went to PNC park and saw the Pittsburgh...
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The temps are slowly cooling here in the southwest and we're beginning to fall back into our Hueco groove. Ivan has been officially initiated (responding with big chubby-faced smiles and giggles - this kid is happy no matter where...
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Linda and I bagged Mt. Guthrie last weekend. A nice little run. Nothing big or epic, just a modest 6 miles roundtrip from the Lower Green Mountain Trailhead. Nothing at all compared to the 9 mountain miles...
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Thriller, V10. Done!
And despite what some would call our "radically healthy diet," we have no qualms what-so-ever about celebrating with cheap Curry Village pizza and beer! Woohoo!posted by arr
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You've seen this shot many times as it is from one of my favorite trails to run, Douglas Springs. But have you seen it THIS green??!!! Yey for summer monsoons!
posted by...
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One last photo! Had to share at least one of the many solo April-Paul shots. Mainly because I know a few of you out there will absolutely LOVE the matching climber muscles as much as I do. ...
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After a long week of driving (J-Tree to Tucson) and climbing (Hueco Tue and Wed) and driving (Hueco to Tucson, Tucson to Hueco) and climbing, the time is 4PM on Sunday afternoon, the place is Martini Roof, the problem is...
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Here is a nice video and slideshow that April put together documenting our amazing trip to Colorado for the Imogene Pass Trail run. Check it out...
Click here to play the video
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Well the Tour de Family is over and we're back at home now. We concluded the trip with a few more days down in Pittsburgh before hitting the road back to Arizona - see photos below. We're soooo...
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Silas got to meet one of his cousins last week: Luke! Francine and Luke from Pittsburgh joined us for a nice relaxing, quality-Silas-time week. We showed them the Tucson sites, did a little climbing at Rocks & Ropes...
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When we heard that our tour was going to be 2 hours long the motivation level dropped. We had scheduled to go to E. Spur and work on our projects, (April's) Better Eat Your Wheaties, v8 and (Mine) Crown...
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Well, it's as wintery as it gets here in Tucson right now. This week and last have been a bit chilly and rainy and there was a big dump of snow up on Mt. Lemmon - so much in...
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Lots of exciting new happenings going on down here in this hot neck of the desert. First off, yes, it's still over 100 degrees outside, which has been driving us to higher ground: Mt. Lemmon. Hiking, running, and...
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Well, today we've been officially "rained out" of climbing. It's been a while since we were rained out, hmmm, a year? Two years? Since we arrived in Tucson? Since we left Pittsburgh? Typically, when it...
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Wigilia (pronounced: “vee-GHEEL-yah”) is the traditional Christmas Eve vigil supper in Poland which has been carried on generation after generation by Paul's family. This year Paul's brother Mark was our chef. We had lentils and cabbage, peirogies, ham,...
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We flew to Atlanta, Georgia this weekend for some family time with relatives. And we learned that Silas likes planes. No, really. He really does. Or maybe he just liked getting 4 whole hours of quality...
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The expiration of Daylight Savings typically marks when we begin our Hueco rampaging. Even though we're on Arizona Time (and thus don't observe Daylight Savings) we are well aware of it's yearly cycle since it steals an hour from...
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We've decided to embark on a little home improvement project: The Courtyard Porch.
Tearing down the old porch. Click on the photo to see more.
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I wish I had something exciting to say about this would-be exciting day. But by the time this day is over, I’m not so sure we’ll be more than a few hundred miles off the Atlantic coast, stateside! ...
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We've spent this last week in April's home town of Marathon, New York. Small town USA. No Internet, no cell phone reception and.......no electricity or running water (just kidding). Here are a few pics of April's home...
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...and we have a couple stowaways along for the ride. Our friends Dale & Tans from New Zealand are here in Tucson right now, packing their climbing gear and hiking boots into the Sportsmobile, getting psyched for a week...
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I almost venture to call this also a pandemic perk. We haven’t dyed eggs for years on account of Easter coinciding with the kids’ Spring Break from school and thus us being away on a climbing trip...
Silas and Ivan's Grandma and Pap Pap were in town visiting last week for the birthday.
An evening stroll along the wash behind our house
<a class="imagelink" href="http://www.apadventures.net/images/hangOutGrandmaPappap/3.jpg"...
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Last weekend marked the first of many at Hueco for us. We'll be spending a lot of time there over the next couple months...including an extended stay with our Pittsburgh friends, Brian & Jen & little Seb and Oren....
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Here is a short video of our good friend Anke (from Germany - Grit's sister) sending Local Flakes, V2 at Hueco Tanks. Local Flakes is a classic problem on the Mushroom Boulder, which has been Anke's long...
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It's not often that we go to Hueco without reservations. Especially during the busy season. However, when you know you're going to send you can't sit at home waiting. So...we packed the van and showed up to...
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We're done with the Hueco season and we didn't send our projects. That's the wrap up folks. Paul gets an honorable mention for getting really really close on Slashface though (post-finger surgery!) falling off the top, too pumped...
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I got a call from April at work today and she said, "I can't get home because the fire department has blocked off the main road to our house. Please leave work and meet me, I'm not sure but...
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My apologies for the lack of webposts. We've been busy climbing! (Well, I've been climbing. Paul is still momentarily out of the game on account of his finger). We're at Hueco right now for an extended...
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I recently realized that the majority of the Ivan pictures I've taken to date have been of him sleeping, instead of awake. I swear it's not my fault! This boy loves to sleep. And he's just so...
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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...
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I've been putting photos on the site by following a very tedious methodology.
1. Get pictures off camera
2. Save them to a folder on my local computer
3. Edit their sizes in Paint
4. Save a "big" size and "small" size
5. Upload the...
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...of a mama and her babe that recently learned how to crawl. No sooner do I sit his bum down on the floor and he's off:
<a class="imagelink" rel="”lightbox[No sooner do I sit his bum down on the floor and...
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Pittsburgh climber buds Brian and Jen plus kids drove out west this summer. We intercepted their trip at Mesa Verde, Colorado and then all headed down to Flagstaff together to climb. A few photos from Mesa Verde:
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The past two weekends we've spent more time at home than out climbing - trying to play 'catch up' on the domestic portion of our lives - which, believe it or not, can actually be fun if you don't do...
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It's been quiet here on apAdventures and high time for an update! We've had a little bit of everything going on this spring: home improvements, bountiful gardening, school volunteering, kettlebell training, a minor surgery that's not worth going into...
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Yep, we finally made it to Jack's Canyon, finally! Miles, Matt, April and I loaded up the car after work on Friday and headed out.
We made a quick stop in Phoenix to pick up a new...
