August 28th, 2011
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 worth seeing if you’re ever thinking about going. Quite an impressive big hole.
The approach to the crater
View into the crater. We were disappointed to learn that you can’t go down into it…
…but Silas found a way.
The Aunties
The fam
The view north toward the Hopi Mesas in a nice desert downpour. We were up in Hopi country the day prior.
posted by arr
July 10th, 2011
Since our last post we’ve been heading up to Flagstaff every chance we get. The monsoons are here now though and Mt. Lemmon has opened back up as of this weekend (hooray!). Chances are however, we’ll continue the trips north. Once we have the Flag itch we just can’t stop. 🙂 Even the baby is addicted…as you can see:
Checking out the holds on Super Roof, v4
Super Roof, v4
Hanging out up on Mt. Humphrey’s waiting for dad to finish his run
Breakfast at the campsite
Walking miles and miles following Silas
Silas telling his friend how to say “Rock!”
Off to the next climbing spot
Man’s best friend
Another friendly dog
Kids turn to climb
Typical Silas on the drive back home: zonked.
posted by arr
June 21st, 2011
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 it involves you, your baby, your baby’s poop, and the accomplishment that you again managed to not get the poop in your baby’s hair or in your baby’s mouth or in your hair or in your mouth. Those are the stories of celebration and triumph. The high-five stories. But only between you and your baby. And maybe your baby’s other parent. Nobody else really seems to care about these things – I know this because nobody ever sets up for a high-five after I finish the story.
Well readers, the time has come. After 1 year and 8 months, the inevitable poop story is here and bursting at the britches to be shared. I thought it was funny. Paul thought it was funny. And Silas giggled like crazy. So maybe you will enjoy it too. What I’m going to tell you next all happened within a matter of seconds. Maybe 2 or 3. Barely enough time for me to get out the words “Poop!” “Morgan!” “No!” Imagine this scene:
I open the door after a long day at work and my little Silas comes tearing through the kitchen, running top speed and squealing his welcome home call, arms outstretched and face and bare chest slobbery with drool. As darling as the scene is, mid-way through the kitchen in mid-chubby leg step, I am alarmed to see a little truffle-sized turd ball fall out of his diaper. Then another. Then another! Then….Morgan! Out of nowhere the brown dog swoops up and EATS the first turd so fast it barely has a chance to roll after it hits the floor. Meanwhile, Silas is still running towards me and I’m trying to blurt some words out at Paul to make it stop – who is preparing dinner at the stove. Whatever I said worked because Morgan froze…staring intently at turd #2, which had hit the floor and almost rolled into the never-never land of under the fridge. Whew. No poop under the fridge? Check – hi-fives. No poop in hair? Check – hi-fives. No poop in mouth? Well, Morgan’s mouth doesn’t count even though it’s still gross. Check – hi-fives.
posted by arr
June 12th, 2011
The Coronado National Forest is in lockdown. No camping, no picnicking, no hiking, no climbing, no trail running, no nothing. Do not enter. The Coronado National Forest encompasses all mountains surrounding Tucson. This means no Catalinas (i.e. Mount Lemmon), no Rincons, no Santa Ritas, no Chiricahuas, nada. Seriously. Due to the extremely dry conditions (and no doubt the fact that the country’s firefighters are all busy fighting other AZ fires), we can’t risk a spark. The mountains are closed until further notice. Read: Rain. And the monsoon season is at least a month out.
We’ve been turned away from the cool forests during the hot summer before – Flagstaff has closed the Coconino Forest in the past (i.e. no Priest Draw), but never on our home turf. And now hanging around the house on this lazy Sunday with the temps cookin’ outside Paul and I are at a loss of what to do to. It just so happens Paul decided to sign up to run Colorado’s Imogene Pass Run this fall to enforce a serious rest from climbing to heal up his elbow tendonitis. Not good. If one can’t get on the trails and run up the mountains, how exactly does one properly train for a 17 mile race that runs from Ouray to Telluride up and over a 13,000+ foot pass? Dunno.
With each southwest summer and the smothering 100+ degree temps it brings, I like to try to compare it to the coldest of cold winters in the Northeast. Only the tough will survive. Only the hardcore will dare go out it in. Only the crazy will actually ..gasp.. enjoy it. So I remind myself of this as I put Silas down for his afternoon nap and glance at the thermostat that reads 102 degrees, and then proceed to go outside into the oven to campus. Tough, yeah. Hardcore, yeah. Crazy, yeah. My mantra has never been so necessary as it is now. What other option do I have? How else can I train? Dunno.
