apAdventures

Sharing the cuteness:

posted by arr

…especially in summer.

posted by arr

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 during our stay. The kids were wild with swimming, biking, fishing and playing ‘school’ in the playhouse.

Mmmmm, worms!

Ivan determined to catch a fish with cousin Jeremy looking on

Silas getting some pointers from cousin Lily

Whoa. That’s a lot of fisherkids.

Jacob hooks a big one!

And finally, after all the other kids have long since left the pond for another round of ‘school’ in the playhouse, Ivan catches one. He gives it a kiss and tosses the little guy back in “to be with his family.”

posted by arr

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 party with all of Jude’s close family and friends. A great excuse to drive east, right? 🙂 It was a lovely visit. We spent our short 3 days just hanging out and catching up with everyone. Paul’s Uncle Bob and Aunt Marilyn flew into town all the way from Seattle, which was a real treat since they’d never met the kids.

Aunt Jude on the left, rockin’ the red shoes

Party time

The surprise was a success

…months in the making and Jude had no idea. Nice job Ann! (standing, starting the toast)

Paul’s family from left to right – Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Bob, Aunt Jude, Ann, father (Regis) and mother (Marian).

Uncle Bob and Aunt Marilyn joined Paul, myself and the kids on a bike ride on Pittsbugh’s portion of rails to trails

A 6 mile ride!! And Ivan’s cute little legs peddled the whole thing!!

A sunset story time with Grandma

Gorgeous summer night in Pittsburgh

posted by arr

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! Neither of us had been here since we moved out west, 13 years ago. It was quite a treat checking out our old stompin’ grounds and showing the kids around. We met up with our long-time climbing buddies that still live in the east, making it all the more special. And even the weather cooperated with dry, mild days! A good time was had by all.

Paul on the v5 start of Roof Problem

Jen’s turn

Brian going for a repeat of the stellar Shadow Boxer, v6

Ivan eying up Seb’s delicious looking pizza

Oren with rockin’ long hair

Paul on Death Block, v6

Brian gives a go

Paul sends

Ivan on a perfectly kid-sized boulder

Ivan tops out! While Silas and Rhys explore in the background

Paul sending Ship’s Prow, v5

Erin giving Ship’s Mantel, v2 a try

Seth sticks it and sends

Kids build a teepee

Paul gets his one shot in a lifetime to send Tomb Raider Roof, v7, because it’s ALWAYS dipping wet!! But not today. 🙂

Me on Raiders of the Lost Tomb, v5

Paul sends. I do not.

The kids abandon the teepee and build a log cabin instead, complete with flower garden

…while little Ezra just hangs out lookin’ darn cute

The end of our Coopers Rock portion of the trip. We take the kids to the Overlook and savor the green landscape

posted by arr

[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. This was more of a test mission than a sending mission for us. Having last been here 8 years ago (pre-kids), we wanted to see if the little guys were ready for the 3 mile approach to these boulders sitting above 11,000 feet elevation. Psychologically and logistically prepped for a heinously long and grueling day, where the potential of kid-carrying on shoulders was extremely high, we were almost a little disappointed in this turning out to be quite an uneventful day. We left the Echo Lake campground around 7am (adding an additional mile to the approach by not driving over to the trailhead), hiked up to the boulders, climbed all day and hiked back. Back at camp that night around dinner bowls of warm chili the kids were their wild and energetic selves, getting scolded for too much goofing off around the dinner table, not phased a bit about the 8 mountain miles they had just hiked. Just another day out bouldering! Haha.

Echo Lake, Mt. Evans, Colorado – the evening before the big hiking/bouldering day

Site #2 at Echo Lake Campground

Hitting the trail at an alpine boulderer’s start of 7am, haha

Still hiking…

Ivan stops to pick a seeded dandelion so he can make a wish

…many steps later he’s still trying to decide what to wish for. “It needs to be a good one!”

Crossing the log bridges was definitely the highlight of the day for the little guys. We let them cross completely on their own…because, well, they can probably do it without falling in, and also honestly, how’s a person actually supposed to help a kid across a precarious log bridge without the both of you falling in anyway?

Finally at the boulders. Me on The Ladder, v2.

Me about to flail on a v1. Ahhh, granite.

Paul going for a repeat of The Dali, v8

Paul sending Downtrail Face, v6 on the Gateway Boulder

posted by arr

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 we stayed two nights.

Cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde – the Square Tower House

A good sign for a rock climbing family

Ivan and Silas with Cliff Palace in the backdrop

Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America

The 32 foot ladders one needs to climb to get a tour of Balcony House, the “Most Adventurous” tour at Mesa Verde according to the nice docent behind the ticket counter

The view from Balcony House looking down at the approach ladders

Inside Balcony House

Exiting Balcony House…

…first by crawling through a tunnel…

…and then by ascending the ancient “staircase.” (Which I was disappointed to learn from our guide that the carved steps we had ascended are today much larger than the hand-and-foothold trail that was originally carved by the ancient ones so long ago. The steps were enlarged for tourists)

Back at camp and getting ready for bed. Should we wash these things or just tuck them away in the bottom of a sleeping bag?

Watching the sun set over camp

While Paul caves in to the urge to go run up the mesa that we’re staring at

A view from the trail, back down at the campground. Good night Mesa Verde

posted by arr

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. I need to go back.

Early bird gets the worm (or The Anorexic Roof all to themselves)

Paul sending Cosmic Tricycle, v10

The Anorexic Roof

Me NOT sending Meateater, v7

posted by arr

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 happened since the 1980’s! What a treat.

So now that the heat is here, we naturally either head to the pool or to the mountains. Here are some photos of a couple recent trips to Flagstaff. School is out for the summer now too and it’s nice to have our three day weekends back again. 🙂

Intense play: We’ve got a sushi food truck teetering off the edge of a massive cliff, requiring immediate helicopter evacuation! Wait a minute, is that a flying car coming to the rescue!??

Brothers goofin’

Look, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Campsite in the pines

Silas climbing at Priest Draw. A favorite boulder you’ve seen many times here at apAdventures.

Absorbed in sketch

Silas climbing some more. This is a perfectly child-sized boulder that I used to jokingly refer to as the “kids boulder” every time we passed it…back before we had kids!

Topping out the “kids boulder”

Little brother’s turn

Evening fire

Me on Twister, v6

Paul on The Egyptian, v11

Silas’ first ascent of his very own “L-Traverse” which he has deemed “v7 at least!”

And Ivan’s first ascent of his very own “Crusher Climb” which he is still debating the rating. And in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes. They picked out, climbed, named and rated these lines all completely on their own. Paul and I just keep quiet and chuckle amongst ourselves when they’re not looking.

A climb that I’ve been meaning to get serious on and send for nearly 5 years now, Meateater, v7. After two weekends on it, I can confidently say I’m FINALLY serious! Woo! Time to finish this thing already!

And Paul on his latest obsession, Cosmic Tricycle, v10

More Cosmic Tricycle

Ahhh summer: cold forest, warm fire, kids staying up late

A tag-team trail run on the Weatherford Trail on Mt. Humphreys. One of us runs…

…while the other hikes with the kids, and then we switch.

And then we all picnic together in a postcard-picturesque spot such as this. We are loving’ up this summer for sure!

posted by arr

Here is a peak of what we’ve been up to all spring, featuring Mr. Birthday boy himself. Happy Birthday Ivan!

posted by arr