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This stop was a spontaneous decision. We were driving right past it anyway and the kids and I had never been. And the last time Paul was here was 23 years ago! We loved it so much...
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Paul and I are volunteer tour guides at Hueco Tanks. Back in the late 90's, restrictions were put into place to protect the delicate natural environment and rich cultural history of Hueco. Part of these restrictions include "guided...
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And here we have Triassic, just down the road from Joe's. This place is the definition of "kid in a candy store." There are so many boulders here we couldn't decide where to start! Too bad we...
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For those who don't know yet (like you...Feralboy) our most recent Switzerland pictures will reveal our BIG surprise: The coming addition to our family!!!
April asking "Can you tell yet?"
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Tonight after dinner I announced that I would "pick up the table." Silas, always needing to put his own 2-cents in, informed me with great concern that "pickup table hard." He then offered to "help mama" and then...
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Thank you, Paul, for pointing out my lame cliche blog title. I tried re-titling it about 10 times now, but can’t come up with a better way to describe our current situation. So just bear with me people....
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Well, as Paul predicted, it’s been awhile since our last post. Trust me though, we really do have a sweet excuse. We’ve been out of the country for the last couple of weeks, bouldering in Fontainebleau, France. ...
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...for Hueco. Here are a few belated photos from a previous Hueco trip a couple weeks ago. We're headed there again this weekend, tying to maybe squeeze in a send or two during this busy time of year...
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Silas: "Mama, we go to Hueco Tanks Tate Park. We put baby Isan in his nosuit, and he jus eats dirt. Isan ohways eats dirt. Isan ohways eats dirt at Hueco Tanks Tate Park."
(He's right. We've...
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Well, the snow didn't last too long at the house. The sun came out mid-morning, so by the time we got home from work the only remaining snow was up in the mountains and bits here and there in...
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A splash of tomato soup escapes from my cup as I stab at a submerged cracker. It hits the rug on the floor of our van. I look at it for a bit and then decide not to clean it...
Last Christmas we did a run with our sister-in-law Francine and the Pittsburgh Fleet Feet runners. They do a run every Sunday so we decided to show up and run together with Francine.
This...
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Quick Weekend Summary:
We signed up to volunteer at the Annual Hueco Tanks Interpretive Fair. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Luckily the weather was pretty nasty on Saturday morning so we didn't feel too bad...
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Is it possible to “wear out” one’s favorite climbing area? I think this to myself as we speed towards Hueco Tanks Friday evening after work. I was excited, but not “Hueco” excited. ...
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April and I think the pictures we all took throughout the 10 day Maple Canyon trip, best summarize, the loads of fun we had. We've included descriptions of each photo so spend time, relax and enjoy the slideshow. ...
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Our plan was to start into a summer of sport climbing and lessen the number of bouldering trips we take to once a month. Well...plans change. Last weekend ended just shy of an amazing finish to our almost...
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The events of last weekend were quite a surprise.....a surprise to my parents, that is. Myself, Paul, sister Michelle, brother Joel, sister Katie, sister Holly, Holly's boyfriend Joe, and family friends Sonny & Peggy and Dale & Tans put...
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Organic is the name. Custom, handmade crashpads is their game.
Ok everyone. No more picking on my old, beaten to a pulp, millimeter thin crashpad (aka "The Napkin") anymore. Yes, it's...
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So far so good with weather. Yesterday we decided to take a rest day and yesterday the clouds decided to dump rain...all day. We were getting nervous this morning because of the heavy cloud cover but everything cleared...
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AKA "The Coolest Girl We've Ever Met"
Normally I'm psyched to detail the weekend events and list the highlights of all the amazing things we got to see and do but unfortunately we had to end last weekend...
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Over these last few days of the 2008 year I’ve been dabbling in something I’ve never done before: re-reading our web entries. As our big vacation draws to an end I have this urge of somehow trying to summarize...
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Our next stop landed us in Rocky Mountain National Park, a place we've been a couple of times before. We love these boulders and every time we leave them question why we don't live closer. This trip, like...
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Where oh where do I begin when it comes to all the things I'm thankful for? I'll keep it simple: my loving family, my awesome friends, and great boulder problems, hehe. Happy Thanksgiving from Hueco Tanks!
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I’m not much of a crack climber but the most appealing line at the Happies, to me, is a crack climb called Slow Dance v10. It starts low in a cave and the path of usable holds follows the...
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Since the holidays we’ve been spending quite a bit of time at Hueco - surprise, surprise. We’re in our groove, training hard after putting the kids in bed at night, driving to Hueco at the end of the workweek,...
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On Saturday night April's sister Holly arrived in Arizona.
Holly and April
She will be staying with us for the rest of the summer, working in Tucson and joining us on our crazy adventures. To start off, our...
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Our decision is made. We're going to do the whole drive back to Tucson in one day to maximize our time in the valley. We're not leaving until tomorrow morning! Woohoo! So what to do with this last glorious full...
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Click on the picture to play the video!
April's sister Holly is back again with us for the summer. Last weekend we took her up to the Gloria's bouldering area in...
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Had a halloween woody session last week which turned out to be a blast! Thanks to everyone who came out and helped us make a dent in of our pile of donuts and cider.
My...
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Another outing over the weekend - this time a little bouldering on The Matterhorn.
The Matterhorn Boulder
Dried boogers, dried drool and a granola bar
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Click on the photo to see more.
Psyched! Powder! Fun! - Paul at Snowbird Utah
Click on the photo to see more.
Psyched! Powder! Fun! - April at Snowbird Utah
Click on...
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We're on the road! ...climbing, camping and visiting friends and family. First stop is Priest Draw in Flagstaff with the intent of finishing off the boulder problems we had tried a couple weeks prior. Paul succeeded. ...
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Yesterday April's Dad and I rented a chainsaw and cut down the dead tree that was in our front courtyard. We got a nice late start in the day here in Tucson. It was about 3:00PM when we...
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Here are a few shots of a recent hike on Mt. Lemmon with Grandma & Grandpap. After a nice picnic lunch in Marshall's Gulch we did the Aspen Trail to Marshall's Gulch Trail loop. A beautiful day for...
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Last weekend when the temps in Tucson exceed 100 degrees we packed up our pads, rounded up a crew and headed north to Priest Draw in Flagstaff Arizona. Our friends were psyched, the 25 oz. margaritas were half off...
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Digger Man invited Silas over to his house for a digger demo in the snow. This might perhaps have been the best day of Silas' life. :-)
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I emailed friends today because I was really psyched to find out there is going to be a new climbing movie coming out. Movement Films is going to release something rad. It looks like most of the footage...
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Everyday we (April, I, Vince, Tammy, Marcus, Morgan, and Senga) rush. We are always in a hurry and have a million things to do. Now, it's time to put things in slow motion because we are on vacation!...
