Grand Canyon Training

Mason and I have worked really hard the past couple months walking and hiking. We were invited to hike with a group that hikes the Grand Canyon every year on Memorial Day weekend. Because of my work schedule I wasn’t able to hike every single Saturday hike but my friend Christine offered to take Mason on those hikes. We stuck to the scheduled hikes and walking schedule as best we could. With our busy evenings of spring swim team and meetings Mason and I got up early in the morning to get our walking mileage in. It wasn’t easy Mason got up sometimes as early as 4:30am on school days. We stuck to the schedule pretty well and the anticipated day was approaching. I finally went out and bought some Hiking shoes the week before our big day and tried them out on our evening hike up Piestewa Peak (it’s like the stair master times 10!) Tuesday May 14th, our scheduled hike was a double hike of this mountain up down, up down, and done. Well... on the first trip down the mountain I don’t know exactly what happened but my ankle slipped in a small hole and I fell. Pain shot up my leg and I knew it wasn’t good. I thought I could walk it off so I hiked down the mountain and decided to grit my teeth and head back up. Probably not the smartest move I’ve ever made but I survived. By the end of the hike I could tell the swelling was bad and sadly it only got worse over the next few days.  I shed a few tears over the realization that I had to cancel my hike. Mason was really sweet when I asked him if he still wanted to go he told me he wanted to do it with me. I’m confident Mason and I will train and go next year. That said, we did have some pretty fun hiking experiences and encounter some pretty cute creatures.

Black Mesa Hike

Weaver's Needle in the back ground

Squaw Peak or Piestewa Peak (aka the Stair master)

Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim Hike Schedule

Memorial Weekend, May 2019

Here is the schedule for the Practice Hikes to prepare us for the Canyon hike on May 25.  Please mark your calendars and plan on attending.  

Those marked with an asterisk (*) are considered mandatory hikes.

Tue. – 4/9  6pm   Town Hike  -  5 miles

Thu. – 4/11 6pm   Town Hike  -  5 miles 

*  Sat. – 4/13  7am   Superstition – Fremont Saddle - 5 miles 

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Tue. – 4/16  6pm  Canal Hike – 6 miles

Thu. – 4/18  6pm  Canal Hike - 8.5 miles

*  Sat. – 4/20  6am   Superstition – Hackberry Spring – 5.2 miles

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Tue. – 4/23  6pm  Canal Hike – 7.7 miles

Thu. – 4/25  6pm  Canal Hike -  9.5 miles

Sat. – 4/27   Rock climbing up to Flat Iron. (5.9 miles)

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Tue. – 4/30  5pm  Squaw Peak  -  2.5 miles – bring headlamp

Thu. – 5/2    6pm  Town Hike  -  10 miles

Sat. – 5/4  Fathers and Sons outing – hike if you can

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Tue. – 5/7   6pm  Canal Hike  -  10 miles

Thu. – 5/9  6pm  Canal Hike  -  9 miles

*  Sat. – 5/11  6am  Superstition – Black Mesa – 9 miles 

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*  Tue. – 5/14  4pm  Squaw Peak - TWICE - 5 miles – bring headlamp

Thu. – 5/16  6pm  Canal Hike  -  9 miles

*  Sat. – 5/18  6am  Superstition – Miner’s Needle Loop – 8.7 miles 

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Tue. – 5/21  6pm  Canal Hike – 6.8 miles

Thu. – 5/23  6pm  Town Hike – 3 miles

*  Fri. – 5/24  8am  Drive to North Rim

*  Sat – 5/25 Hike the Grand Canyon-North Rim to South Rim–24 miles

Mason and the Battle of the Books

Mason participated in Battle of the Books again this year. I'm so proud of him. His team won 1st place at his school and moved on to the District finals! I love how he loves to read and I really enjoyed watching him in the competitions. 