The one thing we do know is that they haven’t closed the Flagstaff forests. No yet anyway. So probably like all other Tucsonians that need to escape the heat we’ll be heading back up there very soon. Here are some photos from last weekend’s trip:
Silas giving his go on a variation of Bat Roof, v3
Contemplating the day’s climbing
Awaiting his power breakfast – hurry it up, Dad, I’m ready to go climbing
Warming up
The usual cuteness
More climbing
Are we heading to the rocks soon?
The drool kiss. I love it.
Finally! We’re at the rocks. Now get climbing mama!
Singing itsy btsy spider on top of his trusty friend
Mama being all spider-like on Meateater, v7
Meateater, v7
posted by arr
May 31st, 2011
Woody needs a facelift. Time for a re-set.
posted by arr
May 29th, 2011
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 myself, perhaps too high? (i.e. Bloody Flapper Traverse – vNINE! What was I thinking?!). And Paul was fighting some severe elbow/forearm tendonitis. The good news, for me anyway, is that I can tell I am stronger now overall as a result of the season and all the training that came along with it. I took a couple weeks off after our last Hueco trip (mainly to loathe in my own self-pity over Bloody Flapper Trvs). And then went back to the woody and put in an impressive campusing session. Maybe I too, like Paul, just need some rest.
Here are some photos wrapping up the Hueco season with our dear friends from Pittsburgh: Jen, Brian and their kids Seb and Oren.
Oren and Seb in The Dark Heart
Paul sending Jiffy Pop, v5
Brian working out Choir Boys Light, v7
Nature Boy Silas
Ranger Boys Seb and Oren
Jen’s big Hueco tick of the ultra classic Dragonfly, v5
Send it Jen!
Silas and his “crib”
>
Paul and Seb lacing up
Paul sending Julio and Me, v9
Silas’ first Transformer experience
Seb’s send of Cheapskate, v0
Jen battling El Burro, v3
Brian sending El Burro, v3
Oren
Brian on Notorious D.I.G., v9
Notorious D.I.G., v9
Paul sending Notorious D.I.G., v9
Silas
Sloper training
posted by arr
April 15th, 2011
…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 on Birth Rights, v3
Birth Rights, v3
Mia checking out the first move on Manteling into the Tub, v2 / Dean’s Journey, v10
Coffee Achiever, v5
Are you peeing?
Goofy boy
Cowboy
Silas, mama and dad
Familiar drive home
posted by arr
March 25th, 2011
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 Marian! :-))) ), I apologize dearly. As most of you know, Paul is neck deep in his spring semester at the UofA. And….it’s Hueco season. Hectic? Very. Let me give you a sneak peek into a typical week in our lives right now:
Weekdays I wake up at an hour in the AM that no human being should ever, EVER be getting up at (unless you’ve got a newborn in your house) and go to work. Paul and Silas go about their day, then Silas goes down for his nap. Paul runs to his computer and bangs away for a couple hours until Silas wakes up. An hour or so later I then arrive home from work and the 3 of us sit down for a nice family dinner. The minute that dinner is over I kiss Paul good-bye and goodnight and he heads out the door to go to class and/or meet with his teammates. Silas and I then go about our evening. I put him to bed, then I go to bed (yes, my bedtime is like 8:30 – LAME). Then sometime in the wee hours of the night Paul arrives back home and then bangs on his computer some more with another cup of coffee and finally, finally comes to bed. And a few hours later my alarm rings and the madness starts again.
So where’s the climbing? Good question. A question that I have to answer daily in my mind between all of my to-do’s because it needs to be scheduled, literally scheduled to the half-hour, into my day. Usually I try to sneak in 1 workout on a weeknight, although trying to get a meaningful workout in while playing with Silas under the woody isn’t typically very successful. Paul usually tries to sneak in 1 workout during the workweek while Silas naps. The weekends we spend home are pretty much more of the above. But the weekends we head to Hueco are truly what is currently maintaining our calm, our sanity and our psyche. Who would have ever thought that a weekend spent playing around on little boulders out in the hot desert could be so powerful? My family is truly blessed to have this addiction in our lives right now.
Here are a couple snapshots of our last trip to Hueco (2 weeks ago):
Me working Better Eat Your Wheaties, v8 again. No progress.
Paul working Crown of Aragorn, v13 again. No progress.
The baby struttin’ his stuff
Rest time
Snack time
Play time
Boo boo
Mama’s playtime: sending Animal Acts, v5
Mia’s turn
And now Tom’s
Paul retrieving our snack container that Silas was playing with – cause throwing toys down cracks is FUN!
My sanity
posted by arr