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Paul sent this weekend! A big thanks to John for putting together this sweet little video.
Paul ticks Lolita, v10/11 at Priest Draw
My turn is next: Imogene less than 2 weeks...
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We thought two rest days would be plenty of time to recover and come back to RMNP and crush our harder problems. Well, we thought wrong. When we attempted to warm up yesterday it was clear, we need...
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A couple shots from a nice hike over last week's Thanksgiving break.
The Marshall's Gulch trail - our usual
Wonder what this sounded like when it snapped?
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As I write this I am bouncing along on the back seat of the van, cruising down the interstate with Ivan chattering to his stuffed bear next to me. Paul is at the wheel be-boppin’ to tunes and Silas...
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The itch is back to do some running while we take a break from the bouldering. Thankfully the desert temps have been so amazing this month that we've been able to knock out significant mileage without having to wake...
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Over breakfast the little one is lamenting the fact that his lego creations aren't as cool as his older brother's. He says (and I quote), "I just don't have the experience to create designs as complicated as Silas."
Whoa.
posted by...
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We've put together a video of the "Super Bad" duo, Holly and Joe, ticking off some of the classic boulder problems at Priest Draw in Flagstaff, Arizona. Watch out, they are climbing S T R O N G.
After last year being as mild as an Arizona Christmas, and with the kids now big enough to have some REAL fun...I was secretly wishing really really hard for there to be snow somewhere in the east that we could...
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Paul and I spent Fri and Sat of Memorial Day weekend at Hueco....deadset on sending.
Click the pic to see the Theatre of the Absurd video
Friday morning, we woke up to rain....
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After Yosemite we spent a couple weekends climbing around on some local stuff. Here's Paul sending Block Obama, v10
Then a final Hueco trip for the...
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This would have been one of my last workouts before departing for Yosemite and another attempt on Shadow Warrior (v12). Now I have a good excuse to stay...
Mint is essentially an invasive species in my garden. I transplanted it from mine and Silas' little herb container garden we had last summer into the big garden, and now this spring/summer it's popping up everywhere. Everywhere! ...
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Another trip to Hueco last weekend gives me another big send to add to my ticklist! I did Mr. Serious, v8 first try of the day! Woohoo! This climb was the other biggie I had my sights set...
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Mornings are always a challenge. Most parents can probably relate. Coaxing the kids out of bed, urging them to hurry it up getting dressed and packing their lunches and making their beds, checking their pants to...
Finally we decided that it was time to take a little break from Hueco and hang out at home in Tucson. We spent the weekend relaxing at home. Relaxing for us means non-stop stuff going on from the...
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It all started with Silas' fascination with dams. Yes, dams. As mentioned here, last winter Silas took an earnest interest in all the old dams at Hueco. As a result, our entire family became a lot...
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In the dark wee hours of the morning I awoke with alarm to the hard pitter patter of raindrops on the van's roof. Noooooo!!! Today was supposed to be my chance at sending Better Eat Your Wheaties! Grrrr....
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It's official, people. Paul sent Slashface!!! Yesterday afternoon, after what started off as a nightmare of a day due to our radio being dead as a doornail because of accidentally being left on all weekend, we finally got things working...
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This year's 4th of July adventure takes us to Maple Canyon, Utah. We leave tonight...actually, in about 5 minutes. We're waiting for our friend Marcus to finish his thesis and hand it in so we can drive by...
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For the last few years we've spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Hueco with our dear Pittsburgh climber friends. Alas, this year they didn't make the cross-country trek (but will later in the season! Stay tuned!), so we decided...
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For as long as I can remember, Silas has always had a major attraction to dirt. Nearly every outdoor photo I have of him (in locations where dirt is plentiful), he has it on his face, covering his hands, under...
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Yesterday it looked like it was going to rain all day. There were thick black clouds over the Catalina Mts. but for the most part they stayed put. They didn't drop anything on our house. April and...
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So here's the story of the real reason why we've been so busy lately (and neglecting the blog so sporadically!). Settle in folks, this might turn into a bit of a novel, haha.
During the spring of last year, I...
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The year's summary in photos. Well, not really. We did a lot more than what is shown below but were really bad about capturing photos this year. I'll try harder next year. ;-) ...
Like I said before, "I hate looking at the weather forecast." But I don't have to look at a forecast to know that climbing this weekend is going to be all rained out. Oh well. We've gone...
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This is the big day we’ve been dreading: Negotiating our way, safely, to Rocklands.
We check out of the hotel, dump our bags and pads into our cute little euro car and say adios to the parking attendant. No sooner...
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Just the sound of the words 'home improvements' makes me cringe. I hate, hate! embarking upon projects around my house. Yes I agree, hate is a very strong word. So let me clarify by saying it just...
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We ticked off our second trip to Hueco with little Silas last weekend. Yet again, we find ourselves driving home after 2 days of good hard crankin' with the obsessive itch to return ASAP. Paul is 1 move...
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Yesterday April reminded me...“Whoa, whoa whoa. Wait a second here. Before we set foot in South Africa you said, ‘All I want to do is Nutsa V12, if I get that, then a V13 is just icing on...
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After a brutal morning of trying to remove an old tree stump in our courtyard April, her Father and I left the USA. We traveled to Nogales Mexico in search of a Talavera sink. When we arrived we...
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We've decided to call it quits on Hueco a few weeks early this year. We're tired and/or injured, and have some big home improvement endeavors that we'd like to get started on. [We're getting air conditioning in the...
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My friend Raquel got the proudest send of the weekend when she mastered the crimp challenge of See Sharp, v6. This climb travels up a beautiful wave feature on some very bad crimps. It doesn't look that hard...
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My parents are here! We spent the day in Mexico shopping around and had lunch at a great resturant. Many thanks to our friend Gina. She recommended the resturant "La Roca" and told us how to get...
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I know, I know. This site is practically dormant! And it's not because we haven't been having any fun adventures, I swear! There's been a lot going on this summer and I kinda let this get away...
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With the recent arrival of our little guy we've been busy developing our new "routine." We've got climbing fever bad and are setting our sights BIG on some projects for 2010. We'll be announcing our tick lists soon....
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#10. Because pushing two kids isn't easy, despite the fancy, expensive, lightweight, smooth-rolling rig (B.O.B. Ironman Duallie, aka "Double Bob" in our household). All the roads around here are flat too -...
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What happens to boys that are forced to sit too long in their carseats? Uncontainable goofiness.
<a class="imagelink" href="http://www.apadventures.net/images/headingWest/4.jpg"...
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Not bitter as in “bitter cold”, which it was this weekend indeed (high 40’s and windy at Hueco!). Bitter as in I’m bitter that I felt like crap this weekend! After last weekend’s amazing big link...