 Xavier (one of Mason's best friends), Ruben, and Mason

October 17, 2018 Battle One:

Artemis Fowl by Colfer

Where the Red Fern Grows by Rawls

Jennifer Murdley’s Toad by Coville

My Side of the Mountain by George

January 23, 2019 Battle Two:

A Wrinkle in Time by L’Engle

Castle in the Attic by Winthrop

Rules by Lord

Doll Bones by Black

April 3, 2019 Battle Three

Borrowers by Norton

Island of the Blue Dolphins by O’Dell

The Girl who could Fly by Forester

Riding Freedom by Ryan

April's Birthday Party

April LOVES Unicorns right now so I decided to throw her a Unicorn Birthday Party. We just did it last minute and invited her preschool friends along with a couple others. I think I had a little too much fun with the decor. The older kids were home for the day from school so it was really nice to have them as my party planning helpers. We played pin the Horn on the unicorn; food I went really simple let them decorate their own cupcakes and we had popcorn aka (Unicorn feed) and some marsh mellows (aka Unicorn Poop). April did NOT like the marsh mellows being labeled Unicorn Poop. Haha, it actually made her really mad. I still can't believe she is 4.

Callie's Recital

Callie had her Let's Play Music Recital last week. This is a big deal. It's the end of an era and a graduation from a 3 year long program. This recital is special because the kids get to play a piece of music they composed themselves. Callie is quite the enthusiastic pianist. At home she will pound away and sing at the top of her lungs. I LOVE it! I'm so glad we did this program with her. I think it's the reason she has done so well with singing on pitch. This last Sunday she sang another solo in church on Easter, Gethsemane one of my favorites. I really do love listening to her sing and play.

April is 4

A Best Friend. Coloring queen. Cereal eating machine. Manicure obsessed. Picky eater. Loves Pink. Yoga Buddy. Gluten Free. Sensitive to others feelings. Toe walker. Animal lover. Loves all things in the sky air planes/sun/moon/stars/sunsets/rainbows. Mommas girl. 

1460 days in a crib and counting (I've never had a kid last this long in a crib)

 

Meet my best friend. We do yoga in the park together. She goes shopping with me and compliments me on everything I try on. She tells me multiple times a day “Mommy. You my best friend” (except when she’s mad at me then she says “I guess I not you best friend anymore!”... but minutes later she will come to me apologetically saying “I sorry. I you best friend.”)

April can sense and interpret others feelings. She somehow always KNOWS when I need a hug. She has incredible empathy. Even watching movies she’s is good at interpreting the mood and will oooo and aww at appropriate moments in the show and displays sadness during somber scenes. Likewise during scary or intense parts of movies/cartoons she will run to the corner of the room and lay down to hide her face until the “bad guy” goes away. 

She is a CHAMPION sleeper. Goes to bed easily (sometimes even asking to go to bed). Her only requests are a song or two and then she’s out for the night. In the mornings she wakes up crawls out of the crib (yes she’s still in a crib. I don’t know what to do. I’ve never had a kid in a crib this long. She loves it and sleeps great so... why mess with perfection?!?) usually around 6:30am she comes and climbs in bed with Ron and I to snuggle for a few minutes.

Noah’s roller-blades

A couple months ago Noah decided he really wanted roller-blades. I told him to save his money and if he had enough I would take him to buy some. He had $45 and we went to the local sporting goods store. We found a pair of roller-blades that fit great and seemed decent quality. He was short a few dollars so we made a deal for how he could earn the extra money and we bought the roller-blades that night. I was very impressed with how quickly Noah picked up rollerblading. I thought maybe he would fall a few time and lose interest. He never gave up and even road rash after road rash incident kept at it. It probably helped that his 2 best friends Lincoln and Christian are constantly asking if Noah can roller-blade in the neighborhood. Lincoln is pretty good at rollerblading and did a lot to help teach Noah. Makes me happy that Noah has such good active friends.

Left to right: Lincoln, Noah, Christian