" The Red Mountains"

This past weekend we spent in Sedona - or, as I told Nate when we counted down, that we were going to"the red mountains". The kids had a wonderful time! (mommy and daddy are wishing for a bit of sleep but it was fun to watch the kids have a good time!) They both did awesome in the car, watched a bit of a movie but otherwise played with cars, looked out the window. As soon as we got there we had some lunch and then began our first hike - West Fork Trail. This is one of our favorites since it takes place going in a creek, so it was cooler down there (what a relief it was to get away from our first few days of 100 degree weather, but even a few hours north it was still around 90).

No daddy, not in the water!

 

 

 

 

After about three hours hiking, (I was so proud of Aaron, missing his nap and all he walked a lot of it and really enjoyed himself!) we checked in to our hotel and then went to an organic Italian place called Picazzo's. Their berry sangria was the best! So good, in fact that mommy had two ;) By the time we were done there it was already time to get ready for bed so we went back and "attempted" to get everyone in bed...we're finding out more and more how we need to avoid just having one single room! It took about two hours to get everyone asleep.

The next morning we went on one more hike to see the "submarine mountain".

Brother, hold my hand please!

We had lunch and left for home soon after. No doubt the boys were in their glory, being outside. One of them is bound to have a job something to do with that- mountain rescue, park ranger, professional fisherman...something that involves being outside!

Daddy and Nate have plans to camp out with our church over Memorial Day weekend. Nate will be just delighted. I'm sure the countdown for that will begin soon...

Boston

Another post regarding a sad day (I'm sure everyone is at least kind of in the know, and has seen that there were bombs at the Boston Marathon today...?) Incredibly sad. Also a bit ironic. I had just announced on Facebook a few days ago that I had signed up for my second marathon, this time in Tucson this coming December. I decided on this particular marathon because it was rated as one of the top ten marathons that runners qualify for the Boston Marathon from. This is quite the goal, as I would have to knock off two hours  from my current marathon time in order to qualify for Boston (and even then still have to apply and wait to see if I make the cut). Anyway, I was really sad to hear about the events today, feeling so bad for the runners and families there (and yet relieved that it wasn't an event I was at). It's made me think about if it's a goal I still want to go for...then I realized that, you know, these things can really happen anywhere, anytime. Any big sporting event.

Very much hoping the individual(s) are caught soon. I've heard nothing about who even won the marathon and read that not all runners got to finish the race. What a bummer that has to be for them! Of course, nothing beats the pain of injury and death. So horrible. My thoughts are with those affected, and especially the runners. Some days I wonder if we're really going to leave the world to our children in a better place.

The Boys Spring Break

My biggest worry when we left for Australia wasn't how the kids were going to do with their Nana and Pap Pap, but that Nate would be heartbroken knowing we were leaving home and heading to fun beaches (and his gal pal!) I was SUPER relieved when he thought of his time with his grandparents though as his own "trip". I thought I'd share some pictures that I received while we were away of all the fun things they got to do!

Silly boy

Time with Aunt Angie

Learning croquet

Trains!

Pap Pap combed our hair all nice- now we look "handsome"! (as Nate puts it when he asks for us to duplicate)

Ate all my lunch and now I get this delicious M&M cookie!

Sprinkler fun

First time playing Twister with Aunt Kristen

Speaking of the trip guilt, I'm happy to report that in 2.5 weeks we'll be taking the kids up to Sedona for an overnight stay. I can't believe this is our first trip all together since our trip to California last June. Almost a year! We haven't been to Sedona for a year (my absolute favorite town here) so I was anxious to go, wanted to take the kids for some fun times outside there before it got too warm. Can't wait!