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...
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The pic says it all. I have a hard enough time resisting to run through sprinklers by myself while I'm running. With two kiddos it was impossible. This woman walking her dog even almost decided to join...
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Better Eat Your Wheaties. Done.
Last Thursday may perhaps hold the most memorable send of all time for me. I finally (FINALLY!) completed a boulder problem I'd been dreaming about doing for...
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So I was convinced that the next time I posted here would be my news of finally sending a v9. And that wasn’t me being hopeful or naive or tough. No, it was real. I...
Click on the photo to see more.
April - Running on the North Kaibab Trail
Today is October 2nd...our wedding anniversary. Paul and I have spent this celebration day hobbling around with sore legs and big smiles....
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A few final photos from Grandma & Papa's visit before they left for home:
Grandma & Ivan
Papa & Silas playing in the pool with Silas' "guppies" (little...
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This October 2nd will mark TEN YEARS of marriage for Paul and I. Although ten years does kind of sound like a long time, to me it feels as though Paul and I have been together much longer. I reason...
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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. ...
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Today we got an early start so we could have plenty of time to prepare our dinner that afternoon. Unfortunately for us though, early meant COLD! I swear it was below 30 degrees!!!! ...and I refused to...
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Thanks to the upcoming marriage of our dear friends Jenna and Kate in upstate NY and ridiculously high airfare prices, we’ve been prompted to embark upon a cross-country journey with the kids and Morgan in the van. We left...
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Had some friends over tonight and tried making fondue with our Vitamix 5000. It worked out pretty good. We'll just have to run about 10 miles tomorrow to burn this meal off...
Click on the...
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Click on the picture to see the photos
This weekend Paul, the dogs (Morgan and Senga) and I went for a trail run up near the summit of Mt. Lemmon. Our friend Courtney showed us this really...
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We've had a GREAT last couple of days here at Hueco. Brian ticked off West Mountain's 1969, v9 in a day, Jen sent Sex After Death (her first v8!!!), as well as the notoriously stout El Burro, v3, AND...
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We did a little jaunt with Joe and Holly yesterday: a loop up and around Grandeur Peak above Salt Lake City. Only about 10 miles and 4000+ feet elevation gain. 😉
Yesterday was Paul’s Birthday. Hip hip hooray! Keeping with the birthday celebration trend set forth on Manu’s October birthday here in Bishop, Paul and I ventured out on a little hike. This time around Lake Sabrina, our...
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It's hard to believe. My baby is 1 year old now. He's walking and talking. He smiles, waves, points and gives hi-5's. He eats pizza. He pets Morgan. He knows how to use the...
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Well here we sit in our favorite sandwich place in Las Cruces, NM, on our way home from Hueco. Sadly, we are not talking about my send of Baby Martini (my first V6) because, well, I didn't send it...nor...
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It rained early the morning of Day 3. We made pancakes, scored some free hot chocolate and coffee in the Ahwahnee Hotel, scoped boulders and rested.
Now on to Day 4:
Silas...
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Now that we've finally reached this glorious phase of parenthood where both kids can walk on their own two legs for more than 100 feet, I've been taking advantage of the gorgeous winter temps here in the desert to bang...
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Sunday Paul and I spent the day hanging out at the house....a rare occurance for us, so it was quite nice. We even treated ourselves and slept in, haha...till 7:30am.
Sunday night we threw a little fiesta at La Casa de...
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As I studied the razor sharp crimps of the partially chalked, slightly overhanging wall, home to the classic Right El Murray (v8), my friend Justin said, “Hey, are you going to try that climb? Good luck dude, because if...
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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...
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Finally, we had a woody session at our house this evening. It was really nice getting back in touch with good friends and we all had a lot of fun. My abs hurt more from laughing with friends...
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Time to climb!
Paul doesn't hesitate and jumps right on the 4-star smear-y, stem-y and tall classic Once Upon a Time, v3
I settle for Alobar, v2
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Our first weekend back after the France trip and we have another friend in town. Our friend Marcus (also from Germany, ahh! they're following us!) and his friend Brian from Alaska are here on a month long roadtrip in...
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Paul's sister-in-law Francine was here for a short visit this weekend. It was her first time seeing Silas and her first time in Tucson. As for showing her the sites, we packed in as much as reasonable....leaving plenty...
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We've made a few trips up to Flag this late summer/early fall to kick off our winter bouldering season. Feeling strong! Woohoo!
<a class="imagelink" href="http://www.apadventures.net/images/flagstaffKickoff/3.jpg"...
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A good gift is something that you would like to receive yourself. When I asked April what she really wanted for her birthday she said, "I want to go bouldering!" I quickly replied, "Simple, you got it (as...
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The day after we arrived in upstate New York we enjoyed Christmas again with my family. Silas ran wild with his cousins the ENTIRE day.
Storytime with cousin Carley, who only sometimes has...
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Today is my birthday. 38 years young, baby! And this morning I got one of the best birthday gifts EVER. EVER!! It all started at breakfast. Silas mentioned his loose tooth hurting more than usual...
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Here we are in Flagstaff, Arizona, sippin' coffee and resting our weary selves at the Late for the Train coffee shop. Our extended weekend started off yesterday, Friday. We slept in at home in Tucson, then packed...
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Hueco bouldering plus the Mesilla Valley Pumpkin Patch makes for a great weekend!
"Can we PLEEEEEEEEASE wash the van window??!!!!!"
Brotherly love on Honkey on a Donkey, v0
<a...
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Another awesome weekend! Here is a little video of a session I had at the Mars Roof. What an amazing boulder! It's my favorite at The Draw. Stay tuned...we have a few more videos to post.
Click...
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Last week Silas turned FIVE YEARS OLD! Yes, FIVE. Can you believe it?! I can't. No, really, I'm serious, I seriously can't believe it. Four was still kinda-sorta-toddler. When one says 'he's four' phrases...
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Man...I'm so tired right now. I'm going to be quick and say that we had another awesome weekend. April's father is in town visiting with us while doing business and we managed to squeeze in some time to...
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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...
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After three days in the car traveling across the United States, Paul and Morgan and I started getting “van-fever.” We needed a break and Salt Lake City happened to be just around the next bend....literally. We decided to...
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Well, the Bambino has officially been initiated. Silas got to enjoy his first Hueco trip this weekend! And enjoy it he did! He spent most of his climbing time snuggled up warm in his snowsuit puffy, chillin'...
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Grandma's garden and berry bushes are bursting with yumminess! So Silas did A LOT of veggie and berry picking with her during his stay. I finally snapped a few photos the day before we left:
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Although it may be a full month until the actual first day of summer, life is obviously different here in Tucson. "Summer" is in full swing. Has been. And typically around this time of year we take...
