visit to Phoenix 2

Grandparents Moore live about 3 miles from Camelback Mtn which makes it an obvious spot for me to run to. The trail is a around 1.5miles and climbs around 1500ft. Here is my track from the days before.  There are two paths up the mountain, Cholla Trail and Echo Canyon Trail. Cholla trail is less used and closer to our house so I have always used it. It starts out easy and then gets more and more technical and ends up being a scramble at parts. We decided to hike it one morning.

Camilo walked a bit but then decided he needed to be carried. Lisa did a lot before I took over. Made the technical sections even more interesting.

Of course it also have a bit of an upper body workout!

Between the two humps there is what looks like a helicopter pad. Not sure if that is what it is, but don't know what else it would be. You can see it in this pic. Camilo and I stayed here while Lisa and Amalia did the summit push.

Nice views!

They made it to the top! Someone dragged a Christmas tree up there for the holidays. Kind of silly but fun too. I'm glad it wasn't my job.
Amalia must have been the youngest person up there this day. She practically ran up that mountain and had a fun time.

Camilo was exhausted from being carried so decided to nap on the descent. This made the technical sections even more challenging. Of course every person I passed had to make some kind of comment, usually something like 'can you carry me down next?'. Not funny.

Camilo and I started down before Lisa and Amalia and they caught us.

This pic was just before the summit push. Camilo wanted to go but it was just too technical and dangerous for the little guy. Next time.

After such a hike its time for..... ICE CREAM. We went the the Sugar Bowl, a Scottsdale establishment that opened in 1958 and is still owned and opperrated by the same people. Cousin Anacelia attacked a 'single scoop' of mint chocolate chip.

Amalia went after something that included ice cream and a browny.

Camilo was after the chocolate ice cream.

Lisa couldn't pass up the caramel.

One last pic of Amalia on her way to the top!

visit to PHX

We visited Arizona last week for the holidays. We chose last week as it split Thanksgiving and Christmas and thus made for easier traveling. We visited my folks in Phoenix and also my brother's family in Tucson. Uncle David also drove out from Dallas to be part of the festivities. Overall the trip was great and I have lots of pics to share. Here are some from the first part of the trip.

We visited the Phoenix Zoo, a great zoo that is also close to my parent's home. We spent 5 hours there and the kids could have spent more!

Here they are at the sting ray petting display. This was a big hit, obviously.

There was also a carousel that was also super popular. Here is Viviana on the ride.

The whole thing was exhausting my Kris, Tom and me, but Amalia and Camilo couldn't get enough.

The petting zoo was another exciting part. Nothing like petting goats for a good time. Both Camilo and Anacelia liked this black goat.

This prairie dog seemed to be happy just sitting there and watching the visitors walk by.

More of the rays. This was the second visit and the kids got to feed the rays!

The three girl cousins in the backyard.

I think this was on the way to the zoo. Big excitement!

More from the carousel. Anacelia liked the hummingbird.

Viviana was amazed by something...

Maybe it was this lion who was sunning himself on a rock in a regal pose.

The four cousins decided to pose in front of the lion's enclosure.

The baboons were captivating.

Riding the camel wasn't cheap but the kids all had to do it. Gabe got the pleasure of taking Viviana on the ride and he couldn't have been more excited.

Amalia and Anacelia rode the camel together.

Amalia rode on some kind of mythical sea creature. 

Camilo rode on the giraffe.

Viviana on a tiger!

The lion got tired of us... he had been promised a snack of young kids and was disappointed when it didn't happen.

Anacelia and Amalia on the camel.

We also visited a train themed park in Scottsdale and this was obviously a highlight for Camilo. This was a replica of a full sized train and was a real, functioning steam engine that gave rides.

Its always fun to make faces for a camera. 

I practically had to wrestle Camilo to get him to leave the train park. Its now one of his favorite parks anywhere!

cyclocross racing

Last weekend was the annual cyclocross race promoted by the VT cycling team. Its was good fun watching the college kids. There was a kids race too and Amalia and Camilo decided to give it a try. I rode with Amalia as my race was right afterwards and I used it as my warm-up. I ended up winning my race but the highlight was Amalia jumping on her bike to ride across the line with me!

Look and the focus!

And how is this for a game face?!?!?

Check out he speed!

working on the farm

We spent most of Sunday afternoon at the Three Birds Berry Farm. This is a local farm that grows blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. All are u-pick and this is a popular summer time activity for lots of people in the NRV. In the fall and winter the owners have volunteer days to help around the farm to earn credits towards berries in the summer. So we went out and helped mulch and build a new barn. We have lots of pics of the barn building, but really we lined up and dug the post holes. Each one needs to be 4ft deep... thats a deep hole. We didn't finish up but got a good start.

Here you can see us starting the barn post digging.

Luckily, Amalia and Camilo were up for the job. The owner has a daughter, Lilly, who is Amalia's age and was a helper too.

Camilo's first job was gathering his shovels.

He kept one shovel for himself and shared the other with Lilly. Amalia was the master of the post-hole digger.

By this point my back was wrecked... apparently sitting in front of a computer all day is not good training for post-hole digging.

Big helper!

Some dirt ended up on his face and clothes.

Very proud of this dirt clod.

Contemplating the actual depth of a 4ft post-hole.

Now this is a perfect dirt clod!

You might notice the butterfly on her cheek from attending BugFest the day before.

Now thats a deep hole!

Yup!