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Last weekend there was we made an opening in our schedules and took the familiar journey along I-10 to our favorite climbing spot. The mission was simple: sample some climbs, choose our next projects and return home, psyched...
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So it pretty much hasn't stopped snowing since we've arrived at Grandma and Papa's house. This morning we measured 20 inches but like I said, it's still coming down. Earlier today my mom, sister Katie and I (and...
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Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!! Another low gravity weekend at Hueco! We're on a roll people! :-) Thanks to cool temps and a whole lotta psyche we've got some more sends and significant progress to report. Here's the weekend...
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A couple days drive east takes us to our next destination, Coopers Rock in West Virginia. Coopers is a place that we climbed at often back when we lived in Pittsburgh. Paul LEARNED how to climb at Coopers!...
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Well, temps hit 100 yesterday. The southwest summer is here and Hueco is cooked to a crisp. The season was fun as always but ticks weren't outrageous this time around. I set some pretty high goals for...
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For starters, the climb called Full Service on the Hardman Rock is described by the Hueco guidebook as a mega-classic. It's been over 3 years since we've gone on a tour to the East Mountain area of Hueco so...
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A few pics from our last trip in December right before the holiday. No sends of our projects yet - we've picked some hard ones this season! Time to up the game for 2011.
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We’re back in the east now! Yes, the traveling continues. From Yosemite we swung through Tucson for a quick status check on our house, then boarded a plane headed east; headed home...
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Amongst my many failed attempts at Better Eat Your Wheaties last weekend, we decided to seek out a bunch of new stuff. Not new as in new climbs that have recently been put up but new as in new...
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For Christmas this year Paul and I decided to give the kids an 'adventure' versus 'stuff'. On Christmas morning Silas and Ivan opened envelopes containing tickets for A RIDE ON THE DURANGO & SILVERTON NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD!!!!!!! Now,...
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Daytime temps are cooling, nights are crisp and we're back to the same 'ol same 'ol that we love, Hueco Tanks, Texas. The start of this season has been a bit of a bummer though for Paul. His...
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...and you can expect to see even more. The Pittsburgher's are coming to the desert this weekend. Stay tuned...
Silas raisin' the roof
Paul...
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"What's the furthest you've ever hiked for bouldering?"
My father asked me this question last week. And last week I responded with a reference to a heinous approach in Joshua Tree, California to an area called The Underground. If...
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Conveniently, our dear friends JR and Emily live on the route between Paul's parents and mine so we get to see them every time we come east. And even more conveniently, they too have two little ones. Two...
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Arizona is the best!
Last weekend was part 2 of April's parents' Arizona visit. Paul, Vicki, April and I all traveled to Sedona for some beautiful sightseeing. We spent Friday touring the town and then headed up to Flagstaff...
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Turns out our trip north got delayed after all due to snow - but only for a day. Not such a big deal for our desert family whose been dreaming of the white stuff since November...at least. Paul...
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Our next and final stop on this two week whirlwind was my hometown in upstate New York. Just another short 3 day visit here, but jammed packed....with....COUSINS, COUSINS, COUSINS! My parents had all 7 of their grandchildren together...
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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...
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More fun stuff that I neglected to report from this past spring...
Our dear Pittsburgh friends made their annual pilgrimage to Hueco Tanks. I'm just going to share what I personally consider to be the highlight of the trip. Jen arrived...
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Today should have been a full-on climbing day for us. Instead, the dang Cederberg mist blew in and hung around all morning. We still however, managed to get out for a couple hours in the early evening; a...
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What do you do when it's your last Hueco weekend, your car breaks down, and your manager calls and says you have to work?...
Personally, I didn't care at all. I've pulled off some sends...
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This weekend Paul, myself, my sis Holly, her boyfriend Joe, lil Morgie and our friend Matt headed up to Flagstaff, AZ for some fun in the cooler temps. We camped at the campground on Upper Lake Mary and bouldered...
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Many things didn’t go well last year, our garden included. Home bound with the pandemic last spring we had decided to do a planting, but even under our tender loving care it never had a chance. ...
What do you suppose is going on here?
a) An attempt to bring waterpark fun to the desert: Instead of waterslides, you have sandslides!
or
b) The next American Gladiator event where only those with the biggest kahunas dare to...
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Silas' first pair! ...and he *loves* them. He even cried a little last night when I went to take them off. Thank you Jen, for the great recommendation.
<a class="imagelink" rel="”lightbox[shoes]”<p><p>"...
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This post is rather delayed, but still wanted to share. Here are a few photos of a trip to Meteor Crater with Paul's Aunts, Jude and Ann earlier in August. Can you believe we'd never been?! Totally...
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Time for a quick update on the climbing front. Paul and I are still here in Bishop, frantically trying to wrap up our long, long ticklists. We’re hoping to ditch out of here in about a week and...
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We need a vacation. Ha! This hilarious ‘necessity’ was realized on Friday, sitting in our leaky and cold Blokhuys cottage, waiting for the rain to stop and Paul’s knee to heal. More rain was scheduled for Saturday...
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With Silas now a certified big-kid bike rider, we do our stroller run / bike ride combos at nearby parks that have nice paved paths (without cars!). Last week the kids had a real treat. Our path was...
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My road to recovery is really my road to revenge against the boulder problem Dark Age. I walked by it today, exactly 1 month since I blew my ring finger out while linking a crucial section of it. ...
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We climbed. We hiked. We climbed. We camped. We climbed. We climbed some more. And mama sent! (Which never happens in Yosemite). Photo log below. Video coming soon.
My buddy John and I ticked off an AMAZING trail run yesterday that's worthy of a webpost: Sabino Basin. Beginning at the Sabino Canyon visitor center we ran the classic Phoneline Trail up the canyon, continuing up to the...
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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....
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..are alike. Here are some Silas vs. Ivan photos in months 0 to 6. I love seeing the similarities, but more so the differences. Now at 6 months, Ivan is definitely growing into his own unique look. His eyes are...
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For Mother's Day this year not only did I get lots of love from my Silas and new baby Ivan, but also a brand new cutie running outfit, a yum blueberry pancake breakfast, a short climbing session on our home...
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It's a good thing we've been doing a lot of trail running the past few months because we had to sprint through the airport to catch our connecting flight to Pittsburgh. Thank goodness because the next available flight was...
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We're in Colorado now and bouldered at another place we've never been, Poudre Canyon, just west of Ft. Collins. At this elevation the Aspen are in full color. Beautiful area, beautiful boulders and beautiful temps! Too bad...
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After 7 total weeks of having the grandparents here in one combination or another (first my mom, then my mom & dad, then Paul's mom, then Paul's mom & dad), it is now just the 4 of us. It's...
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PTA = PAIN, TORTURE, AGONY
During a Pittsburgh coop bouldering session our good friend Jr came up with what he called, "PTA Training." It is something that I always think about when I'm working out. I just finished a...
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Summer is now officially over and the Hueco Tanks trips have started back up. Paul is eager (to say the least!) to get back on Slashface, having fallen off the top of it last spring on our final trip...
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Costumes, pumpkin carving and good boulders to climb. What better way to spend a holiday?!
This year's ideas: A crow and a crocodile. Thankfully these costumes were mostly hot glue and only a bit...
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The big day finally arrived - last Saturday was Imogene Pass Run. And...well...I finished it!! Woohoo!!!! With my dear friends and family cheering me on as I came barreling down the homestretch into town, I crossed the...
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A good hour drive away from our rustico was a place called Magic Wood. Famous for hard problems such as The New Base Line, The Never Ending Story, Massive Attack etc. Magic Wood hosts a large collection of boulders...
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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...
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Wanted to share a few fun running photos we've snapped lately:
Linda and Paul looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the start of a Mt. Lemmon run
My summit...
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Today’s bouldering day was at the Riverside Boulders. Again, amazing boulders in an amazing setting. I’d seen in a video that Riverside holds the ultimate...
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Upon returning to Flagstaff with Jen, Brian and family in tow, we soon learned that friends John and Mandy with their four kids were also going to meet us there. 8 kids on a climbing trip! Gah! ...
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After three days of rain earlier this week we began to feel, for the first time this trip, that we were being rained out of a few valuable climbing days. In actuality I think we benefited well from some...
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This Memorial Day we had a long 4 day weekend off from work so we decided to pack the Subie with 4 adults, 1 dog and a crapload of gear and zoomed the 12 hours to Bishop, California. It...
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This is a long standing project for April which she can finally add to her tick list. Congratulations!
Click on the picture to play the King Cobra videoPosted...
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Two weeks ago, Paul and I, our friend Courtney, my sister Holly and Morgan were running along some trails up at the top of Mt. Lemmon. As we were trotting along, Courtney brought up the idea of Paul and...
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Paul and I are sitting in the Phoenix airport right now. (Free airport internet! Cool!) We're awaiting our flight to Seattle. In Seattle, we will meet up with Paul's parents and then spend the next week...
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a) I've decided that I'm NOT sharing my hard-earned veggies with the desert critters anymore.
b) We need to go bigger because we are veggie devouring machines.
c) I've since learned a thing or two about growing food...
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We're up here in RMNP again. This time for a 3 day onslaught. Yesterday climbing, today resting, tomorrow climbing.
Today's rest day included a hike and chess. We hiked the Flat Top Mountain trail (towards Flat Top mountain)....
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Apologies to all for the lack of updates recently. We've been busy inching our way west over the last week.
Since we last spoke, Paul and I said our goodbyes to the South African boulders and boarded a flight headed...
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...as do the diapers, wipes, bottles, toys, changing pad, baby Patagucci fleece hoodie, burp cloth, extra outfit in case of a diaper blow-out, plastic garbage bag to hold diaper blow-out, books, binky, sunhat (~5lbs), baby backpack and baby (22lbs).
Add to...
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Our 6th annual November Yosemite Valley trip has finally come to a close and we’re in the van now, driving back to Tucson. Yesterday’s climbing day had the psyche but not the juice to pull off any...
A Hueco Tanks boulder problem, yes. But also the vibe that's been lurking out back at the woody as we train to be something great, sneaking around and nipping us in the...
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At the close of 2014 we had put together a little homemade video of our Hueco Adventures from 2014, primarily featuring the time spent on our 2 week Thanksgiving trip with our Pittsburgh friends. I'm finally getting around to posting...
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My little bambino is growing like a weed right before my eyes. Lately it seems each day Silas is showing off a new move. The Steamroller, The Bouncy Sit, The Bouncy Stand, The Bouncy Superman, The Table Slap,...
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Ouch! This hurts. Typing that is. My fingers are thrashed from a RAD Hueco weekend! No major sends to report but both April and I are getting close on our current projects. Recently, after...
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Coffee doesn't have much of an effect in terms of waking you up once you've had a million cups during the work week. I tried drinking an additional coffee on the way to Jacks Canyon last Friday night, to...
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[We've been having technical difficulties here at apAdventures. Everything should be working now. I hope! Sorry for the delay in the summer road trip posts.]
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Next stop on our 2016 summer roadtrip: alpine bouldering on Mt. Evans, Colorado....
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As temps in Bishop soared yesterday to almost 90 degrees Paul, myself, brown dog Morgan and our German friends Grit, Manu and Anke spent the day up at cool 8,500 feet bouldering on the beautiful granite blocks of Rock Creek....
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Another Hueco weekend for us. This time, with our dear friends from Pittsburgh, Jason and Kathy and their friend Stuart. Needless to say, a great weekend was had by all. Some notable sends:
Fri, North Mtn:
Unnamed Slopey (v4)...
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Let me count all the ways last year was not good: lack of summer monsoons being just one item of many. No significant cloud formation even, let alone glorious drops of water falling from the sky....
You haven’t heard much from us because we still haven’t sent our projects. Grrrr! The good news is we decided to extend our trip by another week though. Cute kid pics will thus have to suffice...
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Sorry for the apadventures neglect. Things have been quite busy around here lately. So this entry will be a quick a dirty summary of what we've been up to over the past few weeks:
1. ...
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It seems as though every time I'm really starting to climb strong and kick butt, some annoying injury sprouts itself upon me. So once again, it's happened. I'm sitting at home right now, taking a sick day (aka...
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I am totally blown away with the recent news of Adam Ondra's climbing success. He has already and will push the limits of route climbing and bouldering to new levels. Just the other day he flashed Confessions, v14...
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Happy Birthday Manu! A Bishop birthday celebration isn’t complete without some yummy “Pullaway” bread from Erick Schat’s Bakery and a pleasant hike up to Piute Pass with your bestest buds:
The kids have really excelled on their instruments over this last last year. Silas even picked up a new one (banjo) and is moving right along on it. I realize how very lucky I am to...
Good News, Part 1:
Now that our celebrations are slowing down I've got a chance to announce that April broke through to a new level in her climbing! The other day April burled her way through a kneebar-free send of...
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Silas' grandparents (my parents) were here in town last week, just in time for the start of our desert monsoon season. The rain and humidity along with my parent's presence were all...
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Desert driving, climbing boulders, hiking rock, fireside ghost stories, joshua tree forests, gushing waterfalls, El Cap awe, sore legs, big smiles.....the list goes on and on. This is *the* official trip report for our first Sportsmobile camper van adventure,...
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Location: Beautiful pine forest setting of Flagstaff Arizona
Elevation: 7000ft
Objective: Get up off the couch and knock off the Annual Soldiers Trail Run. The 10K version!
Check out our pics and see how awesome the setting is for the race....
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Just a few updates on some things. Over the past week, Paul and I have made substantial progress toward deciding on our dream car that we'd like to get soon: A campervan! A Sportsmobile, to be exact....
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We made it back from Fontainebleau France and are going about our daily routines. When we recover from our travels we will have videos and pictures up sometime Sunday. Stay tuned for the summary of all the stuff...
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We've ditched the projecting in Bishop and are now refreshing our motivation here on the Yosemite boulders. Stay tuned for a more thorough post of the classics that have already gone down.
posted by pjv
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So now that we’ve reached a high point in our home improvements (Porch, done. Guest House Bathroom, done. Main House Bathroom, done. Hot Tub Shade Roof, done.), it’s time to update you all with more serious matters:...
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First and foremost, all of our trips are stellar…for the record. But this one for sure is bound to be a little more special than most, as I’ve been suffering from a bit of cabin fever lately. Within...
April and I hate looking at the weather report. We gave it up after moving out west. Why? Because every weekend turns out fun. This last weekend just gave us more proof to show people who...
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After 3 weekends at home (yeah, we actually held ourselves back from climbing) we managed to "seal" up our porch roof to our house. Perfect timing huh? Right when the monsoon season is coming to an end here...
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Scored a campsite in Rock Creek en route to Tuolumne! And what’s more - it had just rained when we arrived. Now, this may not be exciting to most. But for us, pure heaven. ...
Happy Birthday to me! November 10th was my b-day but finally I was able to co-ordinate my schedule with FedEx and I picked up my birthday present.
Thank you April for getting me a new crashpad! ...
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I've mentioned before that I'm a climbing news junkie but I haven't posted anything recently about climbing current events. So, I found an opportunity to summarize in one entry. So, here! Check out the newest video from...
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As predicted, Mike and Raquel have settled into the Rocklands groove with ease. The climbing here is very similar to that of Hueco Tanks, of which we are all very much accustomed to. And slowly but surely, the...
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I've wanted to do this for a long time. We FINALLY have a user-friendly spot on the site to view all of the videos we've posted here at apAdventures over the years. See the "Videos" link on the...
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I have been the biggest climbing news junkie ever, the past few weeks. I figured I'd share some of my news sources so others can see how the sport of bouldering is getting pushed beyond the current limits,...
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Our early evening arrival
Campsite for the night right next to the boulders and not another soul around for miles. Life just doesn't get any better...
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Wow. We've been busy. I also nearly forgot how to post an entry since it's been so long. Recently we haven't been up to much climbing. Just hanging out with family and working on our never...
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It's healthy to have dreams. It's even healthier to turn one of those dreams into reality. A colleague once told me that he prefers to have hundreds, thousands! of dreams. Because with thousands of dreams, there's a...
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Our Thanksgiving weekend was spent chillin' in Utah with good friends, good food, good scenery and most of all GOOD CRACK(s). We maximized our short time getting schooled on some of the most amazing crack climbs in the country....
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...or shall I say Mid-Summer's Eve? There were clouds over Tucson this morning. Clouds, glorious clouds. Stepping out of work, I breathed in the oh-so-yummy smell of humidity. Clouds in Tucson bring humidity...just a teensy bit...
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...that I forgot to post about! - my trip east to help out my friend Cara during her battle against breast cancer. Thanks Cara for calling me out, haha. ;-)
Cara...
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I realize this post is a few days late but better now than never. These pics are too cute not to share. Of course I'm biased. :-)
Ivan was hilarious to...
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Early evening on Saturday, May 12, 2007 a small group of family and friends gathered amidst the boulders of the Buttermilks to witness the marriage of a good friend of our’s, Linda, to her very special person, Jay. And...
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We had another birthday recently. Is it just me or are the birthdays ticking by at a faster and faster rate??!!!!
Silas is now 7. SEVEN! And for his 7th birthday he wanted to go to Joshua Tree...
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So remember when I said winter was over here in the southwest? Well, I spoke too soon. Monday a cold front blew in and yesterday we awoke to FREEZING and WINDY conditions. I'm not at all exaggerating....
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Joe bought a long board last week. And on our way down into Nederland (cutsey little hippie town in the mountains above Boulder), he decided to try it out for the first time. Steep mountain roads...
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I better not write much because I need to get to bed. I just worked late, ran, climbed, sat in the hot tub and then tried to start a new hobby...astrophotography. Here is what I managed to capture...
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Yesterday was a climbing day. On the agenda was Bloody Flapper Traverse, v9 then Slashface, v13, maybe Mo Mojo, v11/12 and then Ultramega, v8. Trying to warm up for Bloody Flapper Traverse I realized I was still extremely...
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Gah! I did it again! I got plenty of photos of the boys at Hueco this past weekend but none of us climbing!! We really did climb, I promise. No major sends to report yet. Paul...
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And the final destinations:
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Durango, Colorado
And now on to Fall 2015. Hope we have just as many adventures to report!!
Posted by arr
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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...
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We spent like 16 hrs. traveling today. It was totally worth it! The climbing at Maple Canyon was...uh...STELLARRRRRRRR!!! I really feel like we just went on a true vacation because I can't...
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Father and son. Sunset Trail, Mt. Lemmon, Arizona
The whole family. Sunset Trail, Mt. Lemmon, Arizona
Sunset Trail, Mt....
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Silas giving mama a High Five for a Hueco season well done
Well, we are officially finished with Hueco for the season. Some really nice cool temps stretched just barely into May this...
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From www.Climbing.com:
"Sometimes called the single best...
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The first stop on our list is Priest Draw. Although we’ve bouldered here many, many times before, our journey routed us right through Flagstaff so why not stop, even if just for...
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Cutting the hole with the ice auger
Scooping out the slush
Setting a tip-up in a secondary hole. "Tip-up" is...
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Note: Despite the wetness on Ivan's shorts that would appear to be pee but claimed as a monsoon mud puddle splash, it's official that the...
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Hello friends! I hope this greeting finds you all happy and healthy and enjoying this holiday season with loved ones. It's been quiet here on apAdventures this later half of the year...
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The snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains
Our campsite
The Buttermilk Boulders!!!!!! :-D 
Grit on Iron Man,...
Posted by arr
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Yes, it...
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Paul - Toppin' out at the Pollen Grains
Paul and I flew back east for our family “Thanksgiving” two weekends ago,...
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I'm really gonna have to keep my eye on this kid.
posted by ARR
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Sister Katie and I threw a bachelorette party for sister Holly
Holly's party destination choice: Vegas
On the agenda: drinking,
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Silas practicing his bike riding skills with Pap Pap
Keeping Ivan from uprooting plants and making a break for the street. ;-)
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Courtney - Climbing one of the many classic problems at the Happies
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Paul still battles the endurance factor on Pink Lightning, v11
...and I move on to my next victim, Meat Eater, v7. This thing has been a...
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Posted by pjv
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Justin Wood sending Le Coeur at L'Elephant, 7a. Fontainebleau, France. March 2006.
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Mama and Silas coloring eggs last night
5 cracked eggs out of a dozen (mr. yellow here...
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More snow coming down! Let's head outside yet again!
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Me warming up on the Marble Cake boulder at Hairpin
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April on Mexican Chicken V6
As climbers we are always looking for the perfect combination of events that make us succeed. You know, after a day of success you look back on the things you did right...
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The sink and cabinet are in place. Needs grout.
Extra Shelves....
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We couldn't have asked for a better trip:
* Watching Joel, Holly and KT show off...
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<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.apadventures.net/images/monsoonSkies/4.jpg"...
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The last loop in Upper Pines had some major pine beetle infestation and dead trees had to come down (according to rangers). This early in the season, with clean-up still ongoing, we...
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Does this not look like the face of a boy who likes to get into mischief with naughty birds?
<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.apadventures.net/images/photoShootTake2/3.jpg" alt=""...
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Ivan and I have pretty much made it tradition that we make popcorn balls now for Halloween
My own recipe even!
<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.apadventures.net/images/halloweenPics/3.jpg" alt=""...
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Paul and Courtney working the problem Froggy Dick 7b, Fontainebleau France
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The day after we arrived in Pittsburgh we embarked upon an adventure day downtown for the kids: A ride on the subway, a look at the gingerbread and train display in the PPG...
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I'm two
<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.apadventures.net/images/silasBirthday2011/3.jpg" alt=""...
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posted by arr
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Joshua Tree,...
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Fishing with Papa in upstate New York
...and Hazel
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And despite what some would call our "radically healthy diet," we have no qualms what-so-ever about celebrating with cheap Curry Village pizza and beer! Woohoo!posted by arr
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You've seen this shot many times as it is from one of my favorite trails to run, Douglas Springs. But have you seen it THIS green??!!! Yey for summer monsoons!
posted by...
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Tearing down the old porch. Click on the photo to see more.
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An evening stroll along the wash behind our house
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Our Blokhuys cottage on the de Pakhuys farm.
The inside of our...
Bassin', v0 at the Small Potatoes
Martini Left, v10
Serious Legends, v9
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Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape South Africa
We made a quick stop in Phoenix to pick up a new...
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...and fort-building (in the lower right corner of the photo)
out of bounds hockey puck
Silas to the rescue
posted by arr
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posted by pjv
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This...
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Is it possible to “wear out” one’s favorite climbing area? I think this to myself as we speed towards Hueco Tanks Friday evening after work. I was excited, but not “Hueco” excited. ...
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Normally I'm psyched to detail the weekend events and list the highlights of all the amazing things we got to see and do but unfortunately we had to end last weekend...
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Paul sticking the crux move on Nutsa 8a+
Holly and April
She will be staying with us for the rest of the summer, working in Tucson and joining us on our crazy adventures. To start off, our...
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April's sister Holly is back again with us for the summer. Last weekend we took her up to the Gloria's bouldering area in...
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My...
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Psyched! Powder! Fun! - Paul at Snowbird Utah
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Psyched! Powder! Fun! - April at Snowbird Utah
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Paul ticks Lolita, v10/11 at Priest Draw
My turn is next: Imogene less than 2 weeks...
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The Marshall's Gulch trail - our usual
Wonder what this sounded like when it snapped?
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Friday morning, we woke up to rain....
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After Yosemite we spent a couple weekends climbing around on some local stuff. Here's Paul sending Block Obama, v10
Then a final Hueco trip for the...
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Radishes!!!!!
Everything else we planted seems to be doing very well. The lettuce is about ready. The kale is now looking like kale. The...
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posted by arr
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posted by ARR
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#10. Because pushing two kids isn't easy, despite the fancy, expensive, lightweight, smooth-rolling rig (B.O.B. Ironman Duallie, aka "Double Bob" in our household). All the roads around here are flat too -...
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After:
A big thanks goes out to Civano...
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Better Eat Your Wheaties. Done.
Last Thursday may perhaps hold the most memorable send of all time for me. I finally (FINALLY!) completed a boulder problem I'd been dreaming about doing for...
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April - Running on the North Kaibab Trail
Today is October 2nd...our wedding anniversary. Paul and I have spent this celebration day hobbling around with sore legs and big smiles....
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Grandma & Ivan
Papa & Silas playing in the pool with Silas' "guppies" (little...
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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. ...
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This weekend Paul, the dogs (Morgan and Senga) and I went for a trail run up near the summit of Mt. Lemmon. Our friend Courtney showed us this really...
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Ivan's "whale with boogers all over his face"
Construction Worker
Superhero
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We left after work on Thursday evening and...
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Silas...
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Paul doesn't hesitate and jumps right on the 4-star smear-y, stem-y and tall classic Once Upon a Time, v3
I settle for Alobar, v2
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Storytime with cousin Carley, who only sometimes has...
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"Can we PLEEEEEEEEASE wash the van window??!!!!!"
Brotherly love on Honkey on a Donkey, v0
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Silas raisin' the roof
Paul...
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Personally, I didn't care at all. I've pulled off some sends...
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posted by arr
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This year's ideas: A crow and a crocodile. Thankfully these costumes were mostly hot glue and only a bit...
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Silas
Silas
<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.apadventures.net/images/baby/babyBorn -...
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Linda and Paul looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the start of a Mt. Lemmon run
My summit...
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Dragonfly Traverse 7a+ at the Riverside Boulders
Posted...
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A Hueco Tanks boulder problem, yes. But also the vibe that's been lurking out back at the woody as we train to be something great, sneaking around and nipping us in the...
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Manu and Pullaway Bread....
Silas' grandparents (my parents) were here in town last week, just in time for the start of our desert monsoon season. The rain and humidity along with my parent's presence were all...
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Thank you April for getting me a new crashpad! ...
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posted by arr
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Our early evening arrival
Campsite for the night right next to the boulders and not another soul around for miles. Life just doesn't get any better...
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Cara...
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Ivan was hilarious to...
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Ready to hike
Lunch
A nice spot to draw...
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